Written and directed by Carlota Pereda
Starring Laura Galán, Carmen Machi, Claudia Salas, Pilar Castro
Rated R for language throughout, sexual material and some violence
Runtime 1 hour 30 minutes
Exclusively at Alamo Drafthouse theaters October 7, Opens in other theaters and VOD October 14th

by Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

Content Warning: Bullying, Fatphobia, Physical and Verbal Abuse

As someone who is a fan of the revenge film, I typically love the fantastical structure: Someone is hurt or abused, and they make everyone pay. I like getting to live out this sort of fantasy through different characters; in a way, it helps me deal with my own history of trauma and harassment. But sometimes the revenge film can get a little more complicated. It can make us question who, if anyone, should be harmed. And we also have to look at what effect these complications can have on the one at the center of the vengeance story. Piggy is one of these revenge films that lives in the gray and makes us question the ethics around cycles of violence as well as what it means to be a bystander. 

Based on the short Carlota Pereda made, Piggy centers around the protagonist, Sara (Laura Galán), who is constantly bullied by girls in the neighborhood about her weight. They often call her “piggy” and post videos of her online for others to see. No one seems to have time to notice or care, including Sara’s misguided parents. One day, however, someone takes notice of the abuse Sara faces and does something about it. When Sara is almost drowned and has her clothes stolen by her tormentors, a serial killer kidnaps the girls. Sara sees the whole thing, but the killer gives her back her clothes and drives away. This one small act of kindness makes it hard for Sara to speak up and tell anyone what happened when the police come calling to ask about the missing girls. As she and the killer begin to gravitate toward each other, it becomes harder for Sara to figure out what the right thing to do is. 

This film has been one of my most anticipated watches since I heard about it at the beginning of the year. That being said, Piggy is hard to get through at times; it should be, given the subject material. Fatphobia is still a major issue and something that many people deal with. The way that Sara is treated by her tormentors is brutal but also feels grounded in the realities of how mean girls can be to each other. Even Sara’s parents do not take what she is going through seriously and often treat her like a child who “should lose weight if she does not want to be bullied.” All of these scenes are necessary to see what Sara has to deal with on a daily basis as well as why it is so hard for her to make “the right choices” given the gravity of the situation that she is put into. Sara might not always act in a way that we as the audience understand, but there is often no right way to act when it comes to trauma victims. 

Laura Galán gives an incredible performance as Sara. We can see the pain that she goes through on a daily basis and how it can become something that is all-consuming, making it impossible for her to do or think about much else. We also see her have genuine moments of happiness in the few precious moments where it feels like she is accepted. These moments of happiness make the moments where she must fight or stand up for herself all the more meaningful. She is complex, but she is also young and yearning for attention and belonging as someone who is often ostracized because of her appearance. This yearning also means that when the wrong person shows her this attention and the love for which she yearns, she can be manipulated, making the already blurred lines between right and wrong become that much blurrier. 

The film has a bleak and dirty look to it, which amplifies the overall tone and theme with which the film deals. We often spend time in desolate, abandoned, dirty spaces that make all the events of the film feel that much more unclean. Many of the characters who we see portrayed as bullies or at least bystanders who do not care get moments to show kindness, tenderness, and empathy for Sara. As an audience member who wanted them all to pay for the way they treated Sara, it made it harder for me to relish in that bloodlust. The way that the audience feels emulates the choices that Sara has to make: does she do nothing, does she forgive, or does she dirty her hands and choose the path of vengeance?

As in real life, these decisions are not easy, and it is clear that writer/director Carlota Pereda does not want us to live in a revenge fantasy. She wants us to confront our bloodlust and our notions of who deserves to be punished and who deserves to do the punishing. Pereda plays with us right up until the shocking end of the film, making Piggy a memorable and important piece of horror. The film is a reminder that horror has always been rooted in the dredging up of trauma and the messed-up feelings that we have; as a genre, it is uniquely suited to exploring these complicated spaces that we often do not want to think about.