Tusk Dvd

Tusk is a 2014 American comedy horror film written and directed by Kevin Smith, based on a story from his SModcast podcast. The film stars Michael Parks, Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, and Genesis Rodriguez. The film is the first in Smith’s planned True North trilogy, followed by Yoga Hosers (2016).

Plot

Best friends Wallace Bryton and Teddy Craft host the popular podcast The Not-See Party, where they find and mock humiliating viral videos. Wallace flies to Canada to interview the Kill Bill Kid, an Internet celebrity famous for severing his leg with a katana. Upon arriving in Manitoba, he is surprised to learn that the Kill Bill Kid committed suicide. Upset that he flew to Canada for nothing, he decides to find another person to interview. He finds a handbill from someone offering a room in his home for free and the guarantee of hearing interesting stories. Intrigued, he arrives at the mansion of Howard Howe, a retired seaman in a wheelchair. Howard tells the story of how a walrus, whom he named “Mr. Tusk”, rescued him after a shipwreck. Wallace passes out from the secobarbital laced in the tea Howard made for him. The next morning, Wallace wakes up to find himself strapped into a wheelchair and his left leg amputated. Howard not only reveals that he can still walk, but lays out his plans: he plans to fit Wallace into a perfectly constructed walrus costume in an attempt to recreate Mr. Tusk. After Wallace sends a voicemail to his girlfriend Ally and Teddy, Howard knocks him unconscious.

Now aware that Wallace is in danger, Ally and Teddy fly to Canada. Back at the mansion, Howard continues to mutilate and alter Wallace, to whom he tells his backstory: a Duplessis orphan, he was physically and sexually abused for five years by the clergy who fostered him. He sews Wallace into a walrus costume made of human skin, complete with tusks made from the tibia bones from Wallace’s severed legs. A local detective puts Ally and Teddy in touch with Guy LaPointe, a former Sûreté du Québec inspector who has been hunting Howard for years. In a local burger joint, LaPointe reveals that Howard, nicknamed “The First Wife”, has been kidnapping and murdering people for years; he believes Wallace may still be alive, but not as they remember him.

Howard conditions Wallace to think and act as a walrus. Howard reveals that shortly before being rescued, he had killed and eaten Mr. Tusk. Overcome with guilt, he has spent the last 15 years turning his victims into his beloved savior in an attempt to relive their last day and give Mr. Tusk another chance at survival. With Howard dressed in his own homemade pelt, the two become engaged in a fight that ends with Wallace impaling Howard on his tusks; Howard dies, but is satisfied to have fulfilled his life’s mission at last. Lapointe, Ally and Teddy enter the enclave as Wallace bellows victoriously, much to their horror. One year later, Wallace, still sewn into the pelt, lives in a wildlife sanctuary. Ally and Teddy visit him and feed him a mackerel. In a flashback, Ally tells Wallace that her weeping grandfather told her that crying separates humans from animals. Ally tells Wallace she still loves him before walking off, crying. Tears run down Wallace’s face as he bellows, implying that the human part of Wallace may not be completely gone.

In a brief post credits scene, LaPointe is seen clutching his stomach in gastrointestinal distress, berating himself for having eaten a second burger earlier.

Cast

Justin Long as Wallace Bryton
Michael Parks as Howard Howe
Matt Shively as young Howard Howe
Genesis Rodriguez as Ally Leon
Haley Joel Osment as Teddy Craft
Johnny Depp as Guy LaPointe
Harley Morenstein as Border Agent
Ralph Garman as Detective Garmin
Jennifer Schwalbach Smith as Ms. McKenzie
Harley Quinn Smith as Colleen McKenzie
Lily-Rose Depp as Colleen Collette
Ashley Greene as Convenience Store Customer
Doug Banks as Kill Bill Kid
Zak Knutson as Ernest Hemingway