The 2014 horror comedy about a man surgically transformed into a horrifying human-walrus hybrid has earned a solid cult following for nearly a decade - but it turns out that Tusk was actually based on a true story.
Thankfully, the claim within Kevin Smith’s movie isn't 100% accurate - nobody was actually turned into a walrus by an eccentric serial killer but it's not entirely fictional either.
The film follows podcaster, Wallace (Justin Long), who travels to meet a recluse, unaware of the fact that he has a morbid obsession with walruses - no prizes for guessing what happens next.
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Wallace is drugged and painfully transformed into the tusked beast by serial killer, Howard Howe.
It seems the flick was actually inspired by a prank online advertisement by writer Chris Parkinson from Brighton.
The ad sees an old man offer a room in his house rent-free with one stipulation - the tenant has to occasionally dress up as and act like a walrus.
While he wasn't expecting to hear anything and soon forgot his joke, he received a massive 400 responses from people willing to go walrus to live rent free - and that captured Smith's attention.
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So the 'real events' they're talking about are the ad and its responses, not the Frankenstein's Monster marine mammal.
Parkinson revealed he never actually intended to turn a human being into a walrus.
But rather than a prank ad, Tusk tells the story of a Los Angeles podcaster Wallace and his co-host, Teddy (Haley Joel Osment), ridiculing unfortunate people in viral videos.
For an interview with a teenager who mistakenly cut off his own leg, Wallace has to go to the outskirts of Manitoba, Canada - but he's already died by suicide because of the ridicule.
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As karma would have it, he finds a flyer posted by an old man who is perfect podcast fodder: but the flyer does not mention a walrus and isn't a joke but a lure by serial killer, Howe (Michael Parks).
Howe is a retired sailor who killed and ate a walrus that saved his life.
To act out giving his saviour a chance to live, he disfigures victims and surgically transforms them into the human walrus, which he named Mr. Tusk before reenacting their time together.
The stomach-churning movie has been labelled ‘worse than The Human Centipede’, which also features some horrific surgical experiments and depictions of brutal body modifications to satisfy a surgeon's deranged fantasy.
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Viewers have been left ‘literally traumatised’ after watching the film.
TikToker Heidi Wong took to the platform to share her thoughts on the movie.
Creating a series of videos in response to Tusk, she said: “Out of all the horror movies that I’ve seen, this one gets to me the most.
“This movie was worse than The Human Centipede to me.”
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In one video dwelling on the ending (turn away now for spoilers), she said: “Me watching a guy who was forced to be surgically turned into a walrus finally escape, only for his friends to put him in a zoo to live the rest of his life as an actual walrus.”
Commenters said they couldn't look at the animal in the same way anymore, with one writing: “After knowing about this movie and seeing clips I can never see walruses the same anymore."
Featured Image Credit: A24Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film, Weird