Depending on your definition, horror films have been around for about a century now. There is a lot of film history to study, pilfer, and learn from. Still, with all of that information at their fingertips, some director’s try to put a little bit of everything into their films, thus rendering them confusing and lifeless. Pig Hunt is a fun little horror film, that tries to introduce three different antagonists, but none of them get the proper screen time they deserve. Potential is missed in almost every scene, and had they decided on one central villian, this film might’ve ended up as a DVD classic. It has the feel of an 80′s film, mostly for daring to have a 3,000 lb wild boar, a family of revenge seeking hillbillies, and a murderous, marijuana-growing cult, in one film.

The story centers around John and his mismatched group of friends, who travel to rural California to hunt wild boar. They return to John’s Uncles’ ramshackled ranch, that John hasn’t been to since he was 16 years old. When they are about to embark on the first day of hunting, some of John’s childhood friends show up. Jake and Ricky look like the bastard offspring that could only come forth if the Deliverance gang and the Hunter’s Blood clan had children. We do know that John gave Ricky a bad facial scar with a knife, when they were younger. The brothers seem happy to await their chance to return the favor.

In the meantime, we hear stories about “The Ripper”, a 3000 lb wild boar that roams the forests and eats anything that crosses it’s path. Just over the hill is a commune of hippies that raise emu (not for meat), and grow marijuana. The hillbillies are wise to what the hippies have growing, and want to take it for their own. At this point in the film, nothing has really happened, and the it doesn’t pick up until around the hour mark. By not really deciding on a “Killer Boar” film or a “Maniacal Hillbilly Revenge” film, too much time is spent on useless chatter, when we could be seeing more of that big ass beast tearing people limb from limb! When the hunting party stumbles upon the hippies crops, Jake and Ricky decide that they are going to help themselves. John tells them to leave it alone, that it is on his property, and he will notify the authorities. This none pleases the bumpkins, and guns are drawn, and ultimately Ricky is killed. Jake heads back home to let the murderous clan know what has happened, and makes plans to kill John and his friends. Les Claypool, of the band Primus, plays the father of the murderous brood, and does well with what he is provided (he also supplies much of the music).

The last 25 minutes are pretty awesome, as you have to guess who will pick off the hunters first. The chase scenes in particular, have that 80′s exploitation film feel, and only makes me wonder how great this film could have been. The “Ripper” looks really cool for a low budget film, and it was a nice change of pace from the Scy-Fy/CGI school of killer animal films. I will stress again, this is not a particulary bad film, i’ll just call it unfocused, and it could have been so much better. The only other killer boar movie that I am familiar with is Razorback, and it rules, the filmmakers had so much room to do something original with that angle. Fans of the aforementioned films, or even films like Rituals or Raw Courage, or fans of Rob Zombie’s films, would find something of merit here.