PIGLET (2025)

Studio:   ITN Distribution
Director: Andrea M. Catinella
Writer:   Harry Boxley
Producer: Rene August
Stars:    Alina Desmond, Shayli Reagan, Valery Danko, Alina Varakuta, Lauren Staerck, Jeremy Vinogradov, Alexander Butler

Review Score:

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Summary:

Disguised by a menacing pig mask, a mutated serial killer massacres a group of women partying in a remote cabin.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

While their vehicle is stopped along a remote road, Billy asks fellow security guard Gage about the unnamed serial killer they are transporting. Gage explains that while the man was in prison, a mad doctor injected him with a toxic growth serum that mutated him into a monster who murdered half of the inmates.

The man breaks free from his chains, stomps in Gage’s head, strangles Billy to death, and kills the driver. Afterward, the killer makes his way to a hidden lair in the woods where a basket contains several masks. The man removes the burlap sack covering his head and replaces it with a menacing boar mask, giving him the nickname “Piglet.”

Later revealed to be one of Piglet’s two brothers, Mr. Hogarth tells Piglet he rented nearby cabins to a group of girls coming in for the weekend. Hogarth also tells Piglet he can choose one of the women as a mate, but the others will be turned into meat.

To celebrate her sister Kate’s 21st birthday, Susie brings Kate, who is recovering from trauma suffered at the hands of an abusive ex-boyfriend, to Mr. Hogarth’s cabins at Camp Festoon along with their friends Judith, Alex, and Alex’s girlfriend Dianne. On the way, Judith tells the women urban legends about a pig person rumored to kill people in those woods. The five friends also encounter a strange young hunter named Bret, who cryptically warns the women not to go to Camp Festoon.

A separate car belonging to the group’s other friend Riley, Riley’s boyfriend Bruce, and Riley’s sister Courtney breaks down on the way to the cabins. While Courtney sketches forest scenery, Riley and Bruce step away to have sex. Piglet kills the couple with a meat hook before taking Courtney captive.

At Camp Festoon, Kate becomes frightened by a bloody man muttering the word “pig.” Officer Burke of the local police comes to the property to investigate, but Mr. Hogarth seemingly convinces him to not close the camp. The women decide to stay for Kate’s party despite the upsetting disturbance.

Claiming he heard screaming, Bret comes to the camp. Bret again tries to warn Kate and Susie about a killer, but Susie forces him to leave.

Judith finds Courtney being held prisoner in a barn. From a hiding spot, Judith helplessly watches Piglet kill Courtney with his meat hook. Piglet then captures Judith and kills her by snapping her neck.

While getting intimate in a hot tub, Alex and Dianne catch Mr. Hogarth spying on them. With the mood broken, Dianne leaves Alex to go take a shower. Hogarth kills Dianne in the bathroom.

Thinking it odd that no one else is around, Susie, Kate, and Alex try to leave the camp, but discover their car is strangely out of gas. Alex goes off alone to look for Dianne. Piglet ends up beating Alex to death with a heavy chain.

Piglet chases Susie and Kate. Having returned yet again, Bret rescues the sisters by firing his shotgun at Piglet. Susie recovers Bret’s dropped weapon and points it at Bret with suspicion. Bret tries explaining he suspected Mr. Hogarth was killing people, so he came to camp to stop him only to discover Hogarth was directing a pig person to commit murder.

Mr. Hogarth interrupts by claiming Bret is actually responsible for controlling the pig person. Believing Hogarth over Bret, Susie begins handing Hogarth the gun until Piglet comes up behind him. Piglet kills Bret. Hogarth recovers Susie’s dropped shotgun.

Despite Mr. Hogarth firing a round into Susie’s leg, the two sisters flee. Piglet captures Susie. Kate follows Piglet and Hogarth back to the lair where they take Susie.

Kate tries to free Susie once they are alone. Recognizing the futility of the situation, Susie convinces Kate to save herself. Piglet returns to kill Susie.

Kate flags down Officer Burke. However, Burke captures Kate, revealing himself to be another brother working with Piglet and Mr. Hogarth to kill and eat kidnapped women.

Kate is forcibly sat at a dinner table where human body parts are served as food. Mr. Hogarth tells Kate she has been chosen as a mate for Piglet to breed a race of unkillable humans like his mutant brother. Officer Burke tries to rape Kate after Piglet and Hogarth leave the room, but Kate uses the opportunity to kill Burke. Hogarth comes to his brother’s defense, but Kate kills him too.

