Pig Hunt

is this a horror and does it contain pig hunting. That was what I thought when this flick was finished. I agree, it do contains well executed gory effects but there's more going on than only a pig. In fact it reminded me more to old exploitation flicks added with some horror. There's some resemblance to Deliverance (1972) because it's more how to survive red necks going wild then how to hunt the boar.

The return to exploitation lays in the fact how the red necks move through the woods. It's a kind of mad max style. Suddenly one of the friends come across a lake full of naked women. That's being exploited with the song 'It's A Man's World". It's only towards the end that we see some kind of cult adoring the big boar called The Ripper.

I think a lot of viewers will be disappointed about the fact that it's more about being hunted down by the rednecks then go hunting pigs. On the other hand it do has some nasty scene's with even intestines being ripped out by the boar. But still I would rather call it a thriller with gory shots then a horror.

For the fans of the band Primus, Les Claypool made some tracks for this flick and is seen as the priest here in Pig Hunt.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

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.

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.

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