Twisting The Truth: A New Take On Piglady
Today, Gravitas Ventures released Piglady on digital platforms, a horror slasher inspired by the Susan Monica Murders. If you’re unfamiliar with the crimes that took place in Wimer, Oregon, let me fill you in: In 2014, Monica was found guilty of murdering two farm hands on her secluded, 20-acre property and feeding them to her pigs. While it has never been proven that she fed them to her pigs intentionally—as a means to get rid of the bodies or if the pigs were simply hungry (pigs will literally eat anything) Monica had chillingly admitted that her pigs had begun eating one of the victims, Robert Haney, while he was still alive. At the time of her trial, Monica was sentenced to two consecutive 25-year sentences. However, when pressed about if there were other victims, she’d hinted that she’d easily spend the rest of her life in prison if anyone had found as many as 17 others on her property.
For someone who loves true crime, after reading more about the case that inspired the story, paired with the fact that director Adam Ray Fair and co-director Lyon Mitchell filmed the movie on the property adjacent to the crimes, I was eager to sign up for the experience. I knew the film wouldn’t be a mockumentary (although the intro kind of gave that vibe) or comparable to my traditional horror fixes. For me personally, it felt like going back to the roots of where my love for horror really took off.
Similar to some of my pastime favorites, like Cabin in the Woods, Evil Dead, and Cabin Fever, viewers follow two couples and their friends gear up for a weekend at Hunter’s (Fair) dad’s camp in Oregon. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the film’s awkward and often unnecessarily-forced dialogue, I could appreciate the attempt at creating some underlying drama and secrets and rifts between varying and extreme stereotypes. For the most part, Liam Samuel Watkins (Tony), Alicia Karami (Brittany), Karri Davis (Adrianna), and Fair all managed to bring the screenplay to life.
Just to make the group’s connection with the woman they refer to as “Piglady,” urban legend would claim that she was pretty much a loner. Portrayed as a rather stocky woman whose face we never actually see, Hunter shares with Tony that as kids, they’d grown up hearing spooky stories about the people she’d killed and fed to her pigs—some rumors even hinted at her relationship with the pigs. While the stories were never taken seriously back then, it would soon be revealed that not only were the rumors of her serial killing true, preying on junkies who wouldn’t be missed, but that she had a new target: Hunter and his friends. This would be chalked up as a sort of revenge plot for Hunter’s dad constantly trying to buy her land. Not a total stretch, but I can still appreciate the creativity! It’s not often that you get a gruesome slasher nightmare from the basis of a serial killer. Also, there are a lot of pigs in this movie and I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to capture them on film.
Unfortunately, that aspect is also where the film lost me. While it was a little unnerving to see how the pigs were apparently cornering their victims, slowly drawing closer in each scene, it wasn’t very scary. Pigs can make some frightening noises, and in reality, although cute and stinky, have literally been known to eat people. Growing up amongst Western Pennsylvania farmlands, I’ve had my own fair share of warnings when around pigs. Fully aware of the potential this movie had, and appreciating the minor details, like puncture wounds from a pig’s needle-like teeth in victims and the aftermath of their flesh being eaten to the bone, I think it failed to portray what would and should have been the most terrifying shots of the film. Instead, I think the most horrific shot was the close-up on the butchered pig Tony and Hunter were preparing for a hog roast—and I’ve had to gut and skin deer myself. Just the colorization, the lifeless eyes. It reminded me of a flash shot we’d see in House of 1000 Corpses. If that doesn’t say “missed mark” I’m not quite sure what else will.
However, that doesn’t mean that the film isn’t worth the watch. In all seriousness, if you’re looking for a new slasher-meets-cabin-in-the-woods type of horror film, you should definitely give this a try—especially if you have a fear or distaste for pigs!
Trigger warning: A dog dies in this movie.
Article written by DESTINY KING
Destiny writes about true crime and thrillers. She likes movies and stories that make you question the world around you, more so than what makes you jump.
Throughout the decades, slasher film villains have had their fair share of bizarre motivations for committing violence. In Jamie Langlands’s The R.I.P Man, killer Alden Pick gathers the teeth of his victims to put in his own toothless mouth in deference to an obscure medieval Italian clan of misfits.