Pig Hunt is a 2008 American action horror thriller film directed by James Isaac, it was written by Robert Mailer Anderson and Zack Anderson. This was the last film directed by James Isaac before his death in 2012.
When John takes his San Francisco friends to his deceased uncle's ranch to hunt wild boar, it seems like a typical steroid-impaired 'guys' weekend with guns. As the young men trek deeper into the woods, they begin to realise the awful truth of his uncle's death and the legend of the Ripper; a murderous 3000lb boar. Their pursuit takes them through fields of marijuana and into the muddy landscape of Big Wallow, involving weaponry, the violent Tibbs brothers, tortured animals, a kukri-toting hippie, vengeful rednecks, and throat-slitting young women who grow pot by day and worship the giant boar at night. By the time the hunt's over, no one's unscathed.
Tropes:
- Animal Nemesis: Before his death, John's uncle was obsessed with hunting the Ripper: a legendary 3000 lb. killer boar.
- Bad with the Bone: One of the hippie women stabs Jake through the eye with the boar tusk she wears on her necklace.
- Car Fu: When Quincy attempts to escape from the cabin in Ben's SUV, Jake rams him with his pickup, rolling the SUV down a slope where it comes to rest against a tree.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: The hippie stranger smears blood on the window of Ben's SUV at the gas station and draws a smiley face in it. Later, when John and his friends arrive at his late uncle's ranch, someone has written messages on the walls (including "FALSE FLAG") in what might be blood.
- Creepy Gas-Station Attendant: The protagonists stop at a remote gas station to get directions to John's uncle's ranch. The owner is surly and hostile to everyone (except John whom he regards as a local) and, when asked for a map, he draws one a page from a nudie calendar in a very creepy fashion.
- Dead Animal Warning: When Ben and Quincy arrive back at the cabin, they find Quincy's missing dog Wolfgang: only someone has killed him and carved out his eyes.
- Dead Foot Leadfoot: After John shoots the redneck driving the dune buggy with a crossbow bolt, the buggy continues to accelerate away from him until it flips over.
- Don't Go in the Woods: The protagonists' pursuit into the woods takes them through fields of marijuana and into the muddy landscape of Big Wallow, involving weaponry, the violent Tibbs brothers, tortured animals, a kukri-toting hippie, vengeful rednecks, and throat-slitting young women who grow pot by day and worship the giant boar at night.
- Extremelyshort Timespan: One weekend.
- Eye Scream: One of the hippie women stabs Jake through the eye with the boar tusk she wears on her necklace.
- Full-Boar Action: The Ripper is a 3000 lb. killer boar living in the forests around Big Wallow and worshiped by a local cult.
- Funbag Airbag: As Brooks is climbing over Quincy in the back seat, Ben deliberately accelerates so that she is thrown forward, burying Quincy's face in her cleavage.
- Giant Animal Worship: The hippie cult worships the Ripper: a 3000 lb. boar that roams the woods around the commune. They abduct hunters and others they find the woods and chain them up as Human Sacrifices for the boar.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Ben wakes up in the commune with the hippie girls feeding him drugs and seducing him. As part of the seduction, two of the girl lean over the top of him and kiss.
- Hillbilly Horrors: Aside from the 3000 lb wild boar and the murderous hippie cult, the protagonists also have to contend with a homicidal clan of redneck hunters stalking them through the woods after Ben shoots one of them.
- Hooks and Crooks: Ricky carries a weapon called a 'California hook' which consists of two large hooks taped to a baseball bat which he uses to finish off wounded boar.
- Horror Hippies: A kukri-wielding hippie leads a cult of bloodthirsty hippie chicks who grow marijuana during the day and worship the giant killer boar by night.
- Human Sacrifice: The hippie cult captures captures people and sacrifices them by feeding them to the 3000 lb boar they worship.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Ben uses the gasmask redneck's lance/spear to pin him to the wall of the cabin.
- Ironic Echo: "Kill guns are for pussies." Originally said by Ricky to Ben as a derogatory comment on Ben bringing a handgun hunting, as such weapons are only useful for finishing off wounded prey and a real man should do that with his hands. Later repeated by Ben to one of Ricky's clan when he was a bout to shoot him, but changes his mind and impales him with a makeshift harpoon instead.
- Kukris Are Kool: The pig-cult leader wields one of these, and uses it to decapitate one of the rednecks.
- Manly Men Can Hunt: City boys Ben and Wayne are very enthusiastic about going on a hunting trip with country boy and ex-soldier John as it will allow them demonstrate that they are 'real men' who can hunt and kill their own food. Non-Action Guy Quincy, however, makes it very clear that he is just along for the ride, and thinks that the best part about hunting is going home.
- Motorcycle Jousting: The gasmask redneck is mounted on a dirt bike and uses a makeshift lance in an attempt to run down Ben inside the cabin. Of course, as Ben does not have a bike or a lance, its not exactly a fair fight; making this more of a case of 'Motorcycle Pig-sticking'.
- Off with His Head!: The cult leader decapitates one of the rednecks with a single stroke from his kukri.
- Outdoor Bath Peeping: While fleeing from the rednecks, Ben runs into a gaggle of gorgeous naked hippie chicks bathing in a spring. He stand there gaping, unable to believe what he is seeing.
- Pinned to the Wall: Ben impales the gasmask redneck on his own lance and leaves pinned to the wall of the cabin.
- A Real Man Is a Killer: A major theme of the film. John is an ex-soldier who hunts because it is a family tradition. Jake and Ricky hunt because they enjoy it, and who look down on the 'soft' city boys who have never killed anything; with Ricky even saying it is cowardly to use a gun to finish off a wounded animal, and that you should use a knife or hook. Ben and Wayne are military fanboys who dress in combat fatigues but who have never killed anything, man or beast, and have to discover if they capable of doing so after they learn real life violence is nothing like a video game. Quincy is a Non-Action Guy who thinks hunting is macho bullshit and wants nothing to do with it.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Ben carries a Magnum revolver that he brandishes at the slightest provocation, including waving it around inside the car while he is driving. When John tells him to put it away before it goes off, he leans out the window and fires several shots at a road sign while still driving.
- Religion of Evil: A cult of hippies worships the giant boar that dwells in the woods and makes Human Sacrifices to it.
- Room Full of Crazy: The interior of John's late uncle's cabin is a testament to his obsession with hunting the Ripper, the legendary 3000 lb boar said to roam the surrounding woods. The walls are covered in maps, photos, drawings, and random jottings in a tight, crabbed handwriting. It is not clear is the final comments written in blood are the uncle's or if they were added by cult members after his death.
- Scar Survey: When Ricky is asked if if he got the scar on his neck from the giant hog that attacked him, he explains that he got that scar from John in a dispute over a game of mumbletypeg. He then lifts up his shirt to show the even bigger scars he got from being wounded in Iraq, and from the hog attack.
- Show Some Leg: A naked hippie girl distracts one of the rednecks by running up to him jiggling and begging for help. While he is distracted, one of her friends sneaks up on him and stabs him.
- Skinny Dipping: While fleeing the cabin, Ben runs across of gorgeous hippie girls bathing naked in a spring. He can do nothing except stand and gawp.
- Stab the Scorpion: At the gas station, the hippie stranger suddenly steps towards Brooks and draws his kukri. But instead of attacking her, he uses it to flick away a rattlesnake on the ground she was just about to tread on.
- The Straight and Arrow Path: John carries a crossbow while his friends use rifles. He is still the most effective hunter in the group.
- Teaser-Only Character: John's uncle who dies in the opening scene; killed by the killer boar.
