Starring Laura Galán, Richard Holmes

Written & Directed by Carlota Pereda

Vertigo, in cinemas now

An overweight teenager in a small Spanish town endures terrible bullying, but then her tormentors disappear…

A glance at the poster, showing Sara (Laura Galán), the film’s tormented overweight protagonist, branded with her cruel nickname, drenched in blood, and you could be forgiven for thinking that Piggy will be a straightforward tale of angry adolescent vengeance. To be honest, I’d have been happy with that, but there’s a lot, lot more to Carlota Pereda’s impressive debut feature.

The best horror (as I’m always banging on about) waits in the shadows, shadows that are hard to find in the glare of the Spanish afternoon sun, but Parada has us squinting against the light, unable to get a clear look at the danger lurking in plain sight. Shot in a tight academy ratio, Sara’s village becomes stiflingly claustrophobic, the squareness of the frame giving her nowhere to hide. It’s a grindingly real and cruel world, and the pain of Sara’s day-to-day life behind the counter in the failing family butchers asks us, long before the killing begins, where the horror really lies.

There are some excellent set pieces, and the film isn’t without humour, not least in the way it inverts visual tropes and clichés, from the mucky public swimming pool, where no one floats serenely against magical, watery sunbeams, to the dream of riding on the back of the bike of the best-looking boy in the village turned to tragic nightmare.

And yes, you think you know where this is going, but, again, like all the best horror, Piggy is an exploration of ambivalence and ambiguity, of dark emotional truths exposed when everything you wish for comes true, sustaining us through the movie’s bloody climax, still unsure which path our heroine will choose.

Verdict: With a fearless and riveting performance from Laura Galán, Piggy is a must-see for connoisseurs of heartfelt, truthful horror. If this genre is going to be Carlota Pereda’s thing, then we’re all in for a terrific ride. 8/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com