Movie Breakdown: Piggy (Noah)

Pre-Screening Stance:

Piggy is described as an artsy, Spanish, Chainsaw Massacre-adjacent slasher flick. I’m definitely interested.

Post-Screening Ramble:

Piggy is a nasty entry into the serial killer genre with enough twists and turns to elevate it a touch above your standard fare. Sara (Laura Galán) is the daughter of the butcher in a small town and perpetually teased by a clique of “cool girls” for both her size and her inability to interact with them. Unbeknownst to all of them a serial killer is stalking the town and after a particularly grueling teasing session at a local pool, Sara is inexplicably drawn into the killer’s world. And where a typical serial killer flick would just follow the lead as she attempts to escape a deranged psychopath, Piggy turns the narrative, offering the serial killer as a protector to Sara and in doing so creating an unlikely bond between the two outcasts. As the body count adds up and Sara gets closer and closer to the killer, the film begs the question: does Sara want the safety afforded by this horror show of a person or is she just playing along to survive? The director, Carlota Pereda, and her star both deftly keep the audience guessing until the very, very end. Piggy rides very close to your typical slasher flick – an outcast, a killer, a bunch of disposable teens dying en masse – but there’s a touch more nuance here, a shade of moral ambiguity in the brooding pseudo-relationship between Sara and the killer that pushes it to touch higher of a level. That said, even as a straight up slasher flick, Piggy is an enjoyably gruesome take on the standard tropes. But there’s more at play here and the film is better for it.

One Last Thought:

It doesn’t matter what country you live in, the cool kids will always be assholes.