Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Piggy’ on Hulu, a Terrifically Twisty Horror-Thriller About a Teenager’s Rebellion Against Her Bullies

Spanish-language film Piggy (now on Hulu) marks the emergence of an inspired filmmaker-star combo: Writer/director Carlota Pereda and newcomer Laura Galan. They paired for a 2018 short about an overweight teenage girl who gets help from a crazed killer to fight back against her bullies, an idea here stretched to feature-length, with plenty of room for black comedy and scads of gore. The result is one of the year’s strongest, most engaging horror-thrillers.

PIGGY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: We open with a sequence in which we see the sausage being made. It’s not pretty – “casing” being tied on the ends while sitting in a pan of blood. The rest of the scene is all pig heads and bonesaws and other butcher-shop horrors. Sara (Laura Galan) does her homework behind the counter and gets a little gross bloody squoosh in her algebra text. It doesn’t even faze her; cutting up pork corpses is the family business. It’s worth noting how this movie makes food look utterly vile. The lighting is grim and the vibe is clammy and even a fresh watermelon wedge looks like glistening guck. Read into that as you may, since Sara is the target of bullies who cruelly tease her about her size. They call her “Piggy” and post photos of her on social media to maximize the abuse. She self-medicates with sugary snack cakes she hides under her bed.

It gets worse. Sara likes to sneak off to the local pool when no one else is around. This time, an unnamed stranger (Richard Holmes) unexpectedly emerges from underwater, saying nothing to Sara, but nevertheless emanating creepy vibes. He watches as the local mean girls hold Sara’s head underwater with a net, taunt her and steal her clothes and towel. She walks home alone, wet and exposed and traumatized. And here on a dusty rural road, she reaches a crossroads: A white van by the side of the road. The unnamed stranger behind the wheel. The mean girls in the back, abducted and bloodied and screaming for help. Sara’s eyes meet the stranger’s. Sara’s eyes meet a mean girl’s. Sara does nothing. He drives away.

That afternoon, the bonesaw sounds extra shrill: Bzzzzzzzannnnkkkkkkkkk. As town drama unfolds as a backdrop – the stranger has apparently murdered a lifeguard and sunk his body in the pool – Sara’s family comes into focus: Her father (Julian Valcarcel) is a simpleton. Her little brother joins in the “Piggy” chants. And her mother – oy, her mother. Asun (Carmen Machi) is impatient, doesn’t listen to anyone, and remains clueless to the torment her daughter suffers. There’s a moment in which Sara laments that she never does the right thing, and one could argue she learned it from her mother, whose attempts to control situations only makes them worse. To sum up Sara’s tragic dilemma: Things are terrible outside the house, and pretty much just as bad at home. That creates a rather precarious situation when the only person in the movie who’s kind to her is the same person who’s slashing up locals and torturing teens.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The ol’ butchershop meat counter hasn’t been less appetizing since Delicatessen. Otherwise, Piggy creates a distinctive stew out of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Welcome to the Dollhouse, and Carrie.

Performance Worth Watching: Galan bears the whole of the dramatic weight of this harrowing movie, made all the more satisfying thanks to the complexity and vulnerability of her performance.

Memorable Dialogue: “This town’s network coverage…” – a repeated mantra that sure seems like a petty gripe in the face of this town’s many, many other problems

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Pereda flirts with many ideas in Piggy – from our relationships with food to generational conflict, family dysfunction and teenage social stigmas – outside the core element of bullying of all types, be it from peers or parents. But deeper still is the core element of Sara’s character: her indecisiveness and passivity. She’s been conditioned to absorb abuse, and therefore stands paralyzed even in the face of what we see as an obvious moral decision. Silence and inaction can be compliance. It’s not until Sara discovers her passion to act that she becomes more than just a target, and comes into her own personhood – notably during one hell of a rousing ending.

Pereda cleverly integrates that character arc into horror-thriller genre tropes and an odd twist on beauty-and-the-beast dynamics: Which way will Sara go? Take the high road and do the right thing? Or indulge the nihilistic urges of bloodthirsty revenge? How exactly does she feel about this man who grants her the compassion she deserves, but otherwise shows callous disregard toward the value of human life? The pressure mounts as Sara’s Terrible Day grinds on. Concerned parents seek their missing children, and our slasher works his way through his giallo progressions with a big shiny pointy knife. Pereda isn’t afraid to make us laugh, push us into the throes of revulsion or yank our chain – hard, all the way to the end. Sara will choose a path forward. She has no choice. But the left-hand one is omnipresent in the plot, and in our minds.

Our Call: Piggy is compelling and suspenseful from start to finish thanks to wily direction and a brave, exhilarating lead performance. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.