The film opens up right into the heart of the gory action, as we follow a bloodied and beaten woman down a lonely dirt road. Soon a truck rolls up on her, and the main protagonist of Pig  is revealed to be the old standby of country-bumpkin-white-trash-crazy-freak-o. It's obvious the woman has escaped, however briefly, from the clutches of this insane psychopath, but isn't getting away. For her, things are going from bad to worse, and fast. What happens next is text book chase-and-kill stuff, albeit taken to an entirely new level of dread.
 
Madman catches and beats already brutalized woman senseless, with vicious headbutts to the face.

Madman throws brutalized woman into truck.
 
Madman takes brutalized woman back to the little spread he's made for himself in the middle of nowhere, which consists of some chairs in the dirt, a beaten down trailer, an outside cooking stove, and a very suspicious ice chest. We also see she is not alone. Another victim is chained up, and laying in the dirt.

From here on, Pig plays out scenario after scenario of increasingly violent acts, ranging from merciless physical beatings, disembowelment, cannibalism (both willing and forced), and severe degradation, as blood and other body fluids flow with trashy, humorless, sadistic glee. The horror progresses, and we are soon introduced to the madman's "wife", a pregnant, retarded woman who lives in a cage outside, and calls the madman "Daddy". She is let loose to play with, and taunt, the victim, who I gather is named "Laurie" because that's what "Retard" calls her.
There is, like I said, no real narrative to Pig. The film itself is an exercise by the writer/director, Adam Mason (The Devil's Chair, Broken) in seeing how far he can push the envelope, and to test what even the most jaded gorehound is willing to watch. This film asks the question "How much can you take, and for how long?" of the viewer, much like the August Underground films of Fred Vogel. What separates Pig (and makes it simultaneously more difficult and more rewarding to watch) is the caliber of the performances. Frequent Mason collaborator Andrew Howard assumes the lead role of "Daddy", and it is one fucking hell of a freak out style performance. Terrifying, unpredictable, and highly dangerous, Howard's work in this film will set your teeth on edge. He never devolves into being absolutely cartoonish, even in the mumbled insanities the character he is playing speaks to himself, or the broad gestures and "Yee Haw! We kilt us unuther one!" aspects of the character. The others in the cast,  the woman who plays "Retard" in particular, also give realistic and upsetting readings to these pretty much faceless characters. This is in large part what makes Pig worth seeing. Also, no small feet, the first 70 minutes is one uninterrupted shot, making it something of a technical marvel. Getting the practical FX into frame without revealing any crew members, the sound being recorded in real time making oral direction impossible for the actors, who themselves keep up an amazing amount of energy, and dwell for an extended length of time in the nightmare scenario they are playing out, without no relief of the word "CUT!" from the director...these facts all make Pig something more than what it might seem on the surface. It's a bit of an achievement in that way.

On the same token, the film at times does come off as an experiment in the technique of the extended single shot. Imagine the scene in Troma's Mother's Day, where the mother is teaching her two sons how to properly commit rape, or pretty much any of the scenes from the aforementioned August Underground films, being stretched out to ninety minutes, and you have an idea of what you are in for. It may sound pointless, but it's not. Again, the performances alone in this film make it worth a view, grounding it in reality and giving it a gravity not usual for something this caustic. Also, the fact that it takes place in broad daylight while the sun is out and shining, and the birds are chirping, serves to increase the terror, not detract from it. Much like Tobe Hooper's classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and other 70's/80's era horror films, where shooting at night was simply too cost prohibitive, the atrocities in Pig happen under a glaring sun, and are caught by an unblinking eye. All is exposed. There is nowhere to turn in this film, no relief, no mercy, no hope.

Know this, Pig is not a film for the casual horror fan by any stretch. This is stuff by the initiated for the initiated. This is what you put on to make the weaker stomached terror fan puke and never come back to your house for "Scary Movie Night" ever again.

And while, yes, Pig comes off as I said, like an exercise much of the time, it's still nice to see Adam Mason flexing those muscles and keeping them invigorated...with blood!