[FrightFest 2025] FILM REVIEW: Pig Hill
- Adam
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Pig Hill - FrightFest World Premiere Review
Director: Kevin Lewis
Starring: Shane West, Rainey Qualley, Shiloh Fernandez, R.A. Mihailoff, Emma Kotos, Tammy Pescatelli
Written by: Jarrod Burris
Produced by: Maty Schiff, Ted Watts Jr, R.A. Mihailoff
Cinematography by: Tyler Eckels
Original Score by: Émoi
Synopsis:
After a tenth woman goes missing in the area, Carrie becomes obsessed with the local legend of the pig people of Pig Hill.
Thoughts:
From the director of 'Wally’s Wonderland' (y’know the Five Nights at Freddy’s knockoff?) comes a terrifying new vision of PIGS! THE SIZE OF MEN! I jest, as the premise is something you’d find in your average episode of 'Doctor Who', but I held out hope that I’d be in for something fun. Unfortunately, the film fails to deliver on its own premise as what transpires is 100 minutes of some of the most bleak, disgusting story choices I’ve seen in a long time.
While the film makers might have been going for something “edgy”, the film just comes off as desperate and off putting in the worst way. There’s obviously been films in this same vein, like 'Martyrs' or 'Funny Games', that challenge the audience; but the difference between those films and 'Pig Hill' is that they’re well made and had something to say. This feels unnecessarily cruel and a chore to watch.
Now don’t get me wrong, the actors in the film do the best job they can with this material. Both Shane West (A Walk to Remember) and Shiloh Fernandez (Evil Dead) carry a lot of the scenes. Fernandez plays the over protective brother of Carrie (Rainey Qualley) and delivers a performance that clearly shows that he’s a man struggling with life. Dealing with a grieving sister, the lost of his best friend and the horrors of missing women in town clearly hangs heavy on the shoulders of Fernandez’ character and he plays it well. Rainey Qualley is a decent lead here, at points it feels like she wasn’t directed enough with how to react to some of the ridiculous situations she’s been put in. I’d love to see her in a better role, as the acting gene clearly runs in the family, but 'Pig Hill' really isn’t doing her any favours.
Cinematography wise, the film is very basic with an over-reliance on shot/reverse shot set ups. The lighting is noticeably terrible, using two light set ups with a rotation of white, red or blue filters depending on the scene. Evil Pig Lair? Red light! Living room scene at night time? Blue light! I expected more from director Kevin Lewis, as 'Wally’s Wonderland' was a lot of fun and didn’t take itself too serious. You’d expect a similar tone from a film about killer pig men, but instead we got the film equivalent of kicking a puppy.
With a plot that involves murder, abuse, sexual abuse, graphic self harm, child murder, incest and suicide, it’s hard to say that 'Pig Hill' is a fun watch. When the film is this badly written and directed, all these themes seep into all the other aspects of the film.
I feel bad for the actors, as I’m sure they were signing onto something that was going to tackle some mature themes, but they’ve been let down by the director Kevin Lewis, who clearly doesn’t have the vision or maturity to tell such a tale.
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️
-Adam Neeson
'Pig Hill' received its World Premiere at FrightFest '25 on August 23rd