Chawz

Chawz (2009)

So when I heard that there was a killer pig movie from South Korea I was pretty excited. You know I kind of like that sort of thing. When I heard that it was a black comedy and not just a straight horror flick it only made me want to see it more. I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

The movie gets right to some fun when a hunter stumbles across a dead body that the killer pig (actually a boar, but it is really the same thing) and ends up becoming a meal for our porcine friend. Then the action moves to our main character, a policeman named Kim that is transferred from Seoul to a small village, which of course happens to be the killer pigs new feeding ground. Kim gets stuck in the middle of the hunt for the creature and tags along with a group of hunters that goes up the nearby mountain looking for it. Much mayhem later we have a dead pig and a lot of dead locals.

Let me start off the review portion here by warning off anyone that doesn’t like some comedy in this kind of movie. As I’ve already mentioned Chawz is a black comedy and really for the first hour is mostly played for laughs. There are all kinds of crazy characters, including Kim’s inexplicably nutty mother and a cowardly police officer that hides when anything bad happens. So if you are looking for a flick that will ratchet up the chills then this one isn’t for you. But I found the movie to be funny when it wants to be and a reasonably good creature feature. Overall the movie was entertaining and for a flick that clocks in at around 2 hours it was never boring. And while I never found Chawz to be scary there are a couple creepy moments, especially a part near the end with a local crazy lady that I never saw coming.

Of course we have a killer pig flick here with a body count so we need to talk about the effects. First up I have to let you guys know that most of the creature effects have been created with CGI. We do get a couple of shots with an on set creature effect, but the action stuff is all digital. For the most part it looks pretty good, but there are times it looks like a cheap bit of digital work. I used to let this sort of thing ruin a movie for me. But CGI is here to stay and has replaced the cheap man in a rubber suit and stop motion stuff, so I’ve learned to deal with it. The kills in the movie are kind of tame and consist of squishy sounds from off camera with a body being jerked around on camera. Not great, but I was reminded of the same tricks in some of my favorite ‘70s drive-in fare. Anytime that happens I figure someone is doing something right.

If you don’t like creature movies or black comedies then stay away from Chawz. But I dig both and had a blast watching this one. I recommend that you guys check it out. Head over to http://www.magnetreleasing.com/ for more information on the movie and where you can pick it up.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer