I'm usually down on remakes, but I think this could really work if redone properly. After a farmer removes a large stone from his property, an ancient beast is unleashed on the Irish countryside. The monster (inexplicably named Rawhead Rex) takes wayward priest O'Brien (Ronan Wilmot) under its spell while American writer Howard Hallenbeck (David Dukes) tries to convince the cynical police this monster killed his son. Clive Barker adapted his own short story for this low budget flick and the results are pretty bad. The titular beast looks great in stills, but terrible in motion. Regardless, there are still one or two effective scenes in the film like when Rex attacks a trailer park. Kudos to director George Pavlou for having a woman pulled out of a window and getting her clothes torn off by the people inside trying to save her. That is a top exploitation move. Barker sticks in some jabs at religion at the end (Rex's baptism of a priest is an eye-opener), but it is too late in the game. Worth seeing for Wilmot's wide-eyed acting though. Given the amount of crap Clive Barker slaps his name on nowadays, it is interesting that he has disowned this film (and the Pavlou's other Barker adaptation TRANSMUTATIONS).
Review of Rawhead Rex
