REVIEWING 'CARNIFEX' - A CRYPTOZOOLOGY-THEMED CREATURE FEATURE FROM DOWN UNDER

 

 Publicityposter for Carnifex, showing the charactersgazing up in awe at some formidable claw marks left upon a  tree trunk by a large unknown animal of seeminglyarboreal ability (© Sean Lahiff/Dancing Road Productions/Arclight Films/UniversalPictures Content Group – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Usebasis for educational/review purposes only)

Thanks to longstanding Australian FBfriend and crypto-enthusiast Tim Morris kindly making it available to me -thanks Tim! – my movie watch on 26 October 2023 was the fairly recent Australiancryptozoology-themed creature feature Carnifex.

Directed by Sean Lahiff, and releasedjust a year ago in December 2022 by Universal Pictures, Carnifex takes its name in a general sense from the Latin word for'butcher' or even (during the Roman era) 'executioner'. However, wildlife enthusiasts,especially cryptozoologists, will also be aware of its more specific,zoological meaning.

Consequently, if you're of the latterpersuasion, you will have no doubt guessed straight away from this movie'stitle that while conservationists Ben (Harry Greenwood) and Grace (SisiStringer) accompanied by documentary camerawoman Bailey (Alexandra Park) areuncovering and recording deep within the Australian outback the vast wildlifedevastation caused there by some recent, unprecedented bushfires, they also makethe startling, totally unexpected, and truly terrifying discovery of a livingmarsupial lion Thylacoleo carnifex. Foronce they do, they also discover – very swiftly – just how hyper-aggressive andrapacious the creature is, forcing them into a desperate bid for survival againstthis mega-belligerent blast from the past, their thoughts echoing only too emphaticallythe film's tagline: "Some species should remain extinct".

This ferocious species was – or is? –  a predatory pouched mammal of feline form, leopardor lioness stature (opinions vary), and possibly arboreal capabilities, but officiallydeemed extinct for many millennia. However, some cryptozoologists feel that itsputative reclusive survival into the present day may explain occasional reportsof an Aussie mystery beast known as the yarri or Queensland tiger. It may evenhave inspired the spoof killer koala called the drop bear (koalas and marsupiallions were actually quite closely related). Most of this pertinent background information,however, is never alluded to in the movie, sadly.

  Yarrior Queensland tiger, based upon eyewitness descriptions (© Dami Editore srl – reproducedhere on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposesonly)

Speaking of which: its build-up to thisvery dramatic discovery, although very lengthy (see later), is engrossing, andfeatures a trio of lead likeable characters that interact well together,interspersed with plenty of breathtaking shots of genuine Aussie Outback Nevertheless,Carnifex suffers from two verysignificant, crucial problems.

Firstly, once the story truly gets going,it consists almost entirely of night-time scenes, resulting in actual sightingsof the creature (with totally black pelage, thereby rendering it even more difficultto see against the darkness)  being asshadowy and brief as they are seldom and inconclusive, i.e. plenty of growlingand flesh-tearing sounds, but visually all but non-existent.

Secondly, when in this 90-odd-minutemovie's last 10 minutes we finally - finally! - get to see twoblink-and-you'll-miss-them close-up full-face shots of the (very) anatagonisticanimal in question (so fleeting in fact that after seeing them I then had torewind and laboriously seek them out via freeze-frame in order to be sure ofwhat they actually revealed – something, incidentally, that cinema audiencesfor this movie would not have had the luxury of being able to do), guess what?

The film makers had only gone and gottheir Thylacoleo carnifexfundamentally wrong – and after having kept their increasingly impatientviewers waiting so long to see it properly too!

