What is Tusk about?
When his best friend and podcast co-host goes missing in the backwoods of Canada, a young guy joins forces with his friend's girlfriend to search for him.
Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)
No. Brace yourself.
A podcaster's search for his missing co-host becomes a surreal, darkly comic, and tragic odyssey.
Campy, with dark satire. A late-night trip at a measured pace. Emotionally it carries some weight.
Streaming on Max.
Tusk parents guide
Real scares and a jolt or two, about what an R should carry.
- Scare
- Properly scary
- Frightening, not just tense.
- Jump scares
- A couple
- One or two sudden jolts.
- Gore
- Graphic gore
- Blood and wounds shown clearly.
- Violence
- Strong violence
- Violence is frequent or intense.
- Sex and nudity
- Mild
- Mild means innuendo, or sex implied off screen, with no nudity.
- Language
- Strong
- Frequent strong profanity or slurs.
How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.
Three questions
- Is Tusk scary?
- Yes, properly. Tusk is the real thing without being an endurance test.
- How gory is Tusk?
- Graphic gore and strong violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.
- What is Tusk rated, and is it OK for kids?
- No. It is rated R, with real scares, strong violence and frequent strong language.
Cast and crew
Directed byKevin Smith
StarringMichael Parks, Justin Long, Genesis Rodriguez, Haley Joel Osment, Johnny Depp, Harley Morenstein
More like Tusk
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)Mildly scary · light gore · measuredVampire housemates navigate modern life's absurdities with darkly comic wit and whimsical, undead charm.
Zombieland (2009)Mildly scary · graphic gore · strong violence · briskSurvivors of a zombie apocalypse discover that their biggest threat might be their own darkly comic dysfunction.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)Mildly scary · graphic gore · strong violence · briskA slacker's mundane life becomes a darkly comedic fight for survival when zombies interrupt his pub routine.
Pulp Fiction (1994)Darkly comic · graphic gore · strong violence · emotionally heavyHitmen, molls, and boxers collide in a sprawling, darkly comic crime saga that twists through time.
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)Mildly scary · extreme gore · brutal violence · briskTwo well-meaning hillbillies face absurd, darkly comic misunderstandings when college kids mistake them for killers.
Fright Night (1985)Properly scary · light gore · strong violence · briskA teenager's new neighbor is a vampire, leading to a brisk, darkly comic, and suspenseful suburban nightmare.
The Monkey (2025)Properly scary · extreme gore · brutal violence · emotionally heavyA cursed wind-up monkey unleashes outrageous, darkly comic deaths, forcing estranged brothers to confront their past.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)Mildly scary · light gore · measuredA family's return home unleashes absurd, darkly comic chaos when a portal to the Afterlife opens.
Tusk is on our Horror on Max list.
More like this feeling
Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.
- “funny but not stupid, under two hours”
- “a fun halloween movie, not too scary”
- “a horror movie that's actually scary”
Lists with the same feel: Weird and surreal and Late night.
Five more like Tusk
Say the mood. Five picks with where they stream, right here.
Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.