“Towns like Meadville haunt you.”
So goes an early voiceover by Carrie (Rainey Qualley), who is working on a book about the local legend of Pig Hill, centred around mutant, porcine creatures who are supposedly responsible for a string of young women going missing. We’ve already seen the latest of these disappearances in the cold open, in which a couple foolishly heads to the titular area for a romantic detour that turns bloody rather quickly.
Carrie is putting her life together after splitting from husband Ben, a matter which is further complicated by the fact that Carrie’s brother Chris (Shiloh Fernandez) happens to be Ben’s business partner. Chris is protective of his little sister, driving her to and from the women’s shelter at which Carrie volunteers, the latest arrival being the pregnant Paula (Isabella Brenza) who claims have escaped Pig Hill but now has a pig baby inside her…
Kevin Lewis previously helmed Willy’s Wonderland, a movie I didn’t get on with. However, none of my criticisms were anything to do with the direction and, working from a twisty Jarrod Burris script and with agreeable contributions from a solid cast, this one held my interest far more than Nic Cage versus animatronic enemies. If you were wondering, Rainey Qualley is Margaret’s sister, both the family resemblance and acting chops being present.
Starting out like a slasher film, moving into smalltown drama before launching into creepy investigation thriller, then taking a swerve towards grimy kidnapping fare and finally landing in depraved, psychological trauma, Pig Hill is nothing if not ambitious in its mixing of genre and tone.
It’s based on a novel by Nancy Williams and this may be a major reason that it’s more focused on its main protagonists than many stories of this type would be, playing out extended scenes between either Carrie and Chris or Carrie and recently returned Andy (Shane West), their initial catch-up at a bar introducing a spritz of will they/won’t they romance to the already loaded genre cocktail. Andy, surprise, has his own predictably tragic backstory, but West is more than personable enough to make the gruesome but also faintly ridiculous tale work and there’s an accurately awkward chemistry with Qualley which makes them a fun pairing.
Meadville proves to be a supporting character itself, full of folks attempting to get by but restricted by both the limitations of opportunity and, of course, the possibility that human/pig hybrids are waiting to pluck them out of the night. Jeff Monahan’s shabby, strange but well-meaning Reggie and R. A. Mihailoff’s unhinged Red offer both ends of the Meadville oddball spectrum. Mihailoff, also on producing duties, provides most of the first half’s obvious (too obvious?) suspect activity, bolstered by the fact that he also played Leatherface in the third instalment of that franchise.
For anyone expecting a sizeable body count, Pig Hill is more concerned with delving into the central mystery than just piling up corpses. However, there are a handful of moments which are startingly, unrelentingly nasty and will disturb those looking for a clue-laden crime tale and violence which is more of the suggested kind. Anyone in a queasy mood by around the seventy five minute mark is likely to get the full-blown ick, which in itself is a bold move, but leaves the viewer with an unpleasant taste, regardless of Qualley’s terrific work in that climax.
If anything, there’s too much going on Pig Hill for some of it to land properly and the tonal lurches may ultimately lose the audience, which would be a shame because, overall, this is a curious mix of storytelling styles that is worth sticking with if you have a strong constitution. At one point, there’s some skulking around accompanied with some amusing, Scooby Doo style nervy humour which leads to a bloody fight and ends up someone getting a cleaver embedded in the back of their head. If you’re good with that switch in mood, the rest of this movie should keep you gripped. For everyone else, look away immediately after the line “I told you to kill it.”
Pig Hill may veer off in too many directions to result in a piece of work that’s fully coherent, but I can’t fault the keenness of the filmmakers in their desire to confound the expectations of those watching it. It’s a mix of the sweet and the sadistic, the puzzling and the perverse. The swings taken are admirable, but they also may be the reason that you may be left wondering who it was made for.
Pig Hill (2025) featured at this year’s London FrightFest.