Coming after Birdcall, the second of my animal themed horror reviews this week sees me get into the twisted world of the Kevin Lewis (Willy's Wonderland) directed Pig Hill. The subject matter of pig people is of course ridiculous, but to its credit, the film tackles that subject matter seriously.
There have been a lot of disappearances in and around the rural city of Meadville (that the end credits are very excited to state is a real place), and Carrie (Rainey Qualley - Ocean's Eight) has decided to write a book about this, hoping to be successful enough that she will be able to afford to move somewhere better. She is looking at the situation from the perspective of local legend, with many people believing human/pig hybrids live up in a remote area known as Pig Hill and they are responsible for the missing people. Of course, these investigations get the girl closer to the the truth than she ever realised she would.
Things do make more sense later on, but I was unprepared for the commitment to treating the silly subject seriously. As a protagonist, I really liked Carrie. She had a sleep-walking type of feel throughout Pig Hill that blended well with its more ethereal and hallucinogenic moments. It is rare to get a lead who is the movie's scene-stealer, but that was the case here. Qualley made each scene she appeared in better, purely by her being there. Not that she had too much competition, as a lot of the rest of the cast didn't seem as well...cast. Shane West (Gotham) plays Carrie's new love interest; Andy; a man with not one, but two tragic backstories to his name. He has such an earnest face and says his lines in such a matter of fact world weary resigned way that every word that came out of his mouth sounded fake. I could not take this character seriously, making for a character I did not care for at all. Better was Carrie's creepy brother, Chris (Shiloh Fernandez - Evil Dead), he has a real skill at oozing off-putting, too protective vibes in his relationship with his adored sibling. Back on the flipside there is Andy's best friend; a barman who is forced to have near enough his every line of dialogue come across as comedic, and out of place.
There are many dream sequences, lots of reality bending, and Carrie frequently hallucinates the pig man in various places watching her - this all combines to make you feel something more supernatural may be going on. There was a trippy vibe to much of the film, with scenes bleeding into each other enough that you occasionally question if what you are seeing is real or part of a dream sequence. The occasional disorientating scene transition adds to the movie's default dream-like feel. When the story is eventually displayed in all its truth, it adds a different perspective to earlier scenes - certainly a grim subject matter! Gave me slight vibes of the Black Mirror episode 'Loch Henry'. I did really like where the film ended up going.
If you came to Pig Hill hoping for pig people, then sure, you will find them here, at least in some form. You will also get scenes of gore, sexual assault, and one over the top birth scene, invoking old school Peter Jackson gore-fests. I like that this tried to go somewhere unexpected with its story, and with good cinematography, editing effects and a good look, this horror wasn't terrible. Pig Hill is due out in the forth quarter this year, thanks to High Fliers Films.
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