Wallace (Justin Long) is a podcaster on a mission who thinks he has found the story of a lifetime in Howard Howe (Michael Parks), an adventurer with amazing stories and a curious penchant for walruses. When Mr. Howe’s true desires unfold, things take a dark turn and Wallace faces a terrifying transformation at the hands of his captor. As his friends Alison and Teddy (Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment) search the backwoods of Canada to rescue him, they discover a nightmare from which there is no escape. Conceived from one of indie legend Kevin Smith's own Smodcast’s, Tusk is an unprecedented tale that is equal parts hilarious and horrifying.
The idea for the movie came during the recording of SModcast 259 The Walrus and The Carpenter. In the episode, Smith with his longtime friend and producer Scott Mosier discussed an article featuring a Gumtree ad where a homeowner was offering a living situation free of charge, if the lodger agrees to dress as a walrus. The discussion went on from there, resulting in almost an hour of the episode being spent on reconstructing and telling a hypothetical story based on the ad. The post on Gumtree was in fact a prank post by noted Brighton poet and prankster Chris Parkinson, a fan of Smith who hoped to get in touch with him. Kevin Smith eventually hired Parkinson as a producer.
[This is Kevin Smith's first film in his Canada based trilogy. Second film will be Yoga-Hosers based on another Smodcast Podcast episode #288 and finally Moose Jaws.]