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Porkchops Review

Porkchops is the award-winning follow-up to 2010’s Porkchop. Porkchops is actually the first film by director Eamon Hardiman that I have had a chance to view, and he has several horror films under his belt already. I was even more psyched to watch Porkchops because my name is on the back of the DVD cover. Oh yeah! Anyway…

Porkchops follows a boy named Simon and his family as they move to a new town because his dad was laid off. Simon is your typical nerdy and shy guy. Insert Meg! Meg is anything but shy! She quickly befriends Simon and the two of them start a relationship. In an attempt to gain the popular kids approval, Simon and Meg plan a party and invite a bunch of guys and gals over for some drinks. Although, this probably isn’t the best idea… The dreaded, pig masked serial killer – Porkchop – is known to frequent these parts, especially the land Simon’s house sits on. This is a party the teens are soon to forget…much less survive.

First and foremost, I think I need to mention the bang up cast. Porkchops features horror veterans Kaylee Williams (Slices of Life), Shawn C Phillips (Banshee!!!), and Sam Qualiana (Zombie Babies). These amazing actors are joined by the equally amazing Angela Pritchett (Scarecrow at Midnight), Lisa Hackney Taylor, Rob Cob, Elvis McComas, and Penny Maple.

Porkchops kicks off with a lesbian sex scene in the woods. Guys (and some gals), can we really complain? After watching Porkchops and then Zombie Babies, I’m starting to realize that Eamon Hardiman is the master of demented and original deaths. The lesbian scene comes to a sudden halt when the two women are killed by Porkchop, one of which bites it while…eating it… Yes, she is literally smothered while eating out her friend. Yes, take that all in… Then I’ll move on…

Although I mentioned an inventive death above, there wasn’t as much gore in Porkchops as I had originally anticipated. With a huge killer in a pig mask, a killer holding bloody gardening shears on the DVD cover, you’d think there would be tons of gore. While there is blood and guts, and throat slitting with CDs, I was expecting more brutalization than what happened. (Did I pretty much repeat myself just now?) But, hey, there is a pretty sweet death towards the end involving a tiki torch. Speaking of the deaths in Porkchops… There was one death midway through the film that I definitely didn’t see coming. Mr. Hardiman himself said this has gotten a strong reaction at screenings. Man clearly knows what he is doing! Lesbian muff death and main character death all before the film is even half way over!

I covered the plot, covered the cast, covered the gore… What else? Let me just finish up the review by going over what’s left of my notes. Ok? One of the characters in Porkchops is an overweight, flamboyantly gay, black male. As far as horror film rules go, that’s three strikes! Yet, he survives – again, character shocker! I thoroughly enjoyed Angela Pritchett’s performance as “Meg.” I saw her personality as someone I would be friends with in real life. A few times in the film, characters break out into song. I didn’t really understand why, but I’m glad to see other people randomly make songs out of nothing. (You should hear my song I made tonight about hotdogs.) My last note is – “Eamon really likes dollying!” This brings us to my last point to discuss – production value.

Porkchops is, at its core, a low-budget indie film. The value of film is equal to the budget. Audio levels go up and down, there are a couple of continuity issues, couple “blinks,” but all together the film is put together well. Could I do anything better? Probably not. If you think about a West Virginian film about a pig masked serial killer butchering teens, then you’ll see exactly what think in Porkchops. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I actually would have liked Porkchops to be longer! Any mishaps with production quality are outnumbered by the good things to see when watching Porkchops. (And I’m not saying this because I have a producer credit).

I really did enjoy Porkchops. I will certainly be reminding HorrorSociety readers to buy a copy of the film when it is officially released this December. Any backwood slasher fans would really appreciate a film like Porkchops. Great job, Razor Sharp Studios & Co! Eamon is definitely on my directors to watch list, and you never know… Porkchop may be hacking and slashing again in the future. (One can only hope, right?)

Michael DeFellipo

(Senior Editor)

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