Review: HOLLAND ROAD MASSACRE: THE LEGEND OF PIGMAN (2020)
Near Buffalo NY you’ll find Holland Road. It runs from Route 5 in the town of Angola out toward Evangola State Park. It’s alleged to be the home to many strange phenomena including the ghosts from a horrific train accident in 1867. It’s a real place, a friend and I checked it out a few times when I lived there. We never saw anything odd, but that may be because we spent most of our time in the bed of her truck.
One of the legends I’m quite glad we didn’t encounter was The Pigman. He allegedly put the heads of pigs he butchered on stakes to warn people away from his land. Three boys who decided to push their luck ended up with their heads on stakes instead. Writer/director Emir Skalonja (Anthropocene, Veronika) has tapped into that legend for his latest film Holland Road Massacre: The Legend Of Pigman.
Kreepie (Al Baker) parks his car on a snowy road and walks toward a masked figure under a bridge. That figure is Pigman (Michael Balch) and Kreepie is here to haul away the bodies of his latest victims. But they don’t stay his latest for long. He kills a woman shooting footage for a project and a guy walking through the woods as an appetizer.
While that’s going on Lauren Donahue (Heather Dunham, Casting Couch Slaughter, Casting Couch Slaughter 2: The Second Coming) getting ready to go out while a heavy metal song about (not by) Dio plays. If you guess that she’ll be the main course, you’re right. Her car breaks down on guess what road. She leaves a message for her dad, Det. Rick Donahue (Robert A. Coldicott, Post Apocalyptic Commando Shark) and starts walking. She meets up with Kylie (Kristina Santiago) who went in the woods with her boyfriend looking for Pigman and found him. Can they stay alive long enough to be rescued?
Holland Road Massacre: The Legend Of Pigman is a fairly standard micro-budget slasher. There’s a lot of blood but few actual effects. Some random victims are tossed in to up the body count and there’s a fair amount of padding. There is some fairly good metal playing on the soundtrack which is a plus.
As the Pigman, Michael Balch is suitably imposing. This is actually his second time in the role. He played him in the unrelated film Holland Road in 2015. Dunham and Santiago are both attractive and effective as the leads. The acting overall is quite good for a film that, like Detroit Driller Killer, was probably shot for about a thousand dollars.
I wasn’t really sure if everything was part of one timeline or if we had scenes of Detective Donahue investigating Pigman intercut with the main story. Judging by the weather and the amount of snow on the ground they’re two separate timelines. But the way Holland Road Massacre: The Legend Of Pigman is structured they feel like they go together.
If you don’t do this level of low-budget film making you’re going to avoid this film anyway. If you do like them then Holland Road Massacre: The Legend of Pigman is certainly worth a look. It’s currently available to stream on Vimeo. Other platforms and a DVD/Blu-Ray release are planned. You can check the film’s Facebook page for updates.