Rawhead Rex (1986)

An ancient creature called Rawhead is awakened from its slumber near an Irish village and goes on a rampage killing anyone in sight.

Director:

George Pavlou

Writer:

Clive Barker (screenplay)

Stars:

David Dukes, Kelly Piper, Hugh O'Conor

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Dukes	...	Howard Hallenbeck
Kelly Piper	...	Elaine Hallenbeck
Hugh O'Conor	...	Robbie Hallenbeck
Cora Venus Lunny	...	Minty Hallenbeck (as Cora Lunny)
Ronan Wilmot	...	Declan O'Brien
Niall Toibin	...	Reverend Coot
Niall O'Brien	...	Det. Insp. Isaac Gissing
Heinrich von Schellendorf	...	Rawhead Rex
Donal McCann	...	Tom Garron
Eleanor Feely	...	Jenny Nicholson
Gladys Sheehan	...	Ena Benedict
Madelyn Erskine	...	Alice Gibson
Gerry Walsh	...	Dennis McHugh
Noel O'Donovan	...	Mitch Harney
John Olohan	...	Dennis Nicholson

Storyline

The writer Howard Hallenbeck is spending vacation in the countryside of Ireland with his wife Elaine and children researching legends and myths for his book. Meanwhile, a farmer is trying to remove an old column on the field and accidentally unleashes the evil pagan god Rawhead Rex that begins a crime spree in the village where Howard and his family are lodged.

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Plot Keywords:

american abroad | based on short story | paganism | vacation | woman's clothes ripped off | 

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Taglines:

Someone has awakened him.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peter Mayhew was originally considered to play Rawhead Rex, but his fee was too high.

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Goofs

In several scenes the monster's mask is obvious. The spot where the mask ends gets loose from time to time is especially obvious where the neck meets the shoulder. The most obvious is during the attack on the trailer park right after a propane tank explodes and Rawhead runs toward and attacks the man who fired the gun.

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Quotes

Reverend Coot: [Declan is pushing Coot up to be killed by Rawhead Rex] No, no, no! Declan, wait! Think, think! He doesn't care about you! When it's finished with you, what will it do with you?
Declan O'Brien: Kill me... I HOPE!
Reverend Coot: Declan, for the love of God!
Declan O'Brien: Get upstairs, fuckface! I can't keep God waiting!

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Connections

Referenced in Found (2012)

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Soundtracks

The Lord's My Shepherd
Lyrics by Francis Rous
Music by Jessie Seymour Irvine

User Reviews

Rawhead Rex and the forgotten monster horror genre.

So the year is 2011 and time has not been kind to poor old Rawhead Rex (1986) and the monster horror genre in general.

Anyone who has read Clive Barker's short story Rawhead Rex knows that this is a downright disturbing and wicked tale. The monster Rawhead has sexual issues, he hates women, he pisses on priests and has an appetite for eating small children/babies. However, all these awful things are what makes the story such a page turner and adds more depth to what would otherwise be a mindless monster work.

The movie Rawhead Rex (1986) suffers from a very low budget. The main offender is Rawhead's mask itself. Its cheap rubber with little to no animatronics and the rubber shakes as the actor tries to move quickly. A higher budget would have done this monster so much justice, if only a creature master like Stan Winston had gotten involved, this would have been a whole different movie experience.

I would love to see Rawhead Rex remade today with all the trimmings, but unfortunately Hollywood is a complete mess. Bad actors are thrown into quick PG-13 horror crap fests and CGI technology has become the only main focus of everything.

I think it's time for someone to step up to the plate and re-boot the monster movie genre. Rawhead Rex could be an action/monster movie extravaganza if remade correctly. Hollywood simply refuses to take any chances and because of this, the horror genre is more or less dead. In the end, Rawhead Rex is still an enjoyable monster flick for the bored late night horror buff. But it just doesn't measure up to the more well-made 80s monster classics like "Pumpkinhead".

Details

Country:

UK Ireland

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

RawHeadRex

Filming Locations:

Leinster, County Wicklow, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

GBP1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alpine Pictures, Alpine Pictures, Green Man Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min 86 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1