Despite his increasing success with comics, Jodorowsky was still reeling from the failure of his Dune project when he decided to adapt Reginald Campbell’s “Poo Lorn of the Elephants” into the disastrous 1980 film TUSK. Disowned by the director (“Don’t see Tusk. I bury the film.”) and nearly impossible to track down in a watchable form, the movie remains an enigma in Alejandro Jodorowsky’s career. On this episode of JodoWOWsky, we look at how TUSK came about, whether it’s the disaster so often reported, whether a better film might be hiding inside the original elements, and how the heck the whole thing fell apart. CHECK IT OUT!
On this episode we referenced this wonderful article – one of the most detailed out there – about the messy history and legacy of Tusk.
If you want to read Poo Lorn of the Elephants, it can be found on archive.org right here.
Your hosts are Cinema Smorgasbord regulars Doug Tilley (@Doug_Tilley) and Liam O’Donnell (@LiamRulz), but they are joined on this adventure by the always wonderful and incisive Julia Marchese!
Julia is a filmmaker, actor, writer, film programmer and podcaster. Julia’s first film was Out of Print, a documentary about the importance of revival cinema and 35mm to culture. The film has played all over the world in film archives, art house cinemas and universities. The 35mm print of the film is now housed at The Academy Film Archives. Her next project is a short film adaptation of Stephen King’s short story “I Know What You Need”. She is the co-host of Horror Movie Survival Guide, a weekly podcast that takes a deep dive into a different horror film each week, focusing on how to become the final girl. You can follow her on her social media platforms
