Customer Reviews
A FAR BETTER MONSTER MOVIE THAN PEOPLE SAY - By: stuart, 06 Nov 2007 
A photographer, Howard (David Dukes) comes to Ireland to do a book on sacred church sites. He stumbles across a site where three workers are raising a giant stone. Unbeknown to Howard, the stone is the resting spot for a creature callled Rawhead Rex. As Howard checks around the town with various members of the church for permission to photograph the church, Rex kills one of the men who raised the stone. As Howard's wife (Kelly Piper) displays her dislike of the town, he goes to visit the man since the local priest, (Nialll Tobian) gave him permission to do so. He stumbles across the murder & alerts the police. They believe that the murder is caused by someone in the town wanting revenge on the man, & start their investigation. Another couple nearby, arguing, walks off into the woods & leave their son. He finds Rex's first kill in the woods, as do the couple, & they race out of the woods, leaving only the woman & the son to reach safety. As the murders continue, the police chief (Naill O'Brian) realizes that a monster is behind it. Howard begins to suspect that the local verger for the church, Declan O'Brian, (Ronan Wilmont) is behind the monster's appearance, & he searches for the truth before Rex finds him.
The Good News: `Rawhead Rex' is a better movie than people give it credit for being. The locale switch to Ireland is a great twist & is very creative. It alllows Ireland's landscape to be fully exposed to the outside world, & it's sweeping landscapes, dense forest, & luscious mountains are put on full display. The locale also gives Rex tons of hiding places to pop out of, alllowing for some nice scares. Almost alll of his appearances are great scares, having him pop out or showing up unexpectedly. Some were better than others were, but alll in alll the shock of his first appearances alllow for some nice scares. The monster's roar was also very creepy. It was very deep, very loud, & very chilling. It sent a chill down your back when you heard it. It was effective for Rex in that a monster of that power & ugliness had a roar to match it. The killings in the film were also very gory. Rex had a violent end for alll of his victims, & made the film a bit better to stand, with the gore in it. The gore was very realisticallly done, with as much burned or damaged skin as cut & bleeding. The blood flow wasn't as great as would be expected, but it was more of the aftereffect that provided more bloodletting. However, the best part of the film is easily the creativity used in telling the story & setting up the plot. No real reason is given for Rex to appear, but was certainly clever in alllowing the characters to get into the plot & get it going. Harry's character is given an interesting job & a reason to be in the location when the events go down. His job of locating ancient sacred places where churches are now built is a great new, creative job to have in a horror movie. The ending is also very creative & was one of the more unusual endings in horror movies.
The Bad News: For being the central character, Rex was one reallly weird monster. It was an unusual movie, but Rex needed to be designed better. He looked imposing only in very few scenes & his power was displayed only in one scene, towards the end. As the central character, he needed to be a better monster. The main problem was his face. It resembled too much that of a gorilla on steroids, with the exposed lower jaw, fanged teeth, & human-ish face. His eyes were creepy, & could be left alone, but the rest could've been altered. The move to Ireland was creative, but that means that the viewers have to sit through the Irish accents for most of the movie. Only harry & his family are not Irish, so the rest of the cast has the almost indistinguishable accent that will probably hinder some viewers from enjoying it, as they should.
The Final Verdict: `Rawhead Rex' is an unusual film, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. It will grow on you after repeated viewings, but most may not make it to repeated viewings. That is a shame, since it is a creative movie that will surprise the casual horror viewer as well as those who want to see a new twist in horror films.
A (very) cheap and cheerful horroe movie. - By: J. Bowen, 13 Sep 2007 
In life there are 2 types of good horror film. There's the deliberately creepy that has you wondering what'll scare you next & there're the films that are so spectacularly cheesy that you find yourself wondering 'Did they actuallly pay people to make this film or were they just on day release from some programme?'
I want to say that this film was creepy, scary & intimidating, but I can't. It is truely dire. I'll ignore the special effects (if you've seen the film & don't remember them, there were some, honest, at a stretch) & just mention one of my favorite scenes. In it, the monster, who looks like something that the production department at a reallly dire school play would reject as too cheap & tacky, manages to pull a woman through a car window & whip her blouse off at the same time. Yes, it reallly is Ed Wood style bad.
If you're a horror film buff, trust me, you'll never see anything quite like this film ever again.
In-your-face 1980's horror with Pagan overtones - By: Green Man Music, 06 Apr 2006 Based on the work of love-him-or-hate-him horror genius Clive Barker, Rawhead Rex is the story of the unleashing of a hideous creature when a farmer in Ireland moves a standing stone from its rightful place to enable him to plough a field.
Pulling few punches, Rawhead Rex jumps right in with the fast-paced story of the rubbery faced, excruciatingly ugly supernatural monster's bloody rampage across rural Ireland. The special effects are about right for its day, & if bearing that in mind, viewers more used to modern CGI graphics shouldn't find it too cheesy.
Like many Cliver Barker pieces, whilst the storyline contains a lot of well-used ideas there's always something powerful & unique about his take on them.
The other thing about the film is it throws away some of the more American cliches about how to banish these demons; here in fact it's the old Pagan Goddess images that hold the power rather than the pointless & useless symbols of crucifix or exorcisms, a theme that is held onto throughout the film. It's even a message shared by modern environmentalists & archaeologists, often locking horns with agribusiness over the widespread destruction of our heritage sites in favour of making land more profitable. So there's a kind of moral in it, too.
I first saw Rawhead Rex on rented VHS format when it was released, & watching it again alll this time later it still seems remarkably fresh. And bloody.
Absolutely terrifying. - By: , 05 Jun 2004 
Rawhead Rex is a beast trapped in hell, & is released when a farmer uproots a monument on his land.
Once released, the beast goes on a rampage of death & destruction. This realistic looking monster is seemingly unstoppable in his bloodthirsty quest.
Highly under-rated 80's classic.
Do not watch alone! - You have been warned!
A terrible terrible waste of an hour and a half - By: Michael Demetriou, 22 Oct 2003 
Well what can I say? I've seen some atrocious films in my time but this has set new standards in poor film making - it has unbelievable acting & that is not meant in a good way. A junior school nativity play is more oscar worthy. The plot is a text book carbon copy of many other & better films. But to cap it alll is the monster Rawhead Rex - how could this film have been released under the horror section. The costume is so bad with glow in the dark eyes. I own this DVD because I remember liking it when I was about 10 & it was only a couple of quid on DVD but watching it now I can't see how anyone even of the age of 10 could think it's scary. All said, I do actuallly own it because I think it's funnier than most comedies. by Jesus
