Reviews: Wild Boar (2019) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Sci-Fi
Subgenres:
Our take on Wild Boar (2019) explores its plot, scares, and horror highlights to help fans decide if it deserves a place on their watchlist.
Barney Burman’s Wild Boar attempts to blend creature horror with survival thriller elements, following a group of urban explorers who stumble upon a hidden community of mutated, pig-like humanoids in the desert. Their innocent adventure quickly turns into a desperate fight for survival against the grotesque creatures.
Barney Burman’s Wild Boar (2019) – A Creature Feature That Misses Its Mark
Plot, Themes, and Character Development
The film’s premise is intriguing on paper, with an opportunity to explore themes of genetic mutation, human greed, and environmental consequences. However, Wild Boar struggles to capitalize on its unique setup, instead delivering a thinly plotted, cliché-ridden survival horror. The characters are barely developed, existing more as archetypes than fully realized individuals. This lack of depth makes it hard to invest in their survival.
Acting and Cinematography
Despite the film’s flaws, Barney Burman’s creature effects deserve credit. As an Oscar-winning makeup artist (Star Trek 2009), Burman crafts disturbingly grotesque boar-like mutants with impressive practical effects. Their unnerving blend of human and animalistic features is the film’s biggest highlight.
Unfortunately, the same praise cannot be given to the acting or cinematography. The performances range from bland to over-the-top, making it difficult to take the film seriously. The cinematography is inconsistent, with some visually compelling moments in the desert setting, but too many dimly lit, shaky sequences that obscure the action.
Directing Style, Strengths, and Weaknesses
Burman’s background in special effects shines, but his directorial execution leaves much to be desired. The film’s tone is uneven, often unsure whether it wants to be a campy creature feature or a serious horror thriller. While there are moments of gory fun, the film fails to deliver sustained tension or suspense.
The pacing is another major issue. The first half takes too long setting up unnecessary character banter, while the second half races through the action without fully exploring the horror elements. This imbalance makes Wild Boar feel both drawn out and undercooked at the same time.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
Impressive creature design – The practical effects on the mutant boars are grotesque and detailed.
Interesting concept – The idea of human-boar hybrids living in isolation is original.
Moments of fun gore – The film delivers some enjoyable splatter moments for creature-feature fans.
Weaknesses:
Weak character development – The protagonists lack depth, making it hard to root for them.
Inconsistent tone – Shifts awkwardly between serious horror and campy creature thrills.
Poor pacing – Takes too long to get started, then rushes through the action.
Uninspired cinematography – Some shots are effective, but too many are dark and hard to follow.
Final Verdict & Score: 4/10
Barney Burman’s Wild Boar has a strong creature design and a few entertaining moments, but fails to build a compelling narrative or deliver consistent scares. The film’s clunky pacing, uneven tone, and lackluster characters ultimately make it forgettable among creature horror films.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Wild Boar Rating Scores
- Our Score: 4/10
- Overall Score: 3.81/10
- IMDB: 3.7/10
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