Kate flees. During her escape, she comes across another man whom Piglet murders. Kate then speeds away in a car, but the vehicle overturns and bursts into flames.

Piglet catches up to Kate. Despite severe injuries, Kate violently beats Piglet to death as revenge for her murdered friends and sister. Finally, she cuts off Piglet’s head.

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Review:

It’s not your fault if you make the mistake of assuming “Piglet” spun out of the “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” series. It didn’t, but someone seemingly wants you to think it did.

First off, this Piglet sports the same menacing boar mask that his porky counterpart wore in the first “Blood and Honey” film (review here), before those movies transitioned to makeup for the sequel (review here). The mask is an identical match, right down to the little bite missing out of an ear. One wonders if this could be the exact same one, possibly borrowed, bought, or nicked from the other production after they were done using it.

“Piglet” also comes from the same distributor that releases the “Twisted Childhood Universe” films. They apparently don’t care about cannibalizing their own catalog, or about confusing viewers into believing a title belongs to a franchise it isn’t actually part of, either. Regardless, “Piglet” isn’t at all affiliated with filmmaker Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s “Poohniverse,” even though outward appearances brazenly imply as much.

It's kind of amusing to think about the irony though. The TCU built itself around children’s characters who became public domain properties. Now here comes a separate entity that’s essentially ripping off those ripoffs. There’s some delicious schadenfreude to be savored in the idea that producers who’ve made money by exploiting expired copyrights might be pissed about someone else piggybacking on their work by making cheap B-movies look like something they’re not.

Turns out “Piglet” is even less of a Pooh and Piglet movie than “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” was. There’s no 100-Acre Wood. No Christopher Robin. Not a single reference to anything A.A. Milne ever wrote.

In the opening scene, a pair of people wearing baseball caps with the word “Security” flank a burly dude with a sack over his head in what looks like a horse trailer, none of which seems to be standard operating procedure for police conducting a prisoner transport. The male guard mutters some laughable exposition about a mad scientist having injected this unidentified serial killer with a toxic serum that mutated him into a monstrous man. On cue, the prisoner breaks his chains, kills his guards, and makes his way to a forest lair where he dons the mask mentioned earlier. That’s it. That’s who this Piglet is.

In an attempt to also imitate “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” Piglet basically becomes Leatherface, complete with a meat hook accessory. The Cook is Mr. Hogarth, a creepy man who directs this pig person to kill people. And they have a lot of victims lined up for their cannibal dinner table because “Piglet” recycles the most beaten-to-death slasher plot possible: masked maniac stalks girls partying at a remote cabin in the woods.

To celebrate her sister Kate’s 21st birthday, Susie brings Kate and a couple of friends to a deserted campground for the saddest birthday party imaginable. There’s no music, no reason to be isolated in this drab forest, and only one tiny baggie of coke for eight people, none of whom seem to like Kate to begin with. I’m not sure where “Piglet” was shot, but Salt Lake City, Utah, gets mentioned like it’s in the same country, making it additionally strange that these women speak from an odd smorgasbord of British, Ukrainian, and indeterminate accents.

A cynic might suspect one woman’s willingness to bare her breasts in a sex scene may have had more to do with her hiring than any acting ability. Not to sound uncouth, but her breasts might be the only element of the movie not describable as flat.

Color-faded footage washed out by natural light is beyond repair. Keeping sound levels at a consistent volume shouldn’t require much labor, yet some scenes blow out microphones until dialogue distorts. Others are barely audible even when voices are speaking at normal volumes. Foley sound effects are completely missing from several sequences. When Piglet stomps in one man’s head, it sounds like he’s stuffing socks into a laundry bag. Violent stabs sound like he’s poking a moldy tomato with a toothpick.

If you want a lo-fi flick stuffed full of unimaginative cliches like campers stuck somewhere without cellphone service, a getaway car that suddenly won’t start, and stupid reasons to split up when there’s a psycho on the loose, there are more entertaining options than “Piglet.” If you want a film with a tenuous connection to an animated icon turned into a horror villain, I’d say the same thing, except those “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” movies really aren’t much better.

Review Score: 15

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