The Film (3/5)

    Rawhead Rex is a more complicated cinematic venture than one would rightfully assume.  Before the Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics landed at my door, it had been over 20 years since I had seen the film, and at the time I do not recall walking away with good feelings about it overall. Watching it now with a more open mind, and a lot more viewing experience behind me, I felt a lot more positive about the film, but I still couldn't say it was overall a great or even a good film. I feel there is a good film somewhere within Rawhead Rex, and there are attributes within the film that make offer a solid experience, but overall it never quite connects.

    The film opens in a small village in the Irish countryside. A farmer shifts a stone monument, and awakens Rawhead an ancient "godlike" entity who begins rampaging across the countryside killing and eating his victims. Into this comes Howard, Elaine and their 2 children an American family who are on a working trip so that Howard can research his book about pre-Christian culture that was taken over by Christianity. They tragically find  themselves tangled in the mess created by Rawhead.

     Watching the film in 2017 it feels like a blend of gory 80's creature feature, and British folk horror ala Blood On Satan's Claw or Witchfinder General.  The rural Irish location of the film sets a certain atmospheric tone of the film, that works well for the piece, and the Church that makes for one of the film's primary settings with it's devilish stained glass works quite well. The performances are a blend of over the top and awkward, and reasonably solid, but work for the film.  

    However, the creature at the center of the film really let's the whole thing fall apart. I am a huge fan of low budget cinema, and love a good cheesy monster flick, but the quite serious tone of the piece, mixed in with this interpretation of Rawhead really lets the whole thing down.   There are hundreds of bad zombie and monster movies that get away with bad creatures at their center, but the way director George Pavlou demands his creature appear front and center betrays the horror of the whole thing.  This is a film that I want to like, because at its core it feels like a good solid creepy and visceral horror experience could be mined from the Clive Barker source material, but this sadly, is not it.

    The screenplay written by Clive Barker based on his original short story also neuters the Pagan vs. Christian elements of the original story, and removes some of the thematic depth that would have gone a long way to explain certain out of place story elements in the film.  Barker has over the years disowned the film, and almost immediately after went about adapting his own work in the form of The Hellbound Heart and then Cabal (as Hellraiser and Nightbreed respectively) before letting anyone adapt his work again.

Audio/Video (4/5)

    Kino Lorber Studio Classics presents Rawhead Rex in a quite solid 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer. Rawhead Rex was touted as a transfer scanned in 4k, and I can't imagine it looking any better than it does here. That being said I would suggest viewers keep their expectations in check, because Rawhead Rex is very much a low budget 80's production, so while detail is excellent, and colors are well represented the softness inherent in the original film is very much prominent here. There is also some very minor instances of damage throughout the film, and the FX of the piece are more obvious then ever, but that , of course, is to expected.

    Audio is handled by a 5.1 track in English that is quite solid. Everything comes across crisp, clear, and strong with no apparent issues.

Extras (4/5)

    KLSC has packed their release of Rawhead Rex with a slew of extras features including a commentary between Stephen Thrower and director George Pavlou. We also get numerous interviews with members of the cast and crew, an excellent booklet of liner notes setting the film within the British folk horror tradition by Diabolique's Kat Ellinger and also the original theatrical trailer.

Overall

    Rawhead Rex is a film I wanted to like a lot more than I ended up liking it. Watching it in 2017 I can see it as a mix of gory creature feature, and British folk horror, unfortunately the creature at the middle of this feature is lacking, and the problems only start there. The Blu-ray from Kino Lober, however, makes this film look better than it ever has before, and they have stacked it with extras. RECOMMENDED.