Film

Tusk

Name: Tusk
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Released: 2014
Cast: Michael Parks, Justin Long, Genesis Rodriguez, Haley Joel Osment, Johnny Depp

Other titles called Tusk: the 1980 film.

Horror comedy

Kevin Smith's gloriously deranged body-horror comedy about a podcaster searching for his missing friend in remote Canada. It's deeply strange, surgically grotesque, and operates on dream logic where nothing needs to make sense as long as it's committed. For those who think horror should be funny and funny should be slightly nauseating.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy talky, profane Kevin Smith dialogue sliding into genuinely unsettling body horror, and you like a comedy that's willing to be cruel and strange at once.

Skip it if you want a tidy thriller or scares that stick; the jokes often land flat, and the tone lurches between podcast banter and grotesque, deliberately off-kilter discomfort.

What it asks of you: At about 102 minutes it opens slowly on chatty, ordinary banter before veering somewhere odd, so patience and tolerance for abrupt shifts go a long way.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Rubber2010

A sentient tire murders people across the desert while a audience watches from afar. It's absurdist French-Canadian horror-comedy with genuine wit, practical effects, and the same anarchic energy that makes Tusk tick.

But Deliberately ridiculous in a way that requires you to be on its wavelength. If you want logic or restraint, you'll hate every second.

The Lobster2015

Yorgos Lanthimos's deadpan nightmare where single people are hunted or transformed into animals. It shares Tusk's willingness to pursue a grotesque premise with absolute seriousness and dark comedy, never winking.

But The tone is glacial and airless. Some find it pretentious; others find the joke exhausting after ninety minutes.

Eight Legged Freaks2002

Giant mutant spiders terrorize Arizona in this creature-feature that knows exactly what it is: fun, grotesque, and committed to the premise without apology. Practical monster effects and genuine invention throughout.

But It's comfortably a B-movie in budget and structure. If you're after prestige horror, this wears its B-side proudly.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Tusk

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Freaky Friday2003

Both films take extreme body modification and psychological captivity as their engine, but where Tusk goes grotesque-comic, this goes aesthetic-tragic. Same intensity, opposite register.

Christophe Honoré's body-horror chamber piece about a man's twisted maternal obsession, told with formal grace and surgical precision. It's French New Wave surrealism applied to psychological derangement—grotesque and beautiful in equal measure.

But Glacially paced, sexually explicit, and deeply unpleasant. It's body horror without comedy's mercy; one uninterrupted descent into nightmare.

Teeth2008

Body-horror comedy about a woman with a toothed vagina navigating sexuality and predatory men. Like Tusk, it takes an absurd premise with utmost seriousness and finds genuine darkness in the comedy.

But Sexual violence is central to the premise. The film doesn't shy from it, which is the point—but it's not comfortable viewing.

Happiness1998

Todd Solondz's blackly comic investigation of suburban American unhappiness, where grotesque confessions pile up with deadpan precision. Dark, stomach-churning, utterly committed to making you squirm while laughing.

But Contains content that doesn't have a joke to hide behind. This isn't shock for shock's sake, but it requires a strong stomach and willingness to sit in genuine discomfort.

The Cabin in the Woods2012

Drew Goddard's horror-comedy that deconstructs genre tropes with invention and surprising heart. Practical gore meets structural wit; it respects both the horror and the humor enough to let them coexist.

But The premise reveal halfway through locks you into a particular tone. If that doesn't land for you, the rest of the film won't either.

Gozu2003

Takashi Miike's surreal yakuza-horror-comedy about a man searching for his missing friend in a nightmarish town. Dream logic, body horror, grotesque imagery treated with complete gravity—Tusk's spiritual ancestor.

But Wildly paced, narratively fractured, and sometimes incomprehensible. Subtitles required. Some sequences are genuinely disturbing rather than funny.

Club Dread2004

Jay Chandrasekhar's horror-comedy slasher set at a tropical resort, made with genuine affection for bad taste and the kind of unhinged commitment that feels closest to Tusk's DNA.

But It's aggressively stupid. If you need intelligence or subtlety in your horror-comedy, move on.

In a Violent Nature2024

Both feature disfigured figures moving through landscapes, but this inverts Tusk's tone entirely—trading comedy for lyrical horror. Same visual obsession, zero laughs.

Chris Nash's indie slasher told from the killer's perspective, following a reanimated corpse through forests with hypnotic, painterly cinematography. It's body horror as visual poetry, using the grotesque to generate genuine dread and beauty.

But Minimal dialogue, maximum gore, and a rhythm designed to alienate mainstream audiences. If you need narrative momentum or character warmth, you won't find it.

The Holy Mountain1973

Both embrace surrealist body horror as the primary language, but this is metaphysical rather than satirical—a fever dream versus a darkly comic nightmare.

Jodorowsky's avant-garde mystical odyssey where impossible body transformations and surrealist nightmare logic unfold across ninety trippy minutes. It makes Tusk look straightforward; commitment to visual derangement without apology.

But No plot to speak of, psychedelic and intentionally obscure, subtitled, and deeply pretentious. If you don't surrender to pure cinema and surrealism, you'll check out in ten minutes.