Hey gang, Valkor here. And Roger Sampson, director of the “Forces
of Horror” anthology short film series is back with number three
of the set. Revelations
still takes top prize in my book. Hoever, “Rawhead” walks some
very familiar territory – the monster in the closet theme; so
will it take the top spot? And how well does it fit in with the
rest of the anthology? Let’s check it out! Spoilers!
In Rawhead, a young girl named Lucy (Gracie Whitton) is being terrorized by a creature in her closet named “Rawhead” - a beast of urban legend, known to steal kids from their beds; the nightmarish fiend even comes with its own nursery rhyme ala Freddy Krueger or Pumpkinhead. Though her parents Maggie (April Hartman) and Dale (Lance Eakright) don’t quite believe her, they do start to worry about the child’s sanity, especially when Lucy starts talking to her dolls about the creature (and supposedly the dolls talk back). But it all comes to a head when Rawhead ultimately appears and if Lucy’s parents weren’t believers before… then they are now.
There was a line that little Lucy said that may add some extra cool points to the film; she says “Samantha (which is one of the dolls) says they don’t like electricity”. "They". So, does that mean that there’s… more than one? And if so, I’m totally be fine with that.
The Good:
Rawhead is a much simpler tale in the anthology set than "The Jones" or "Revelations", but that doesn’t mean it isn’t any good – actually it’s quite entertaining and fits well within the series as it's all about showcasing different horror themes. And creatures that lurk in dark places is one of my favorites. Rawhead is a straightforward tale, a “what you see is what you get” style of horror; with this one, you don’t have to reach for a deeper meaning, just let the film take you into its horrific arms and creep the fudge out of you. The acting is pretty solid but the show stealer is the practical effects work done on the Rawhead creature, which looks super creepy (image below very related), especially in the eye area. Thus far, Rawhead ranks as my number two favorite in the anthology series and Sampson and co haven't finished yet!
The Bad:
Nothing negative here, though I wish it were a tad longer. I would love to see more of Rawhead creeping out of the closet, bit by bit showing more of his being. But I guess if you’re gonna go that route then you’re talking a full-feature.
The Ugly:
N/A
If you’re interested in seeing what all my hype is about, then check out Forces of Horror’s Rawhead in the embed below (vid no longer available). And stay tuned for more from the Forces of Nature series as well as other works from the Roger Sampson Camp. And out of TOV 5 stars, I’m giving Rawhead a rare score of 4.7. Why? Revelations is still my fav and Rawhead is slightly below that. But only slightly, only slightly.
