Director: Andrea M. Catinella
Writer: Harry Boxley
Stars: Alexander Butler, Lauren Staerck, Alina Desmond
Synopsis: On Kate’s 21st birthday camping trip, her friends encounter Piglet, a monstrous human-pig hybrid who brutally murders one of them. They uncover Piglet’s origins and Kate must confront her past to survive the relentless killer.
There’s something about the Poohniverse that makes a horror fan salivate at any opportunity to watch one of its new spinoffs, prequels, sequels, or original stories. Piglet is no exception, as director Andrea M. Catinella creates a gruesome fantasy world where nightmares thrive and cartoon characters owe it to their bloody Brothers Grimm origins.
The story goes as follows: a group of typical horror fan girls (meaning so hot and so dumb) rent a camp for the weekend. Little did they know that Camp Festing is home to a psycho, sadistic, convicted murderer in a pig mask and his controlling brother. It is a House of Wax (2005) situation, but with a lesser charismatic cast, and yet a chilling premise. As we watch the girls walk into the camp, one can’t help but wonder who is going to get out alive.
Every horror cliché out there is in Piglet, but that doesn’t make it unwatchable by any means, but it shows how it clearly lacks creativity whether in storytelling, character development, or even the iconic jump scares normally associated with the genre. The feature also plays according to the twisted morality code of slasher films with such blind faith that every expected trope or archetype manifests in front of the audience to such painful predictability.
The film is plagued with a score that disconnects the avid horror fan from the foreboding mood. There are multiple incidents in which the film would’ve truly benefited from a better sound design, and a less over-the-top, theatrical score. Music in horror movies is one of the most important elements that could either skyrocket a film, or stab it in the heart, depriving it of its impact. Unfortunately, in this case, the original music takes away from the suspenseful, eerie mood the film is going for.
Now for the fun part, this horror flick has some excellent, gruesome kills. It doesn’t hold back on the gore and horror fans will be satisfied. It has multiple memorable, deplorable murder scenes in all their bloody aftermath. It satisfies the inner gory violence fan, and brings to mind the two predecessors, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey and Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, with all the iconic childhood favorites gone rogue. The man in the mask himself carries the weight of the intrigue and the exciting element in the film. Piglet is mute, violent, and so much fun. It’s cool to see him chopping up those characters (who lack even the least hint of common sense) and it’s liberating not to try and think of his “dimensional personality” as a serial killer. As for the group of girls, my least favorite is, unfortunately, the main protagonist Kate (Alina Desmond) whose healing and trauma storyline seems so forced and on the nose.
However, watching this group of girls have fun and be mean to one another is actually a good, cathartic experience of feminine rivalry. In other contexts, it would’ve been lazy and overdone, but in this particular film it’s amusing, as opposed to all the grim, serious scenes that feel like filler powder in the potent drug. Needless to say,all the male characters suck and seem like they’ve come out of a textbook rather than flesh and blood creatures, kudos to Piglet for being the most exciting of them.
Piglet is another modest addition to The Twisted Childhood Universe, and while some may say it as unnecessary due to the franchise raising the bar with Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, it is still a decent take on an iconic Poohmpanion and turning him into a monstrous antichildhood favorite. It’s also over an hour of watching young, hot people make some of the dumbest decisions ever shown on screen.
