Absurd ‘Tusk’ misses the mark

The twisted tale of “Tusk,” where a smug podcaster is surgically turned into a walrus, comes across as mainstream movie making’s answer to “The Human Centipede.” It’s not as vilely disgusting as “Centipede,” but it does push the boundaries of blending absurdest comedy with ghoulish visuals.

The problem is that director Kevin Smith — who hasn’t helmed a movie since “Red State” three years ago — doesn’t seem comfortable enough with the horror of the story to make it a gut-turning tale of terror. He keeps blunting the macabre moments with drifting monologues and a farcical performance by Johnny Depp.

“Tusk” is based on a podcast by Smith and co-host Scott Mosier last year, where an online personal advertisement offered free lodgings to anyone willing to dress up as a walrus. It was a hoax, but it became the basis for the script where podcaster Wallace Bryton (Justin Long) travels to Canada to interview a teen who became a YouTube sensation by cutting off his own leg.

That story dies, but Bryton spots a flier where a man with countless stories to tell is offering a free room. Bryton thinks he’s found podcasting gold with Howard Howe (Michael Parks), a recluse who tells tales of Hemingway dimensions. He soon learns the stories are a prelude to serial surgery where the podcaster’s body is altered to fit inside a walrus suit so he can play out a twisted fantasy with Howe.

Bryton’s close companions — his podcasting buddy Teddy (Haley Joel Osment) and girlfriend Ally (Genesis Rodriguez) — begin a search. They meet a wacky French-Canadian detective, Guy LaPointe (Depp), who has been chasing the demented walrus maker for years.

Scenes of Long being transformed play out as twisted as the work of director Tom Six on “Centipede.” They are buffered slightly by Smith’s passive style of filmmaking, where he prefers to leave the camera in one spot while the actors regale the audience with their stories. The aftermath is effective, but it is not as brutal as having the focus on the creepy proceedings.

Unlike “Centipede,” Smith has built in a lot of idiotic humor through the work by Depp. His cockeyed cop offers a foolishness that looks to balance the bizarre. Depp’s performance is so offbeat that it comes close to pushing the movie into a farce. A less clownish job by Depp would have given the film an even balance between the bizarre and silly.

Both Long and Rodriguez get points for turning in heavily emotional performances. And Parks proves he can be wildly weird.

But this movie won’t be remembered for the acting performances. “Tusk” is the kind of movie you can’t get out of your head. Try as you might, it goes to the top of the list of images you wish you had not seen.