 Aselection of photo-stills from Carnifexdepicting the latter beast's brief appearances and, especially, its dentition – click picture montage to enlarge for viewing purposes (©Sean Lahiff/Dancing Road Productions/Arclight Films/Universal Pictures ContentGroup – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis foreducational/review purposes only)

All placental carnivores have fangsconsisting of enlarged upper canine teeth (and so too, for that matter, does,or did, the thylacine or Tasmanian marsupial wolf Thylacinus cynocephalus, officially deemed extinct in 1936 butwhich may still linger on in this island's more remote regions). In starkcontrast, conversely, the tusk-like fang counterparts of Thylacoleo were actually greatly-enlarged upper incisors (it alsosported a pair of extremely enlarged lower incisors, but its upper canines wereonly very small and stubby). Yet in this movie, its Thylacoleo has been given enlarged upper canines, not incisors,thereby rendering their Carnifex dentally deranged!

Moreover, the two close-up shots of itsfront paws also revealed a telling absence of the huge thumb claw constitutinganother morphologcal characteristic of this unique predator.

Judging from these major morphological discrepancies,I can only assume that someone apparently hadn't done their zoological homeworkwhen researching T. carnifex for thisCarnifex-entitled movie. Needless to say,this is a great shame, especially as otherwise it is a most enjoyable film, withengaging characters amid the savage beauty of the Australian bush, and it wouldhave been a wonderful showcase for a truly original animal antagonist neverpreviously represented in a cinematic role.

Then again, it is fair to say that many viewersare unlikely to have in-depth knowledge of thylacoleonid dentition anyway. So theywill simply not notice or recognize the inaccuracy of the latter's depiction inthis movie (particularly as it has no effect upon the plot itself), thereby enablingthem to enjoy the movie as an otherwise very watchable, well-presented conservation-mindedcreature feature, especially one produced by a small independent film company asopposed to a mega-bucks Hollywood studio. Also on the positive side, it doesmean that a morphologically-accurate 'living Thylacoleo'-themed monster movie is still waiting to be made.

  Thylacoleo carnifex model produced by Jeff Johnson and owned by Rebecca Lang, two longstandingFacebook friends of mine (© Jeff Johnson/Rebecca Lang – reproduced here on a strictlynon-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Incidentally, a novel written byAustralian horror author Matthew J. Hellscream (I'm guessing that this may be apseudonym…) that was published in 2016, i.e. 6 years before the present movie under review here was released, was alsoentitled Carnifex, and also featured somevisitors to a remote area of the Australian bush encountering living but scientifically-undiscoveredmarsupial lions. According to various AdelaideAdvertiser articles, Hellstream took legal advice when the movie came outbecause of perceived title and plot similarities, but that is not what I amconcerned with here. What I amconcerned with is that the very striking illustration of one such beast presenton the front cover of Hellstream's novel depicts it with totally accuratedentition – click here to view it, and take note of thegreatly enlarged incisors, and all but absent canines, plus the shearing blade-likecarnassials further back.

I don't own a copy of this novel (yet),but I've heard tell that the cover artwork was prepared by acclaimed horrorartist Frank Walls, who created the front cover for Hellscream's previousnovel, Metro 7, but I can't confirm this.Whoever did design it, however, clearly made the effort to portray accurately theunique dentition of this truly unique mammalian predator.

Anyway, if you'd like to peer through thedarkness of the Outback at night in search of the toothy terror lurking in thismovie, be sure to click here to watch an official Carnifex trailer on YouTube.

Finally:this review originally appeared in ShukerNature's fellow blog, Shuker In MovieLand. To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLandblog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via adirect clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view acomplete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

  Mybook Still InSearch Of Prehistoric Survivors (2016), which contains a very comprehensive coverage of the yarri or Queenslandtiger, and featuring prominently in the bottom-left portion of its front coveran artistic representation by cryptozoology artist William M. Rebsamen of whatthis elusive, mysterious creature may look like if it is indeed a survivingrepresentative of the marsupial lion Thylacoleocarnifex, complete with accurate dental depiction for the latter species (©Dr Karl Shuker/William M. Rebsamen/Coachwhip Publications)