Somebodys There is the original title of The Pigman Murders which made it Ireland’s turn to enter into the found footage sub-genre, with their creation from director and writer Stephen Patrick Kenny (24 Hours to Die [2016]), which shows great promise, especially when dealing a bunch of drunken buddies celebrating the life of fallen friend and having the independent workhorse Wild Eye Releasing.
A group of seven friends hires a professional cameraman to accompany them on a trip into the beautiful wilderness of Connemara, County Galway in Ireland, to pay homage to their friend Brendan, who died from his battle from cancer, a year earlier. The camera operator leads as a segway into the found footage market, and the group has a natural bonding with each other, as they should since everyone on the top billed cast, except Kenneth O’Sullivan, has worked on the television mini-series Darker Days [2012]. The concept of the film is a joint venture and filled with the normal confessional moments, which starts all the same a greeting to Brendan’s family, some add a touch of class or comedic reference but no real difference from the reality shows that bombard the so many networks today. Unfortunately, good intentions escape as the trip turns from drunken and crude jokes at a local pub, to humiliation and drug induced trips, the editing of this tale would be a nightmare for the professional editor to fix in post-production, luckily that won’t have to happen. The story runs aimlessly with a few members’ dialogues blurring into the next, while the audience awaits the unleashing of The Pigman, the build-up seems to take a while, yet in horror good things often come to those that wait, and with a full-length feature that runs the standard 90 minutes, why not sit back, and enjoy the comforts of their petty insanity. Soon the fun and games turn bloody with a panicked man, that his girlfriend is caught of a group Hog Mask Men, and they must get help but alas no communication and the new hunt begins, showing a quick breakdown of loyalty and self-preservation appears in sheer desperation. A great usage of claustrophobic paranoia from the Kenny, as the madmen uses the cover of darkness to their advantage to close in on their targets, as the shadows, blackness of the woods all aid the villains, and control the prey, for vicious devastating carnage treats.
The pig mask has slowly become a sub-genre, with it all starting back in 1980 with director Kevin Connor and his film Motel Hell, and then not really returning to Tony Swansey’s Squeal [2008], the Saw franchise worked the usage into the film series to terrorize captives. However, lately at least one film a year seems on par to explore and exploit the pig and reference the hoggish behaviors to the human consumption with food and things. One must note an increase in the design and execution needs terrorize the victims and in turn the viewers with newer designs to frighten the audience to a panic mode, eerily similar to the clown phobias.
The Pigman Murders, nestled in a mud bath with splashes of blood spraying everywhere, and that holds as positive for the film, and on the negative side, the found footage is not really needed, a straight-forward narrative horror story still brings fear, just a little more screenplay working. Then the glitches with the camera can stop, especially when the operator supposedly is a professional, no one has the constant fuzz, test patterns, and spotting sounds even on the cheapest handhelds, why does the modern technology keep failing at the wrong times.
After six months, unknown persons upload the footage highlighting their own snuff movie, to social networking sites masking themselves from detection. An original ending though a tad like Criminal Minds “Revelations” from season two, in which videos containing homicides are loaded up to the internet, gaining millions of views. In addition, a short film worth a good view, called Curse of the Banshee is included in the extras. This is a recommendation for the fans of low budget found footage films, and with a sequel on the horizon likely called The Pigman Killers, it seems the piggish hogging for the camera has just started, and clearly not over by any means.
TAGLINE:
- 7 Friends, One Tape, No Witnesses
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2176874/
IMDb Rating: 2.3/10
Baron’s Rating: 2.0/10