PIGS (1972)
Director: Marc Lawrence
Troma

What a career Marc Lawrence has endured! The New York-born actor started appearing on screen as early as 1932, playing mostly heavies and gangster types in dozens of Hollywood movies. Things came to a halt in the 1950s when he was blacklisted, journeying to Europe to find work, and then coming back to the States to direct television and several features. Lawrence has maintained a solid character acting livelihood to this day, but his two oddball features – NIGHTMARE IN THE SUN and PIGS – have mostly remained ignored.

Made in 1972, PIGS is also known as DADDY’S DEADLY DARLING and several other titles, and is one of many rural, backwoods bloodfests made during the super 70s. This one wasn’t actually released until the 80s, so it’s doubtful that it inspired Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper or any other shock maverick starting out at that time. In the opening moments of PIGS, we witness the silhouette of a young women being sexually abused, stabbing the man to death when she’s finally had enough. The woman is named Lynn (Toni Lawrence), and after murdering her incest-craved father, she is placed in an asylum. She manages to escape by stealing a uniform from a nurse (who dropped it to the floor to have sex with the doctor!), steals a car, and heads for the highway.

Winding up in a dead town seemingly inhabited by 11 people, Lynn appears at the farm home of Zambrini (Marc Lawrence) who also operates a small cafe. She takes a job as a waitress, and sort of bonds a father-daughter relationship with the strange Zambrini – an ex circus performer who nearly fell to his death, causing a local urban legend about him coming back to life. He also has a strange habit of digging up fresh corpses and feeding them to his pack of bloodthirsty hogs. Lynn has her odd ways too. With her sultry looks, she is easily attracts men, but likes to hack them to death during intimacy. Zambrini and Lynn involuntarily become a devious team, with the locals becoming increasingly suspicious (not to mention those loud squealing pigs every night!), and the plain-dressed sheriff (Jesse Vint) is trying to gather enough evidence to do something about it.

Marc Lawrence not only directed and starred in the film, but he also produced and wrote it (under the pseudonym “F.A. Foss”). PIGS is far from a masterpiece, but like many independently-made 70s horror flicks, has enough absorbing ingredients to make it worthwhile for sleaze fans. Toni Lawrence is Marc’s daughter, and actually does a decent turn as a woman on the verge of madness (her dance in front of a jukebox rivals that of Elaine from “Sienfeld”). Like her dad, the performance here is low key, and not to be a “pig,” but it would have been nice to see her slip off the nightgown (but I’m sure daddy the director didn’t want his darling to do nudity). The story lacks consistency, but some eerie moments are abound and there’s a bit of gore on display, with close-ups of the noisy pigs supposedly eating human flesh, a violent nightmare sequence and some last-minute glimpses of dismemberment. As Sheriff Dan Cole, Jesse Vint was a country boy mainstay in 70s drive-in and mainstream Hollywood fare, so it’s no wonder he would show up in something like this. The “Katharine Ross” in the film’s credits is not the well-known namesake, but rather a capable older actress who plays one of Zambrini’s nosy neighbors.

It’s even further difficult to assess PIGS when referencing the print released by Troma on DVD. Sloppy editing (here, strangely repeating frames of film a second or two after they were just viewed) and an overly dark transfer (making some scenes extremely indistinguishable) plague this release, and even though Troma-head Lloyd Kaufman (in the useless, jokey introduction) raves that this is “digitally remastered,” it has to be the loosest usage of that age-old term ever. It’s a watchable DVD, but certainly harkens back to the days of “ma and pa” video store rentals in terms of quality, hardly justifying calling this a “35th Anniversary” edition, especially since that blessed event is still two years away!

Extras include lots of Troma promotional materials that have nothing to do with the film itself, but I didn’t bother to take a look. There are some decent liner notes included, which state that Toni Lawrence was once married to Billy Bob Thornton! (George R. Reis)

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