Film Review: Blood Pigs (2010)

SYNOPSIS:

Ninety nine percent of the worlds has been destroyed by a bio-chemical war. Technology is obsolete and the soil has been polluted leaving people with barely any food. The survivors try to continue on by hunting and consuming the living dead which has dire results as the dead flesh begins to mutate with the bio-chemical still in the atmosphere. People’s digestive systems begin to evolve and force their way out of victims mouths to search for food on their own. Mutations spiral out of control into a grotesque finale.

REVIEW:

Brian Paulin is slowly, but surely, making a name for himself in the horror business. Hardcore gore fans will probably already be familiar with some of his previous work, including Bone Sickness and Fetus. He steps it up another notch with Blood Pigs, a different kind of zombie film that he wrote and directed in 2010. I can tell you two things right away about this movie that will make you want to watch it. First off, there is no CGI used in this film (that alone is enough to pique my interest). Not only that, but Blood Pigs was also voted the goriest movie of 2010 by readers of Rue Morgue magazine. If that isn’t a one-two punch of confidence, I don’t know what is.

The movie is set in a post-apocalyptic setting. Something has happened (from snippets of dialogue, we gather there was a war of some kind) that has left the world barren and empty. Well, mostly empty. Some of the dead have come back and are wreaking havoc, having evolved and taken to hiding rather than the typical stumbling and moaning. The survivors are few and far between, and since animals and vegetation are a thing of the past, have taken to eating the flesh of the undead. While it may be a bearable temporary solution, we can only imagine that the long-term effects will be damaging. Once the earthquakes start, and the screams and dragon-like growling are heard throughout the land, the scattered survivors begin to wonder if it could really get worse.

The story is a little bit confusing at times, and as it is shot on video, the picture is a little shaky and the sound is not consistent, with some sections of dialogue a bit hard to hear. Then again, it isn’t delivered all that well either. Outside of these minor technicalities, Blood Pigs is pretty awesome. Even though we’ve been flooded with (some may say we’re drowning) zombie fiction as of late, I’m a big fan of the rare zombie story that can take things to another level. In my opinion, this is one of those efforts. Paulin manages to address some of the issues I often have with the churned out zombie tales of today. The zombies don’t only go for the survivors, they are hungry for flesh and so also go for after each other. The survivors don’t all carry around a fully and infinitely loaded gun, but rather carry swords and knives and other weapons that won’t run out of ammunition (sure, where did they get swords? I don’t know. But it’s better than unlimited bullets, isn’t it?). And then there is the diet of the survivors. It’s briefly mentioned that we are over a year out from whatever cataclysmic event turned people into monsters, so of course there isn’t regular food still around. The survivors have had to improvise.

This movie comes close to Dead Alive standards when it comes to blood and gore. Does some of it come across as cheesy? Sure it does. But it’s fun, and it’s nasty, and it’s just what the gorehound in me ordered. Arms are hacked off, heads are split, blood is sprayed everywhere. The first half of the movie is pretty gross, some good zombie kills here and there. But as we get to the heart of the story, and one of our characters gives a back story as to what happened, we really get in to the rotting meat of the movie.

Did you really think that nothing bad would happen if you ate zombie flesh? Even cooked, it was still zombified, and as it turns out, that will wreak havoc on your insides. The last third of Blood Pigs is an all-out undead war. A woman has her insides torn out from behind. Zombie dudes are puking bile and blood everywhere (complete with nauseatingly realistic sound effects), tearing off limbs, ripping open flesh. At one point, a pregnant woman gets “infected, and let’s just say what happens is way worse than any Dawn of the Dead remake could throw at you.

This isn’t a happy movie, and so doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending to look forward to. Then again, you already knew that, didn’t you? Aside from the shaky video camera and the shaky delivery of dialogue, Blood Pigs is straight up fun. It is blood and gore and scares and more blood and gore. It has an original premise that follows through with what it promises and then some. And for an indie, wow, there are some crazy effects in here. Highly recommended from this gore lover.