Carlota Pereda’s “Piggy”

Piggy (Cerdita) (2022)

This thoughtful and effective film led by a powerhouse performance from Laura Galán crosses genres creating something which effortless slips between drama, comedy, thriller and grindhouse

Growing up on American revenge movies, I thought I knew what to expect from this having only seen the poster and a general understanding that the main character is a victim of bullying. What I ended up with was a surprising, fresh take on the aforementioned revenge movies with a nice dollop of social commentary and earnest performances. In terms of gore, for those averse it’s quite tame and used just enough to heighten tension. Some reviews have mentioned “buckets of blood” but that doesn’t really apply here though my gore-gauge may be calibrated differently.

The story begins with Sara(Laura Galán) who helps her parents in their butcher shop and is bullied terribly in the rural town in which she lives. Her parents are oblivious to this and fail to understand their daughter leaving Sara isolated, frustrated and angry with the world. Galán puts in a great performance in what is virtually a silent role. To say much more would be spoiling things as one of the most enjoyable parts of the film is how it subverts expectations.

In addition to the performances, the script is sharp with moments of humour, suspense, social commentary and drama as things progressively spiral out of control. It’s also Pereda’s feature length debut and another example of female directors confidently putting their mark on the horror genre.