Squeal

Director - Tom Swansey (Sabrina and Salem: Together Again)
Starring - Kevin Oestenstad (I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant), Allison Batty (All We Know is Heaven), and Stephen Dean (Star Trek: Enterprise)
Release Date - 2008
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "A twisted tail of terror" and "Meat is murder"

Rating (out of 5):

     This is one of those films you never know exits until your in the right place at the right time.  I just happened to be browsing on the same forums I visit all the time when I found a post that had no comments or likes.  The post was simply called "killer pig film" and I was interested.  Having read my reviews on Porkchop and Madison County, you may have noticed here lately I have a soft spot for slashers wearing pig masks.  However, this movie is not a slasher wearing a pig mask film at all like the trailer had me think.  This movie has a little more in depth story than those other films featuring killers wearing pig masks.

    The film opens in a labratory with a team of doctors performing some kind of experiment.  Little is known about what they are doing but you can hear the sounds of metal slicing flesh and pigs grunting.  That is until something goes terribly wrong.  The film then skips to a scene where a rock band is preparing to take a road trip to their next gig.  Everyone with the band, including the manager, gets along, except for the guitarist.  He is an arrogant piece of shit and values himself higher than his own band mates.  The group is constantly bickering with him until the group is split amongst themselves casting out the guitarist and his two groupies.  On their way to the gig they break down.  The driver goes behind a building to piss and spots two people screwing.  Before he can tell the others he is captured by a small pig faced man. It is now revealed that in the opening lab scene, the doctors created human/pig hybrids before they turned on their creators.  While this is taking place the remainder of the group is bickering once again and the band kicks the guitarist out.  The manager and her rock star boyfriend head out to get someone who can fix their van and leave the guitarist alone with his two groupies.  While they are gone the guitarist and his groupies are kidnapped by the pig people.  When they return from an unsuccessful trip, they find the van empty.  While out looking for the guitarist and his groupies they are captured and placed in cages.  After many failed attempts, none are able to escape and are murdered one by one.

     This is one of those movies you can tell the filmmakers started out strong and full of enthusiasm and by the end of the film they were just rushing to finish it up.  The movie's opening scene, as well as, the following scene set the movie up for a damn good pace, however, the following scenes just could not follow that opening.  What I liked about the film was the acting.  For a film this unknown and with the budget it had, the film did turn out some good actors and actresses.  The cast did a good job developing the characters.  By the end of the first scene involving the band the viewer really feels sorry for the band for putting up with the asshole guitarist.  I also enjoyed the story even though the film did not do a good job delivering it.  I also liked the effects in some of the scenes.  The opening death scene involving the cell phone prick butchered on the table was very nicely done.  What I did not like was the kills.  They offered the viewer nothing special or even different.  Each victim, more or less, was killed the exact same way.  I also did not like the make up for the pig humans.  They look silly with their ashy grey skin and huge pig noses.  I think it could have been done better even with the small budget.  Another thing I did not like about the film was the constant escaping from cages, being captured, re-inserted into cages, and then escaping again segments of the film.  One time of seeing this loop was more affective than having the characters do it over and over.  I assume they had them attempting to escape all those times was to make the film longer.  Overall, the movie does offer entertainment but only for the first viewing.  This flick has no replay value at all so don't purchase it and look for it on Netflix or as a rental.