Horror Movie Review: Pigs (1973)

Pigs is a 1973 horror movie that really isn’t about pigs. Those hoping to see a film about rampaging hogs eating human beings will be sorely disappointed. I was. Its original name, Daddy’s Deadly Darling makes much more sense. Not that it’s the only name change this oddity has had. You can also find it titled Horror Farm, The 13th Pig, Daddy’s Girl, The Strange Exorcism of Lynn Hart, The Strange Love Exorcist and Roadside Torture Chamber.

So just what is Pigs about? Well, the actual focus of the film is Lynn Webster (Toni Lawrence). A woman running away from her past, she ends up taking a job with a pig farmer named, Zambrini (Tony Lawrence). His pigs aren’t your normal everyday swine though. They have a taste for human flesh and Zambrini has been happy to provide them with food.

Surely, it’s just a matter of time until Lynn ends up as pig food, right? Well, it turns out that Lynn is a psycho herself having escaped an asylum where she was incarcerated for murdering her father. Mind you, he was sexually abusing her so he almost certainly deserved it.

Unfortunately, Lynn is damaged and the menfolk of the small town who remind her of her father become her victims. Luckily for Lynn though, Zambrini is happy to cover up her killings by feeding the bodies to the pigs.

He’s an awful liar though and when the sheriff starts to look a bit closer everything begins to unravel.

The unexpected story-twist works well and actually makes for an interesting reveal later on. Toni Lawrence makes it all the more believable as her quiet innocence hides a much darker person even though she is barely aware of her more homicidal side.

Not that she makes up for the overall poor quality of the film. Shot in a way that was designed for intensity but just comes across amateurish, the squealing of the pigs is particularly grating. They don’t get much screen time and they certainly aren’t shown eating any bodies but the sound of them is turned up to max volume! I guess this was to try and create the idea that they’re not normal pigs especially as the squealing disturbs neighbours but it ends up just being really obnoxious.

The unexpected turns the movie takes goes to far at the end though as it’s implied Lynn might have turned into a pig herself. It makes no sense and is completely at odds with the tone of the rest of the film. How could she turn into the 13th pig? Why? What?

Still, absurd finale aside, Pigs is alright. It’s low quality, cheap and flat in places but with enough surprises to keep you watching.

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