Love him or hate him (I fall squarely into the first category), there’s no denying that Kevin Smith has a unique creative mind, and a fiercely devoted fanbase to go along with it. Those fans are the ones who inspired Smith to write Tusk, a horror film born out of an episode of his popular SModcast series, during which he and longtime friend Scott Mosier discussed a hoax ad from Gumtree in which a man offered free room and board, on the condition that the tenant dress up and behave as a walrus every day.
Smith hypothesized that the concept could be fodder for a modern day monster movie, and encouraged his listeners to Tweet him with the hashtag #WalrusYes if they agreed, and #WalrusNo if they thought he should shelve the idea. Responses were almost universally positive, and Smith churned out a script just a few weeks later. Now, A24 is poised to bring the film to theaters in a few short months, with a cast that includes Michael Parks, Justin Long, Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment.
Smith will debut the first trailer for Tusk during his annual Comic-Con panel, but earlier today he unveiled the poster for film, which you can check out below.
That’s a pretty great poster, and the imagery seems to be pretty far removed from Smith’s usual work, although he’s dabbled in darker fare before with Red State, which also starred Michael Parks. We’ll be on-hand to check out the trailer for Tusk during Smith’s Comic-Con appearance, and will bring you our thoughts, along with the trailer itself, as part of our annual Comic-Con coverage.
Tusk hits theaters this fall, courtesy of A24.