Pig Hunt

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.

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.

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There aren't a whole lot of horror movies out there involving pigs. Or maybe there are, but not as many as there should be. Most of the time pigs in popular culture are cute, funny, a term of insult, to a majority the word pig brings up a dirty, snuffling and shuffling pack of beasts in a farmers yard, waiting to get turned into delicious food. So to use pigs as a force for horror, to have them preying on humans, it's a good role reversal. Plus, the basic form of a pig doesn't take too much distortion and increase in size to become a pretty menacing looking customer. It was with these thought in mind that I sat down to Pig Hunt, unknowing that the pig action is actually just one aspect of the film, it being more of a backwoods genre mash up. The film sets about its build up during the course of a hunt, friends out for macho bonding in the forest (though one girlfriend tags along), a soaking, chilly trek with a few hints and rumours to stir a sense of mystery. Monster pig action is conspicuously absent for quite some time as the film combusts somewhere around the halfway mark, blazes through exciting hick-sploit action and some more unexpected craziness before we finally get into monstrous territory. Fortunately, the beast is mighty impressive, no CGI in sight, a tightly shot ferocious tusked beast rather worth the wait. A downside of all of this is that such a set up somewhat requires decent, memorable or likable characters and performances and Pig Hunt is pretty meh on the characterisation and acting fronts. No one is especially bad, but equally I never felt much for anyone. Travis Aaron Wade is a competent enough hero figure, Tina Huang does a fair tough gal schtick as his girlfriend, Howard Johnson Jr. makes for a decent a-hole, slightly more of a punch is provided by Jason Foster and Nick Tagas as wild natured but initially friendly hicks, while most notable is Les Claypool as a bulky, mystical figure who becomes important later on in the game. Though generally competent, the film suffers from a drawn out first half in which presumably we are supposed to get to know the characters so we can suffer and thrill along with them, but as mentioned they just aren't especially interesting. Slick, wet and vivid cinematography from Adam Kane makes for a suitably arduous atmosphere and when things do get exciting director James Isaac keeps tight, stylish hold on things, making for one or two impressive, thrilling moments. There's more nudity than might be expected, which is rather pleasing to behold, and a few good grisly scenes, the film isn't too concerned with gore but uses it for some nifty jolts. Interestingly, the goriest scene involves a pig rather than a human. Comment on the savagery of man? I could have done with more general gore, a shorter first half and longer final block (the film needs more pig!) but generally I was pretty pleased by this one. No classic, but certainly a worthy modern day B picture.

Honestly, I think this movie deserves a good solid 5. In a world where AMAZING movies rank between 8-10, this one falls into this area. So compared to amazing..this movie is...well it's not bad. It's kinda good even. Here's my reasons why.

This movie comes off as very original. I can honestly say I had no clue what was going on, and I couldn't guess what was going to happen next.

This is not a "horror" film. To be honest I'm not sure what genre this movie falls into. I suppose it falls a bit into the same category as movies like "The Cabin" or "Shrooms". It has horror elements to it. It has suspense. It has gore. It has at times cheesy dialog. It also has the typical badass hot chick that tend to show up in these types of movies.

The plot is as follows. A group of friends, some of which have served in the forces, and one of said friends girlfriends go on a hunting trip at one of their deceased uncles cabins. They are there to hunt wild bore. In the local area there are "clans" of hills people, who hunt and for the most part live off the land. Normally you'd think they would be the main antagonist from the get go, but you'd be wrong. They actually help the "friends" on their hunting trip.

While hunting, they run into many obstacles, including pot fields, crazy hippys, and insane hill people out for murder.

Overall this was a fun watch. The acting is pretty bad sometimes, some of the plot points aren't points at all, some characters make horrible decisions, and some things are left completely unresolved. Also there's some weird person just staring at you in the end. I still have no idea what that was about.

In the end I'd say give it a watch. It's a fun and crazy film. Don't expect too much and you'll enjoy it.

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.