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Directed by Kevin Lewis.
Written by Jarrod Burris, based on a novel by Nancy Williams.
Check out the trailer here!!
Carrie (played by Rainey Qualley, recently seen THE DEVIL & THE DAYLONG BROTHERS, sister of Margaret, and daughter of Andie MacDowell) has heard legends of the pig people that are supposed to live in the dark forests around Pig Hill since she was a child. As young women continue to go missing in the area, Carrie plans to author a book about this strange local legend. Carrie’s work gets her closer to the truth, but the legend proves to be more dangerous than she had ever imagined.
Just check Tubi, the killer in a pig mask is a concept that is a dime a dozen these days. But PIG HILL is definitely the gnarliest of all of the pig-head killer flicks. This is a brutal movie. From the director of the twistedly fun WILLY’S WONDERLAND, Kevin Lewis delivers a film that doesn’t pull its punches. This pig-head killer, known as Swill, is perverse, gross, and monstrous as he bashes, tears, and fucks anything in his filthy path.
But the thing is, PIG HILL isn’t your typical exploitative, gross-out horror film. It’s well acted, especially from lead Rainey Qualley, who has a strangely deep voice, but overflows with beauty, sensuality, and that same “it factor” her sister Margaret does. Helping her out is LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN’s Shane West, who plays a likable guy who pops into Carrie’s life just in time for him to be the sidekick to her investigative journalism. And Shiloh Fernandez (2013’s EVIL DEAD) is good as Carrie’s over-protective brother, offering up some complex emotional heft to Carrie’s deep dive into piggy horror. This film also has TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III’s Leatherface R.A. Mihailoff as a local pig farmer-a nice touch since Pig-headed killers have always felt derivative of TCM, because of the original swine-masked slasher from MOTEL HELL.
What I really liked about PIG HILL was the way it approaches the local legend aspect of the terrifying goings on. Carrie is exploring all of the possibilities of the horrors at Pig Hill, even the most extreme and crazy ones like half-human/half-pig hybrids and alien abductions. It gives a bit more gravitas to the threat when you and the lead are murky about exactly what it is lurking in the dark and snorting. PIG HILL unfolds this fascinating mystery well, keeping you guessing for most of the film as to what really is going on.
And what is going on is creepy as all get out. Some will be down-right skeeved to hell and back with how PIG HILL plays out. Director Lewis gives the whole film this unreal quality by bathing scenes in blues, reds, and greens—which amps up the more cerebral twists and turns going on. Some of these scenes, especially told through hallucination and dreams, are uncomfortably surreal. There are a few clunky lines and an overlong villain monologue towards the end that almost undercut the intensity, but this is one to watch out for. But prepare yourself for some nice, goppy, sloppy gore if you plan on seeing PIG HILL.
