Pig Hunt

I will start with the one really good thing about the movie! It's the sound(track). I really loved it. It's a bit country mixed with other influences and it really worked for me. Not everyone at the Festvial I watched this at, was as hyped about it as me though, but that's how everyone receives certain things.

Now onto the problems: There is not much happening in the movie. And while the direction it takes (concentrating on the characters) is not really a bad one, it doesn't have either the script/dialog nor the actors to carry something like that. Still a few (too little) action set pieces and some fine moments plus the music prevent this movie from falling completely down ...

Yeah...so Pig Hunt. I'm pretty sure I've seen lots of movies like it, but at the same time, I've never seen anything like it. We've got city boys going to the woods for a guys weekend of hunting, we've got the "unexpected" girlfriend tagging along, we've got an (apparently) inbred family of rednecks, we've got family drama, we've got a killer giant boar on the loose, and a Les Claypool cameo AND soundtrack. I didn't even get to the cult of emu-raising, pig-worshiping, pot-growing lesbians and the Baron Samedi-esque man who lives with them. Pig Hunt isn't a good movie, and it's not even particularly entertaining, but it's so wildly random that I probably wouldn't discourage anyone from watching it.

ff

When it comes down to it, I don't hate many movies. I watch all types of garbage. From German gore flicks to no-budget sci-fi, and everything in between. All I really look for is one saving grace in a movie. One thing that makes me smile. And this movie had two saving graces actually. Well, for me anyways. But the question is, why do I still hate it? I'll attempt it with an high school analogy. Remember in high school the kid who tried to be real cool? The person that would try to talk the talk and walk the walk? The person that just tried to do and say all the 'right' things? The kid who's just a flat-out unoriginal robot-tag-along-Indian, but desperately tried to make himself seem hip and cool? Remember that kid? Pig Hunt is that kid. What a loser.

Just like that stupid kid in high school who had nothing to talk about besides 'cool' things, Pig Hunt is the same way. The thing with that loser from high school, he (or she) may have been in an accelerated class. He may have even taken A.P. Physics. But I can assure you Pig Hunt is no way near any accelerated learning classes. Pig Hunt's in the school basement with all the other people with learning disabilities. Acting overall was amateur at best. Writing was even worse. But more than anything was just it's overall feeling of trying too hard to be a hip movie. Honestly, that scene at the hippie commune....what the f@ck?

More than anything with Pig Hunt is it's horrendous characters. First and foremost, the 'hero'. What a pathetic badass he was. Phewy! He played the serious, I talk stern, nothing to smile about role in one of the most basic ways you can imagine. I don't blame the actor entirely, as the writing for his character was abysmal. Honestly how difficult is it to write a character that you care for? There isn't one person in this film that you wanted to live. If that was the film-makers goal, then great f@ckin job! But it wasn't, as there were survivors. Sure they had that cliché weakling character that you're supposed to care for, but he sucked, flat out. I'll be nice for a second and play fair. I wanted to Les Claypool's character to live longer. One second it seemed he was gonna play a bigger role as the movie began to climax, then poof, he's outta the picture. Thanks fer nuthin! Back to that 'hero' dude. There's a scene where they come upon a whole field of marijuana. And what does our Mr. Cool Hero guy do? He complains about it being illegal and not wanting it on his dead Uncle's property. And then he goes on and calls the weed, 'dope'. I don't know about you, but this movie, with all it's failed attempts at being hip, you'd think it'd be about glorifying weed. Instead it's in this weird buffer zone, as there's loads marijuana in the flick, but it's all related to bad things. But again, back to the Captain Kewl. What kind of hero, in a action/horror flick about a monster pig, looks down on weed? What's the reason to root for this guy?? Why is he the hero? Because he uses a f@ckin' crossbow!?

The two saving graces before I forget. I don't recall any CGI. And the character played by Jason Foster. He was the only consistently well-acted character in the movie. I also thought his transition from questionable-villain to evil villain was well done.

I can go on and on about why this movie failed and sucked, but I won't because I gotta take a dump. Bottom line is I didn't like this movie. With it's opening credits in animated fashion, I was impressed. It put in me that it might be something original. But that just isn't the case. Now that I think of it, it's almost kinda trendy nowadays to have your opening credits in comic book style pictures. The more and more I think about Pig Hunt, the more I just feel bad for it. Just like that kid in high school. You didn't hate him. You just felt bad for him. He was pathetic.

Horror conventions like Frightfest are an ideal home for z- grade movies, because they will be lucky to find distribution anywhere else. At first glance, Pig Hunt may seem like one such movie, but once you see it you realize that labelling it as Z-grade may a tad degrading. Sure it's low budget, but the premise is something more legitimate than the kind of rip off of a rip off of a rip off that one might be anticipating. Indeed Pig Hunt's problem is not a lack of material. On the contrary, it has too much. The film is overambitious and uncertain of what it wants to be. It delivers a scenario where hunters go after pigs, pigs go after hunters, hillbillies go after hunters, and Eurasian brothel girls are after anyone.

Pig Hunt is arguably enjoyable in that it doesn't feel predictable or familiar. It has a fun disgusting sense of humour, which is sustained for all most the entire running length, but is still not enough to keep the viewer blind to the movie's error. After a while, Pig Hunt starts to feel bloated and overlong. When it's all said and done, Pig Hunt could be called an amusing mess. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, I guess it's all a matter of how you approach it.

A bunch of multicultural guys and a girl go on a trip to the country. They go on a pig hunt as they are military and one of them is a hunter. Once in the country they run into the neighbors. They are the stereotypical movie hillbillies. Two of them go along for the pig hunt. These people don't go along with each other at all, making for a very obnoxious, long and tedious 1:15 of the movie. The beginning of the movie hints at a large hog that eats horses. And there are rumors of a 3000 pound one roaming the country. Earlier in the movie the gang also run into some weird black guru and a couple of his drugged out hippie devotees. The last part of the movie gets entertaining as the remaining guys from the gang escape the violent hillbillies and end up at the cult's house and meet the giant boar as well as some sexy girls.

There is a troubling trend in horror movies to present our cast as nothing but bunch of annoying, bickering idiots, insulting and threatening each other for hours. I don't know who thinks that's entertaining. It's not. It's a pain. This movie for the most part follows that recipe but with an unattractive cast. There is a bit of violence and gore. But if you're into animal death, torture, and gore, then this movie is for you as the camera loves to linger on animal carcasses.

I give this movie 3 stars for the 7 or so topless girls bathing. Nothing else is worth watching here.