Rawhead Rex is a demon. A big, rubbery looking one in fact. Rawhead Rex has been imprisoned for centuries. Now a lightning storm and a dumb farmer have set him free. He's not in the best of moods. Not only is he probably a bit achey after all that time trapped, he ain't too pleased at finding his stamping ground full of Jesus freaks. He's gonna terrify some farmers, random residents, and campers to get his own back!
That's the first problem with this. He's some extremely powerful demon who was worshipped as a god in ancient times apparently, so why on earth does he waste his time throwing barn doors off of their hinges to show his power? Sure, he's angry, but he must have better ideas for stress relief than running around and scaring the crap out of the odd farmer.
He does hypnotize the odd person into obeying him, and howl a lot though. And, there is the immortal scene where he urinates all over the local clergyman. That scene is immortal. If you ever hear people in certain IRC chans ;) saying they are "going for a vicar" or "vicars" then ya know where it came from and what it means.
It's a strange film in a way, even more so when you consider that it came from the pen of Clive Barker, much more well known on the silver screen for the likes of Hellraiser or Lord of Illusion. It's not what you'd expect of a Clive Barker adaptation at all, with its rather muddled story and ineffectual plotting. There's just too much random pacing and huffing from the powerful Rawhead, who should have better things to do with his time than stalk around trying to spook and scare the random populace.
But, it is fun in a lighthearted way. Rawhead Rex is rubbery, he goes kinda crosseyed when he hypnotises people, and he likes to piss on vicars. There is enough happening on screen, and enough semblance of a coherent story, to keep interest sustained. It probably wasn't intended that way when it was made, but many of the 'horror' scenes will make you chuckle now. Fun that won't scare you - heck, it won't even scare your kids - but fun nonetheless.
Worth a whirl, but unless you are a real collector I wouldn't go paying the huge amounts people seemingly ask for this on Amazon or Ebay USA from time to time in the hopes of finding a classic. It sure isn't that, but it is worth an hour or two of your time.