Pig Hill

After another woman goes missing in the area, fascinated local Carrie (Rainey Qualley) begins looking into the legend of Pig Hill, an urban myth about the “pig people” who have, so the story goes, been kidnapping and breeding with their victims for decades. Despite the warnings from her overbearing brother Chris (Shiloh Fernandez), she soon teams up with new friend Andy (Shane West) to delve deeper into the terrifying reality behind the legend.

Pig Hill at first seems to want to strive towards something deeper and murkier than your typical tale of psychotic, humanoid swine. In its first hour, writer Jarrod Burris and director Kevin Lewis (Willy’s Wonderland) meticulously build up the legend that haunts this town of Meadville, PA (where the film is shot and where the "real legend” comes from) into something often quite captivating; an absorbing mystery driven forward by a cast of decent characters, each of whom are given space and time to be explored beyond pure surface level impressions.

Qualley’s Carrie, for example, the lead writing her book on the legend of Pig Hill, is also grieving an estrangement from her husband, being supported by yet mostly supporting her pill-addicted brother Chris (Fernandez). But it’s in Qualley’s scenes with West’s Andy, returning to town after the loss of his job, wife and son, where she and the film really come alive, their growing relationship bubbling with chemistry in a powerful dynamic compelling enough to root for.

Unfortunately, Pig Hill never really settles on what kind of film it wants to be. While the grim subject matter does suggest a certain level of intensity, when Pig Hill does try to inject the shocks and scares, it really puts its foot down, which will, of course, please the hardcore but will leave more than a few reeling from those all-too-abrupt tonal shifts. These moments also happen to be when the film is a bit too blasé about a number of sensitive subjects that really should be handled with more consideration, i.e. sexual assault, incest, etc., with a particular abortion/suicide scene perhaps the main offender, clearly added with intent to shock but otherwise lacking any real point or purpose.

It’s a shame because when Pig Hill is at its strongest, when it allows its mystery and characters to drive it forward rather than its gore and violence, it really shines. Unfortunately, it undercuts itself too often in its overly gratuitous choices. The film's more intense scenes also could have benefited from a bit more direction. Qualley seems unsure how much to commit to these moments, often defaulting to wide-eyed bemusement every time the camera closes in for her reaction to the ensuing chaos rather than anything that feels authentic. And despite all its aforementioned hard work to build up the mystery of the piece, the landing of the last half hour feels extremely rushed, an extended monologue that reveals all poorly utilised in an effort to quickly and messily wrap things up in a finale that falls flat and raises more questions than it answers.

Despite a noble effort to intrigue and having some compelling characters to boot, Pig Hill ultimately feels too confused in its attempts to be both a mystery and a gore fest to fully succeed at either.

Pig Hill received its world premiere as part of FrightFest '25