Country: USA
Length: 100 minutes
Production Company: Up Cal Entertainment/Epic Pictures
Executive Producers: Robert Mailer Anderson, Nicola Miner, Chris James, Doug Stewart, Diana Stewart, Daniel Lurie, Rebecca Prowda
Producers: Robert Mailer Anderson, James Isaac
Production Manager: Sharlene Duale
Director: James Isaac
Second Unit Director: Justin Sundquist
Assistant Director: Greg Simmons
Screenplay: Robert Mailer Anderson, Zack Anderson
Editors: Graham Willcox, Sean Barton
Director of Photography: Adam Kane
Music: Les Claypool, David E Russo
Production Designer: Geoffrey Kirkland
Art Director: Garrett Lowe
Sets: Kris Boxell
Special Effects: Thomas F Sindicich
Creature Effects: Kerner Optical, Erik Jensen, Mark Anderson
Visual Effects: Mr X
Makeup: Aurora Bergere
Sound Editor: Fred Runner, Todd Beckett
Sound Design: Andy Newell
Costume Design: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
Stunts: Justin Sundquist, Spiro Razatos
Location: Boonville, CA; San Francisco, CA
Budget: $6,000,000
Cast: Travis Aaron Wade (John Hickman), Tina Huang (Brooks), Howard Johnson Jr. (Ben), Trevor Bullock (Quincy), Rajiv Shah (Wayne), Jason Foster (Jake), Nick Tagas (Ricky), Bryonn Bain (Hippie Stranger), Christina McKay (Crystal), Charlie Musselwhite (Charlie), Les Claypool (Preacher), Marissa Ingrasci (Sage), Lanie Grainger (Poppy), Luis Saguar (TJ), Robert Mailer Anderson (Big Train), Lane Foard (Lex Wockenfuss), Chris Paxton (Billy Stankbud), Phillip K. Torretto (Beer Belly Redneck), Michelle Redwine (Willow), India Isaac (India), Cimi Ahluwalia (Cimi), Vince Ballew (Gas Mask), Max Barnett (ZZ Driver), Leanne Borghesi (Darlene), Ty Brenneman (Sexy Cult Girl), Karen Viola (Cult Girl), Cara Cameron (Cult Girl), Joe Lucas (Homeless Vet), Henrietta Musselwhite (woman shelving cans of creamed corn)
Website: www.pighuntmovie.com
Tina Huang as Brooks
Synopsis: John, his girlfriend, Brooks, and friends Ben, Wayne and Quincy (plus Quincy’s dog) head into the hills of Northern California for a few days hunting. Stopping at a gas station they’re told of a 3,000lb “Hogzilla” that roams the woods, and the fact that John’s uncle may have died hunting it down, they also encounter a hippy and his dope smoking girlfriends in a disagreement over the killing of a snake. Driving up to John’s uncle’s cabin, they pass a mountain family, who view them with distrust, and arriving at the cabin, they find it full of irrational scawling, and animal skulls. The next morning they are joined by Jake and Ricky, members of the mountain family, who turn out to be John’s cousins. Heading out into the mountains to hunt for “Pigfoot”, things quickly go wrong and lead to a spiraling torrent of death, weed, animal cruelty and naked hippy chicks.
Les Claypool plays Preacher and wrote the music.
Review: Sometimes you come across a movie that you want to like so much, you actually convince yourself you do, even though your feeling on viewing the film is one of slight disappointment. Such is the case with Pig Hunt, which after taking a laudable amount of time to set up back stories and develop characters, injects a dizzying succession of influences in its last hour, including Mad Max II/The Road Warrior (1981), Southern Comfort (1981), Razorback (1984) and even a dash of Ishirô Honda’s Half Human/Jû Jin Yuki Otoko (1955). All of which makes for a delirious thrill-ride, but leaves the distinct impression that you’ve experienced a dazzling, 100 minute trailer, with outstanding action sequences, but a lack of narrative coherence.
That said, the action, particularly the “pissed off redneck” chase is outstanding, and shows (as does the whole production) astute hiring choices, guaranteed to ensure the budget’s maximum on-screen impact: Stunt Co-ordinators Justin Sundquist and Spiro Razatos (Maniac Cop, Death Race), and their team, particularly 2nd Unit DP, Igor Meglic (Talladega Nights, The Bourne Ultimatum), and dirt bike rider Rex Reddick (Terminator 3, GI Joe), all do an outstanding job, and it’s during these scenes that Pig Hunt bursts into audience-pleasing life. This in contrast to the direction of James Isaac (Jason X, Skinwalkers), who undoubtedly does his best work here, but must be very thankful for his second unit.
Production Design from Geoffrey Kirkland (Midnight Express, Children of Men)—which utilizes producer Robert Mailer Anderson’s childhood home for one setting—and Aggie Rodgers’ (Return of the Jedi, Rock Star) costumes help seal the deal in these later scenes, along with the (thankfully non-CGI) big pig effects from Kerner Optical (part of ILM until 2006), and Primus frontman Les Claypool’s outstanding music (expect Boonville Stomp—available on his solo album Of Fungi and Foe—to soundtrack the trailers for every Southern Gothic movie made in the next five years).
The main deficits come with the addition of poorly executed Gulf War elements (John is a vet, and Ben seems about to head out), which fail to resonate strongly enough for the hero’s final line to have the required impact (despite the nod to Apocalypse Now that preceeds it), and editing from first-timer, Graham Wilcox with Sean Barton (The Empire Strikes Back, The Mutant Chronicles) that often causes confusion, and adds to the missed opportunities of the final few moments.
Acting is uniformly strong, though TIna Huang’s Brooks perhaps deserved the final kill, over Travis Aaron Wade’s slightly dull John, and shows excellent taste, in casting blues harp legend Charlie Musselwhite, prison activist/hip-hop artist/poet Bryonn Bain, and Claypool in key roles.
It’s tempting to draw comparisons between the production team and the story they’ve created (wealthy San Francisco hipsters head into the NorCal woods, where things go horribly wrong), but there’s too much to enjoy here, and it seems churlish to say that the film is less than the sum of its parts, when some of its parts are the best of their kind in far too long.
November 15, 2009 at 12:05 PM
Nice post - Aggie Guerard Rodgers ..Keep Posting
Ron
Aggie Guerard Rodgers
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