CLAW

Stars: Chynna Walker, Richard Rennie, Mel Mede, Ken ’Gabby’ Mertz and Roger the Raptor.
Writer: Gerald Rascionato and Joel Hogan
Director: Gerald Rascionato

WORLD PREMIERE: Byron Bay Underground Film Festival, Saturday May 22 at 8.30pm. Tickets available at the official festival website.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Eliciting the same thrills as the best moments from Jurassic Park and capturing the endearing buddy-comedy chemistry of cult fave Tremors, Claw proves a surefire crowd-pleaser. Clearly made with an un-ironic appreciation for the creature features of yesteryear (ie, the 90s) and a degree of skill that elevates the small scale production into something very big, director Gerald Rascionato’s monster-movie lark deserves global genre festival attention ahead of a long shelf life via whichever smart streamer acquires it.

Rascionato and co-writer Joel Hogan understand that the hard exposition work has already been done by Messrs Chrichton and Spielberg, so next-to-no time is spent on any of that ‘mosquito in amber’ malarkey (some razzle-dazzle gene-splicing graphics behind the opening credits suffices). Instead, their script invites the audience immediately into the friendship of Julia (Chynna Walker) and her bestie Kyle (Richard Rennie), deep in desert highway territory on their way to her big stand-up comedy break in LA. 

Circumstances dictate that they must spend the night with ghost town loner Ray (Mel Mede), an adventure that spins out of control when that most cinematic of prehistoric villains, the velociraptor (credited as ‘Roger the Raptor’), escapes from the confines of a nearby crazy scientist (Ken ’Gabby’ Mertz). The narrative proceeds to careen from one near-death escape to another, with just enough breathing space between the action to maintain audience empathy for the protagonists.

In a star-making turn, Walker’s small frame but strong physical presence is a major asset to the production; her confrontations with ‘Roger’ are legitimately thrilling. More importantly, the actress has a winning on-screen vibe with Rennie, who slots into the ‘damsel in distress’ role with endearing flair. Some of the script’s best moments involve the pair’s initial distrust of Mede’s Ray, recalling the ‘stereotype deconstruction’ genre comedy of 2010’s Tucker and Dale vs Evil, and are indicative of the smarter-than-usual investment that Hogan and Rascionato have written into their B-movie concept.

The director also takes cues from Spielberg’s other great monster movie Jaws, keeping his villain a growling presence largely in the shadows for much of the film’s first half. When unleashed, however, ‘Roger’ relentlessly pursues our heroes more in line with a Jason Vorhees/Michael Myers type. The effects team, supervised by industry veteran Steve Clarke, have crafted a top-tier CGI character that is seamlessly inserted into the action.