Being based on a Clive Barker short story of the same name you can see the skeletal framework of a plot that could have elevated this movie to a higher standing. The characters appear to have legitimate things going on for them, even if I never understood why the protagonist was poking around a church in Ireland, and the titular monster shows the signs of an interesting, highly detailed supporting backstory that's based on actual folklore. There's an unfortunate dearth of meat on those bones though as the film never embraces its storytelling potential, causing the time spent following our leads around to drag down the pacing in the first half and leaving the pagan entity at the heart of all this feeling a little empty between the ears. Ultimately limiting the reputation of this adaptation to that of a rather middling creature feature at best. Still, it's got the gory kills and a lot of work clearly went into bringing ol' "Rawhead" to life, even if he does look a bit too much like a supersized version of a child's plastic action figure standing there at times. Plus, on top of the cheap thrills it offers (which include nudity and a particularly bizarre urination gag), when was the last time you saw an Irish horror flick or really any cinema from that country at all? None of this makes up for the writing deficiencies that will have you seeking answers behind the religiously inspired elements, particularly when it comes to whatever was going on with how they defeat the brute, but they do allow for some B-movie style fun to be found regardless which makes it worth watching for those who are into that kind of content. Yet, even as someone who is, I too have been left desiring a remake with a more developed script that fully dives into the possible subtext of the material and delivers on the concept's true promise.