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Norman Bates.
Leatherface. Buffalo Bill.
Inspired by necrophiliac and infamous murderer Ed Gein, the
above fictional characters are similar to Ed Gein in certain
ways. In the 1940's and 50's, Gein lived on a farm in
Plainfield, Wisconsin. Raised by his domineering mother, who
taught him all women were prostitutes, Gein grew up socially
inept and alienated. His "habits" were particularly bizarre, as
he dug up corpses from graveyards, and furnished his house with
bones and skin from rotting corpses. It was believed by
authorities he murdered two local women. He was tried for one
of the murders and after he plead insanity, he was subsequently
sent to a mental hospital for the criminally insane. In 1984,
he died of respiratory and heart failure due to cancer. Not
only do the aforementioned villains share Gein's homicidal
behavior and many of his abhorrent traits, they share a common
characteristic: loneliness. Anthony McAlistar, of Chris Power
and Nathan Hynes' outstanding debut, "Long Pigs" is the
opposite. He is like your best friend: Social, calm and
easygoing.
At first glance, Anthony McAlistar (Anthony Alviano) appears to
be "normal." However, he is a predacious serial murderer, who
murders not because of the "thrill" or "sexual release." He
murders merely to feed his habit: Human flesh. He is followed
around by a duo of struggling filmmakers, Chris Power and Nathan
Hynes themselves. The documentarians plan to capture Anthony in
his daily life as he routinely maims, kills and dismembers
helpless victims. The movie perceptively eavesdrops into his
everyday activities, while he gladly shares with us why he
kills, what flesh tastes like, and how to prepare a fresh
corpse. During the documentary, Power and Hynes interview
seasoned detective Ken Walby (Shane Harbinson) and a criminal
psychiatrist Rebecca Stapleton (Kelly McIntosh). They both shed
light on the recurring batch of missing persons and they give
their expert evaluations about serial killers. Between the
scenes with Anthony, the film intercuts interviews of the two
professionals. Moreover, Power and Hynes feature clips from a
local radio talk show host, DJ Tony Prince (Roger King), who
speaks on current events of the city.
Much to the viewer's
surprise, "Long Pigs" is far from the overly exploitative
horror we come to expect. The synopsis suggests it would be
more of a gross-out feature than it actually is. While the film
is thoroughly shocking, it relies more on the disturbing
subtlety of it all to get a rise out of the viewer. It's a
menacing, twisted little film that gets under the viewer's skin
by the sneering charm and wit of the cannibalistic serial killer
at its center. The film finds a sharp equilibrium between humor
and horror. There is a point in the film where the tongue in
cheek approach becomes irrefutably dark. There is a genuinely
chilling moment where Anthony recounts a murder of a child, whom
he consumed for the simple reason he wanted to compare young
flesh to adult flesh. This is where the film exhibits true
cruelty. Power and Hynes set up an interview with the victim's
father, Merle (Paul Fowles) and bring Anthony along to help with
the film equipment. Little does the father know one of the men
in front of him murdered and ate his child. A truly sick,
filthy moment? Yes. Yet, it's a unique moment where the film
shines and stamps its own identity.
Highly critical on the media, "Long Pigs" is an ambitious
and bold film. It asks many interesting questions such as: "Are
the filmmakers just as bad as the killer?" Reminiscent of the
approach to Ruggero Deadato's "Cannibal Holocaust" where
he implicated a documentary crew as the "real" savages compared
to a cannibal tribe, the film shows how easily corruptible the
camera is when Anthony is on screen. The film is static and
professional for the DJ and the interview subjects, but it's at
its most "cinematic" whenever Anthony shows up. It's
fascinating Power and Hynes play themselves as the filmmakers,
using their real names. By doing such they make a fascinating
annotation on their willingness to exploit a fascinating, albeit
evil figure. The film confronts cannibalism in today's world
and draws themes of consumption. For Anthony, it is a primal
need. There are carnivores who survive off their kills.
Anthony is every bit as predatory as those animals. Humans
consume the food from animals (chicken, meat, etc.) yet animals
eat each other all the time. Anthony feels he is no different
than a carnivore. The film shows how self-composed and sensible
he is by his philosophy, and it's scary watching him justify his
murderous impulses.
Whatever he decides to eat on any given day, Anthony selects
certain prey. First off, he targets a fat prostitute who is
just the perfect weight for him to grind up in a delicious
stew. The filmmakers follow him as he explains the entire
bloody process. Though he doesn't really savor the act of
killing, it's an absolute necessity for him. We witness him
string the hooker up in quintessential Gein fashion (which the
film even mentions during the act) and methodically prepares the
corpse. He is careful and takes pride in his work like a
painter. He moves about, as if he's a composer. And this is
all to the credit of Anthony Alviano's amazing performance as
the cannibal. Watching him, it's no wonder why the directors
wrote the role specifically for him. He gives their project
such dark humor and chilling realism, it is unbelievable. The
rest of the cast do a fairly solid job carrying their roles.
These actors all feel real - and notably Roger King is
impressive as the radio DJ, especially with the close-up of him
in all of his scenes. At times, his performance reminded me of
Eric Bogosian's Barry Champlain from Oliver Stone's "Talk
Radio."
Unfortunately, the film never takes the full plunge into the
relationship between Anthony and the filmmakers who get in over
their heads. Quite possibly, more development with them would
have made the film stronger. The characters are present, but we
never get a genuine sense of the two, their personalities or how
they came up with the realization following Anthony would be a
good idea. The end sequence, where the film reveals what became
of the characters, came across as choppy at first.
It'd be unfair to lump the film in with the lesser of previous
mockumentaries. Inspired by "Man Bites Dog," "Long Pigs" remains fresh all on its own. Darkly humorous and
unsettling, this is an invigorating piece of work. There is no
need for unnecessary action and the filmmakers firmly realize
their vision didn't need to step into exploitation territory to
gets its point across. The film lives on the killer's intense
presence, his sick charm and wit, and the way the filmmakers
keep digging themselves deeper and deeper into his world.
The "Long Pigs"
DVD features terrific material, such as the special FX
featurettes: "The Making of Lucy's Body" and "The Process of
Simon's Corpse." Gore effects and make-up done by Chris Bridges
and Tony Labatt are just incredible. The money shot of the
movie is where the body of the hooker is being "cleaned" and
systematically dismembered. The montage is nasty, grotesque
stuff -- yet we can't take our eyes off it. You're probably
going to wonder how stuff like this was done, and you will know
thanks to the features. The director's commentary is fun and
takes you through the process of making the film. Both
directors also get into how they came up with the idea. Perhaps
taking a cue from Fred Vogel's "Killer Commentary" on the "August
Underground" Snuff Edition, Anthony McAllister himself has a
commentary track! He talks at length from prison about how he
was first approached for the documentary, how much he hates the
filmmakers who exploited him and how he "doesn't have a taste"
for human flesh any longer. As a radio interview with DJ Tony
Prince and Anthony McAllister and a few trailers top the disc,
R-Squared brings us an awesome DVD altogether. "Long Pigs"
has all of the ingredients of a well crafted horror film. Just
don't watch it with a full stomach!
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