Holland Road Massacre: The Legend of Pigman

Holland Road Massacre: The Legend of Pigman tells what should be the simple and straightforward tale of the urban legend of a guy known as Pigman who inhabits the area around Holland Road and kills people who invade his territory, resulting in a massacre. I guess it mostly does, but HRM goes about things in such a strange and choppy way that it just doesn't feel like much of a massacre.

The viewer is plunked into the middle of things from the get-go, with a creepy older man picking up a body from the Pigman, since Pigman "doesn't keep" all of his victims. It's implied that the old man has his own fun with the leftovers. Then a bunch of characters are thrown into the movie, some to just be killed and some who end up with connections to other characters but those connections aren't set up well. This leaves it up to the viewer to piece relationships together with very little info. There's also an overlong "getting ready to go" montage that wastes time and goodwill. The kills are weird too; edited in such a way that we never really get a single good one. Usually, we see a victim just standing there - cut to Pigman - tight shot of hatchet - Pigman swings hatchet - victim grimaces in closeup - shot of blood splashing on snow - and on to the next one. Since the acting ranges from bad to hammy, it's hard to see any of these characters as real people.

HRM isn't entirely bad, though. You can actually feel the cold air of the exterior shots, and there's a delightful bleakness to the whole affair. I just wish there had been more time spent exploring the nastiness that's always bubbling just under the surface.