Barney Burman´s Wild Boar

I have a lot of respect for makeup artitsts in Hollywood, for everything that they create in everything from sci fi to horror films. Just the idea that they can create monsters, aliens, mutated animals and much more, through makeup effects is pretty incredible. It takes a lot of work to create different characters, and the costumes as well. And i especially love original characters, that combines different ideas. One of my personal favourite personalities in makeup effects, is without a doubt American prosthetic make-up artist ( he is also an actor, stunt performer and director ) Tom Savini. He have been an actor in a lot of films, but what i especially appreciate is all his work that he have done as a makeup artist in classic films such as George A. Romero´s Dawn Of The Dead ( where he is also acting as the character Blades ), Friday The 13:th, Maniac, Creepshow, Day Of The Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Creepshow 2, Monkey Shines and many more titles. He is incredible talented and have given us a lot of wonderful characters for over 40 years. One of the characters that you may not hear a lot about, that i think he did a really good job with, is the character The Creep, a very creepy looking old man in the anthology horror film Creepshow 2, directed by Michael Gornick. The Creep character works quite effective to the storyline, as he introduce each story ( with the voice of legendary actor Joe Silver, who i especially remember from director David Cronenber´s cult film Rabid ). Tom Savini also showed up in the 2004 remake of Dawn Of The Dead ( one of the best horror remake´s in my opinion ) as the character County Sherriff Cahill. One very interesting detail about Dawn Of The Dead ( 2004 remake ), is that this is the film where prosphetic makeup artist Barney Burman worked on, and he have done a lot of make-up on many films. I have heard about a film that he actually directed called Barney Burman´s Wild Boar who seemed to have a very cool poster. I finally got a chance to check this film out on VOD. Is this one of the best summer horror films to pick out right now, or is Barney Burman´s Wild Boar not as good as it may look like through the poster?

A small group of treasure seekers, also known as "Geocachers", trek into the desert to conquer a Geocache Challenge. Out in the wild, they stumble upon a forbidden world flooded with radiation and inhabitated by a race of bloodthristy mutants who have evolved from pigs.

If you are a fan of low budget independent horror films, then this is a film that should please you. Especially when this film turn towards the desert and becomes a different version of Wes Craven´s cult classic The Hills Have Eyes, that´s where this film finds the right spot. And i have to say that the pig mutants in this film, bring some extra tasteful moments for fans of creature horror. They are exactly the visitors you would want to have close, if you are fed up with a loud and disrespectful neighbor. Just send the pig mutants over to his house, and they will take care of the situation. The costume design of these pig mutants feel very apocalyptic, and they match very well into the desert atmosphere. What about the makeup effects of the pig mutants? The makeup effects on the pig masks and the body looks really good, you can tell that they made an effort to make these characters look cool in this environment. The practical makeup effects also look great, especially when you see a human body getting carved up and one of the pig mutants pull out guts, and other parts. I get a feeling that this film have influences from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as well, since the house location almost feels like a place that Leatherface would love to live, with humans trapped inside for them to feed on. What about the acting? For a low budget film like this, i have to say that most of the actors does a pretty good job, especially actress Aguie Duke ( who i especially remember from the 2014 film Spring, worth checking out ) as the character Scarlett Lamb. The strongest characters in this film are actually the pig mutants, because they feel more interesting than some of the human characters. The story may not be anything original, but works for the most part. Director Barney Burman have made a fun throwback to grindhouse horror of the 70´s with this film, and he really knows how to make practical horror work well, on a limited budget. Barney Burman´s Wild Boar may not please all of The Real Housevives Of New Jersey, but for me that is a sign that this film is exactly what we need, since those wives should learn what quality really means. Definetely worth checking out this summer, i might have to get my own pig mutants to my birthday party. I am pretty sure they can fix me the best birthday cake ever.

Rating: DDD