For most horror fans it seems that the found footage genre is a love hate kind of relationship.
After the style of film making was first popularized by The Blair Witch Project, all of the film studios and independent filmmakers decided to jump in and give the genre a try.
Unfortunately, this mostly meant that the horror genre was flooded with a slew of low quality, poorly made knock off horror films.
For me I have often found found footage films tedious at best. One of the worst movies I've ever seen was a found footage film. Generally, found footage films have poorly written scripts. They have sub-par acting. They have poor production quality. And above all, the shaky camera movements make me nauseous.
However, every once in a while I'll succumb to watching another found footage film and will find that it is an effective, disturbing, and well made film. Such is the case with Wild Eye Realsing's The Pigman Murders.
They all meet up at a hotel and catch up before heading out to the wilderness. They drive out and park near the trail and then begin the long hike out into the wild. Unfortunately, tensions arise as old wounds among group members are opened. Part of the group splits off going in separate directions.
And then all hell breaks lose. The remaining group finds a man who has been stabbed and says it was men in pig masks who did it. Soon, they realize they are being hunted by a sick group of murderers who wear pig masks. One by one the friends are murdered until only one of them remains.
I originally saw this as a major hit against the film. However, what this style of filmmaking does is immerse you in the reality of the world. These men are just a bunch of friends with a long history who are trying to do something nice together. And while it may be slow it rings true to life.
It is this verisimilitude that sets The Pigman Murders apart from other poorly done independent found footage films. As a viewer we find ourselves becoming complacent to the film's action. It is as if we ourselves are the family watching this poorly cut together documentary style film.
But after we have had time to shut off our brains and begin to think the film is just boring scenes form real life it jumps into the murders. And while the murders themselves are not very gory or graphic, they are disturbing. We immerse ourselves in the realism of their world and are therefore more shocked and disturbed when these seemingly normal men are slaughtered in the woods.
Summing it Up
Deaths: 9
Language: 4
Gore Factor: 2
Sex Factor: 0
Scare Factor: 4
Fun Factor: 1
Overall Rating: 4