This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Pigs (1972) *** (out of 4) Lynn Hart (Toni Lawrence) gets a new job working for the rather strange Zambrini (Marc Lawrence) and before long she's luring men to their deaths and feeding them to the employer's pigs. Pretty soon Sheriff Cole (Jesse Vint) begins to think that there's something in Lynn's past that might have a connection to the current events.I had never heard of this film until Vinegar Syndrome released it to Blu-ray so that tells you how obscure this film was at one point. It was released under various titles including DADDY'S DEADLY DARLING and THE 13TH PIG, which is the title available on the print I watched. I'm giving this film three stars simply because it's really unlike any other movie out there and not only does it have an interesting and at times deranged atmosphere but it also deserves some credit for coming before so many other popular horror movies set in rural towns.I guess if I had to compare this to a more popular movie then I'd say THE Texas CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. Both films take place in small locations and both films have a rather warped atmosphere that make them so memorable. I really liked the look and feel that director Marc Lawrence brought to the picture and I thought he perfectly captured that small town mood where everyone knows one another and everyone talks about one another. The two older ladies who are always suspecting something. The town Romeo who tries to sexually assault Lynn.The film really doesn't contain any graphic gore or violence but it still has some unsettling images that once again should have us giving credit to the director. I thought his daughter, Toni, in the lead was also extremely good and believable in the part. I also liked the performance from Lawrence as the crazed diner owner. Father and daughter certainly did a nice job here and the end result is a pretty entertaining slice of 70's horror.

Mainstream character actor Marc Lawrence found himself blacklisted during the '50s and was forced to flee to Europe for a decade. On his return, he found himself producing and directing all kinds of low budget fare including PIGS, his only horror movie. This ultra-bizarre tale was made on a shoestring budget and pairs not one but two psychopathic characters in a very slow moving tale of murder and madness that's pretty predictable. Bizarrely the film fell foul of British censors although I don't really see why. The gore effects that pop up throughout the movie are shoddy and unrealistic with severed body parts oozing bright-red fake blood, although the cockroach running through the grue is pretty artistic and original.Beauty Toni Lawrence (daughter of the director) stars as Lynn, a girl who starts off getting raped by her dad. She murders him in self defence and is carted off to an insane asylum, escaping about five minutes later far too easily. Lawrence goes to live in the country, where she meets would-be suitors and inevitably ends up butchering them when they try to have sex with her or alternatively when she's reminded of her father. The film tries to get inside Lynn's mind and explore her disturbed character, so throughout we're subjected to cheesy childish rhymes and lots of disturbing squealing from the filthy pigs which send her insane. Lawrence isn't bad at all as the lead and is pleasing on the eye to boot.Her new housemate is crazy old Zambrini, played with sleazy relish by the director himself in an excellent little performance. Zambrini goes out grave robbing at night, finding corpses to feed to his beloved pigs. The pigs of the title are actually pretty disturbing, especially when they run around in the dark terrorising people, and the exploitation angle is played for all its worth. Unfortunately the rest of the characters are a bunch of stock clichés, like the dumb sheriff or the asylum guy, and the acting apart from the two leads is appalling. Generally, PIGS is a difficult film to sit through due to the snail-pace story and the poor production values. It's one of those films where everything happens in the dark and you end up with eye strain through trying to watch it. Irritating music and a stupid twist ending adds to the overall effect but PIGS not without charm; it manages to be disturbing and dumb in equal measure whilst the loony tag-team of the central pairing is enjoyable to watch.

Yet another Troma acquisition which was clearly meant for Something Weird Video. Pigs, aka, Daddy's Deadly Darlings is one of about a thousand inept, no-budget rural Horrors's from the same era. Few of which are not even half as inept as this one. Directed by Marc Lawrence, and starring daughter, Toni Lawrence, as a crazy person (Lynn) on the run after stabbing her pa to death, after a raping. This chick knows how to disappear, as she couldn't have found a more empty nothing of a town if she tried. Lynn finds work and a place to chill with local crazy person, Zambrini, a pig farmer. The fact that Lynn starts to kill people normally might not go over too well with the old man, but his extremely noisy pigs only happen to eat human flesh, so, he's actually glad to have her around. It's just a win-win situation. On the back of the DVD case, it says Pigs has paved the way for stuff like Last House On The Left, and The Hills Have Eyes, and well, it also refers to Pigs as a cult classic. Sorry, guys, but I wouldn't even call that an exaggeration. This is a terrible, dull pile of garbage and to be honest, I'm having a hard time thinking of stuff to say about it. Although, the fact that Pigs was clearly edited by someone who is legally blind, always makes me laugh. That really is the best part. Seeing pieces of scenes repeat themselves is rare, even in the world of B-cinema. So, Pigs definitely deserves extra points for that. Other than that, not really any gore to speak of (unless I missed it), and no witty one-liners to make you chuckle, and well, not really much of anything but terrible lighting, irritating squeals, and a keen little song which sorta reflects the premise. Not a good movie. Hell, not even a good B-movie, but if you like 'em bad, then you're in for a good time. 5/10

This was the only film edited by Irvin Goodnoff in his surprisingly long career in the movie biz. When you watch Pigs, you''ll understand why ol' Irv never got around to picking up the scissors and glue again. Quite simply, this is one of the most poorly edited films ever made: rife with continuity errors, incredibly sloppy quick cuts, and general ineptitude, Pigs defies almost every rule in the Big Book of Film Grammar. As a result, much of the film plays like an experimental effort with psychedelic overtones, which (depending on your point of view) renders the whole thing either unwatchable or a must-see junk movie classic. I would love to know what inspired screen heavy Marc Lawrence to write, direct, and star in this film, which also features his daughter Toni in the lead role of a woman who escapes from Camarillo State Hospital only to stumble across Farmer Zambrini's swine facility. Zambrini (Lawrence pere) feeds his hogs premium feed--human flesh--but local lawman Dan Cole (Jesse Vint) isn't convinced this is against the law. The film fosters the bizarre notion that the pigs somehow 'become' those they've eaten! Filled with thunderous hog squealing, human screams, groovy music, and lots of fish-eye lens footage, Pigs is never boring--and the acting is, by and large, very good. Ignore Troma's DVD and wait for someone like Code Red or Scorpion to give this film the lavish special edition treatment it clearly deserves!