Warning: this story may contain spoilers
Last weekend, I saw the debut of “Pig Hill,” a horror movie based on the book, “Pig: A Supernatural Thriller” by Nancy Williams, ’90. I had the pleasure of seeing the movie on its second night at The Movies in Meadville, for a cool $10. I wouldn’t pay any more than that.
The main plot follows Carrie, a Meadville resident who first learned of Pig Hill (also known as Radio Tower Hill) from her older brother Chris, who taught her a nursery rhyme about the hill and the pig people who live on it. Carrie, an aspiring writer, is obsessed with Pig Hill and believes that it’s connected to a string of missing persons cases. One of the more shocking moments in the film is when Carrie’s theory is confirmed. Paula, a woman at the shelter Carrie is volunteering at, asks for help getting an abortion, to which Carrie says no, claiming it would be illegal that late in her term. Paula takes matters into her own hands, armed with a metal hanger and tries to abort the baby. Help arrives and they begin delivering the child. Carrie is handed the baby and notices its pig nose and pig-like hands. She freezes before Paula screams, “I told you to kill it.” Paula then stabs the baby and declares, “Fuck Pig Hill,” before slitting her own throat.
From that point on, the plot gets convoluted. Carrie’s husband is mentioned often in the film, yet is only seen after killing himself with a shotgun, and yes, we see every graphic detail of that. Carrie gets a new boyfriend, a Conneaut Lake-raised New York financier, who loses everything and is forced to return home.
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The twist at the end of the film is that Chris, Carrie’s older brother, is the serial killer who has abducted, raped and murdered women for years, all in a pig mask. He reveals this at the end, telling Carrie that he was abused by their Uncle Jack and their Uncle’s friends, and that this abuse is the reason he abuses people. Uncle Jack is only brought up once or twice before this reveal, making it miss the mark. Chris reveals all at the end, as any bad movie villain would. He tells Carrie that he has been drugging her as a form of control, that he asked Ben, her husband, to kill himself since apparently he was only married to Carrie to be close to Chris, a bond that was formed in their youth when they were both abused. He has already killed, maybe, Andy, Carrie’s new boyfriend along with a friend of his.
After admitting to everything, Chris professes his love for Carrie and begins to crawl on top of her, asking if she loves him too.
She grabs a piece of a broken plate, a throwback to an early scene in the movie, and stabs Chris in the eyes before running upstairs.
A small chase ensues where the siblings meet upstairs, apparently in Uncle Jack’s house, where the cycle of abuse began. Carrie then bludgeons Chris to death and grabs his pig mask and dons it. Roll credits.
It’s clear that the movie is a love letter to Meadville. That’s glaringly apparent in the background of every shot. Firehouse Tap & Grille, Tattered Corners New & Used Bookstore, the now-closed Voodoo Pub at Arch Street and the Meadville City Building are just a few of the local landmarks seen in the film. This could have just as easily been filmed on a backlot in Los Angeles or Vancouver, but the production came home, which I appreciate.
The main character, Carrie, is played by Rainey Qualley. For those unfamiliar with her, I get it. I spent the entire movie asking myself why she looked so familiar. It hit me after. Qualley. I know that name. For the younger readers, Rainey is the older sister of Margaret Qualley, who has starred in films such as “Maid” in 2021 and “The Substance” in 2024. The older readers may know Rainey as the daughter of Andie MacDowell, who was in “Groundhog Day” in 1993.
Qualley’s acting in this was confusing. For 90% of the time, I could not tell if she was in pain, about to cry, holding in laughter or attempting to mog her scene partner. She is not the most mentally stable character, so maybe that was the idea behind her facial expressions.
There seems to be some “Saw” influence in the film, which loves unnecessary jump cuts to try to induce a sense of fear. Mostly, it gave me nausea.
The soundtrack of the film isn’t anything revolutionary, but it gets the job done. It follows the “Saw” influence, mixing orchestral with a dirge-like industrial that is constantly crescendoing.
Going into the film, I was warned by spoiler-free reviews and people who had seen some scenes filmed that this was going to be a graphic movie. While it was graphic, with scenes of at-home abortion, suicide, bestiality, rape and plain ol’ murder, it wasn’t anywhere near what I thought it would be. I had heard rumors of people walking out of the theatre to throw up, but apparently I, and the other film-goers in the theatre, have a stronger constitution than most.
If you have any knowledge of Meadville and the surrounding area, I’d recommend watching the movie, simply so you can point at the screen and go, “I’ve been there!” I had the pleasure of seeing it with a group, a far better experience than had I seen it alone. It helped me stay awake for one thing, not wanting to pass out on a friend’s shoulder halfway through. If you have a group of friends you can convince to go, I’d do it. It’s about an hour and 40 minutes of convoluted subplots, a semi-solid regular plot, scenes of Crawford County and weird human-pig hybrid horror. Think of watching this movie as supporting a small business.
“Pig Hill” is showing at The Movies at Meadville through Thursday, Nov. 20. “Pig: A Supernatural Thriller” is available for purchase at Tattered Corners New & Used Bookstore on Chestnut Street.
This story is an editorial and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Campus.
