"He was here before Christ, before civilization. He was king here! Rawhead, that's what they called him! RAWHEAD!" Okay, okay. Call him Rawhead, already. Join your faithful Grue-Crew - Crystal Cleveland, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr - as they visit rural Ireland with Clive Barker’s Rawhead Rex (1986) on episode 191 (even though Jeff calls it episode 190).
Decades of Horror 1980s
Episode 191 – Rawhead Rex (1986)
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An ancient creature called Rawhead is awakened from its slumber near an Irish village and goes on a rampage killing anyone in sight.
IMDb
Director: George Pavlou Writer: Clive Barker (screenplay) Selected cast: David Dukes as Howard Hallenbeck Kelly Piper as Elaine Hallenbeck Ronan Wilmott as Declan O'Brien Niall Toibin as Reverend Coot Niall O'Brien as Detective Inspector Isaac Gissing Hugh O'Conor as Robbie Hallenbeck Cora Venus Lunny as Minty Hallenbeck (as Cora Lunny) Heinrich von Schellendorf as Rawhead Rex Donal McCann as Tom Garron
Chad, like most of us, is a big fan of Clive Barker’s work and Rawhead Rex is his pick. As is often the case, the movie varies from the story even though Clive Barker wrote the screenplay. Chad admits it’s not very good but he still has fun with it because it brings back memories of having fun going to monster movies with his buddies. Crystal, also a Clive Barker fan, loves the movie but thinks it would be even better if it had a more of a Barker feel to it. She does love the monster and its glowing eyes. Rawhead Rex doesn’t feel like Clive Barker according to Bill and though he loves the original story, he hates the movie. And don’t get him started on what he calls the big goofy monster and the limited movement of its mouth. For Jeff, Clive Barker’s prose has a definite feel and tone which is missing in Rawhead Rex. On the plus side, he enjoyed Ronan Wilmott’s over-the-top performance as the church’s verger and Rawhead’s disciple.
If you’re a Clive Barker completist or just love 1980s monster movies, Rawhead Rex is currently available to stream on Shudder, AMC+, Spectrum, and Arrow subscription services as well as on a Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.
Every two weeks, Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1980s podcast will cover another horror film from the 1980s. The next episode’s film, chosen by Jeff, will be The Children (1980). You won’t want to miss that one!
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