Pig Hill

Kevin Lewis has always been a controversial filmmaker, with Willy's Wonderland offering just enough gonzo energy to win over a cult audience despite its heavy borrowings from Five Nights at Freddy's. With Pig Hill, however, Kevin Lewis attempts to move toward something darker and more grotesque, adapting Nancy Williams' novel Pig into a feature film that is as dark as it is uncompromising. On paper, the film has all the ingredients for a fascinating blend of provincial folklore and grotesque horror, with rumors of half-pig, half-human hybrids haunting a community marked by decades of disappearances. But in its execution, the film struggles to find its tone, with images often veering into exploitation rather than horror, and its narrative collapsing under the weight of its own ambitions. 

At the center of the story is Rainey Qualley, who plays Carrie, an aspiring author determined to uncover the truth behind the disappearances linked to Pig Hill. Her obsession plunges her into the town's myths, where she finds herself entangled in a reality far more sinister than local folklore suggests. She is joined by her brother Chris, played by Shiloh Fernandez, and Andy, a local boy who becomes a reluctant ally, played by Shane West. On paper, this trio forms the emotional backbone of the story, a group of characters with intertwined grief and loyalties, but the film's winding structure keeps them at arm's length from the audience. The first hour is largely filled with setup that never pays off, forcing the final act to sprint through its revelations with more chaos than clarity.

The actors deserve credit, however, for making the most of uneven material. Shiloh Fernandez delivers one of the film's most compelling performances, embodying a brother torn between his protective instincts toward his sister and the trauma of a life marked by tragedy. His chemistry with Rainey Qualley suggests a believable sibling bond, even if the script often forces them to repeat similar emotions without progression. Rainey Qualley, meanwhile, does her best to embody Carrie's descent into obsession, and while her performance improves as the horror intensifies, she rarely achieves the nuance the role demands. Shane West brings gravitas to Andy, but like the others, he is penalized by dialogue that feels more like exposition than lived experience. It feels like all three actors signed on to this project with the promise of exploring mature themes, only to be let down by a director who doesn't know how to handle them with sensitivity.

Stylistically, Pig Hill is a step backward for Kevin Lewis. While Willy's Wonderland embraced its absurdity with a kinetic style and colorful design, this new film is shot flatly, relying heavily on shot/reverse shot sequences and garish light filters that feel like shortcuts rather than atmosphere. Red light signals danger, blue light signals nighttime gloom, white light signals rare moments of normality—choices that quickly feel like horror parody rather than a deliberate aesthetic. The sound design, however, emerges as one of the film's few strengths. The guttural grunts and snorts of the so-called “pig-men” are disturbing in themselves, and combined with the filthy sets, they convey a genuine sense of unease that the images alone fail to convey. It is almost ironic that what sticks with you longest is not the violence or the images, but the unsettling suggestion of breathing and flesh just beyond the frame.

It is in its insistence on shock rather than suspense that Pig Hill sins most. In horror, the line between unsettling the audience and brutalizing them is thin, and Kevin Lewis plunges headlong into the latter category. Themes of incest, self-harm, sexual assault, and child murder are handled with such a heavy hand that they end up numbing the viewer rather than making them think, reducing the story to a series of grotesque tableaux rather than an exploration of human fear. Films like Martyrs and Funny Games have shown that extreme content can have meaning, that it can be a mirror of our darkest impulses. Pig Hill, on the other hand, seems to challenge us to keep watching, confusing cruelty with depth and risking alienating even the most seasoned horror fans.

Ultimately, Pig Hill is a deeply frustrating work. It has the makings of a frightening folk horror film that could have exploited the primitive unease of small-town legends and the dangers of obsession. Its cast, including Rainey Qualley, Shiloh Fernandez, and Shane West, invests themselves in roles that deserved a sharper script and clearer direction. Its premise, inspired by Nancy Williams' original work, deserved a tone capable of reconciling grotesque horror with thoughtful commentary. Instead, Kevin Lewis delivers a film that confuses shock with substance, reducing its potential to a grim spectacle that may satisfy a niche audience of exploitation fans but will leave most viewers disturbed for all the wrong reasons. Like its monstrous creatures, Pig Hill is a hybrid, part folklore, part tortured horror, and the result is a creature too grotesque to be enjoyed and too confusing to be scary.

Pig Hill
Directed by Kevin Lewis
Written by Jarrod Burris
Produced by
Starring Shane West, Rainey Qualley, Shiloh Fernandez, Emma Kotos, Tammy Pescatelli, Olivia Allen, R.A. Mihailoff, Anaya Farrell, Dino Tripodis, Isabella Brenza, Bob Golub, Kyle Roberts, Kirby Griffin, Jeff Monahan, Paul Worley, Max Barsness, Ramsey Krull, Thomas Guzick, Harrison D Dixon III, Darrel Whitney
Cinematography: Tyler Eckels
Edited by Ryan Liebert
Music by Émoi
Production companies: Empty Jug Productions, Pig Hill The Movie
Distributed by NC
Release dates: NC
Running time: 100 minutes

Seen on August 20, 2025 (Frightfest press screener)

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