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Earlier this year, we had the good fortune to attend the Nightmare USA Film Festival, a day-long tribute to grindhouse grime and ingenuity. After arriving late, we missed the first film (DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE) and opted to hit the bar until the next gruesome offering.
PIGS was perhaps the least anticipated of the day's films, my only experience of it being the stupifying UK VHS video cover with a smirking pig with blood around its mouth. Sadly I couldn't find said cover to post above.
From the film's opening it was clear that our lack of enthusiasm was ill-advised. This was a laugh-out-loud exploitation fest from start to finish, which was helped by the sold-out audience whose reaction was audible to say the least.
Seeing this movie has unfortunately posed a quest of sorts, one which I'm uncertain will be achievable any time soon. The 35mm print we saw on the day went by the name BLOOD PEN, and featured an Exorcist-inspired prologue with the lead character possessed by some sort of pig-demon (complete with trotter prints running up her wall!)
It appears that the only DVD that is available is the cut Region 1 edition, which features a different opening. The print was apparently Australian (?!) and as such I guess the only conceivable way to get hold of the version we saw is to try to get an Australian VHS... Yeah, that'll be easy.
The book that accompanied the festival, Nightmare USA by Stephen Thrower can be ordered from those lovely folks at http://www.fabpress.com
