THE PIGMAN MURDERS

This is one of those low-budget (5 thousand Euros) shaky-cam efforts that begins with onscreen text assuring us that what we're about to see is recovered footage of a video-documented excursion that went very wrong.

Points do go to writer-director Stephen Patrick Kenny for conjuring a fresh premise: a group of friends travel to the idyllic countryside of Connemara in County Galway, Ireland where they intend to film their visit as a tribute to their friend Brendan, who died a year earlier. This was his favourite place to frequent, you see.

Rounded up by amiable Paulie (Mark Hutchinson) and joined by cameraman-for-hire Stefan (Marius Puodziunas), the group take turns in addressing the handheld camera to pay their respects to Brendan, and reveal that they're there for the weekend - by the end of which, they aim to have enough footage to edit down and gift to his family.

Much of their early exploits involve boozing, telling anecdotes about sleeping with transsexuals and so forth, playing early-morning pranks on each other, and more boozing.

It comes as little surprise, though, that in time this camaraderie is put to the test as people start to tire of being in each other's company for so long. Tensions arise as inter-group fights loom. Peacekeeper Paulie does his best to get everyone on side and stay focused on the task at hand.

This seems to work, as they all bond once again round a campfire at night, even sharing a chorus of "Tracks of my Tears" together. But then two gunshots ring out in the near distance. The group is understandably rattled.

The following morning, they wander across the moors moaning about the fact that they have no reception on their mobile telephones and that one of their group - Sammy (Gerard Fallon) - has gone missing. Suddenly a half-naked man appears, covered in blood and claiming to have escaped from two hooded psychopaths lurking nearby...

Another 'found footage' film? I'm afraid so!

THE PIGMAN MURDERS actually isn't bad. It's tightly edited, briskly paced at just 72 minutes in length and finds strength in its clutch of credible performances. The chemistry between the group of friends feels genuine, possibly aided by some boozed-up ad-libbing (the pub scenes feel very natural). It's pleasing to report that we have a host of pretty likeable characters here too. That's unusual for a contemporary horror flick: most are populated by twats.

Working against it, it has to said that the film takes an awfully long time to get going (its 41 minutes before we even hear the first threatening gunshot). Also, Kenny made his group of pals too big. Not every character is given due attention - this would've been more easily addressed had there been four pals travelling together instead of seven.

My major bugbear though is how the handheld camerawork is prone to glitches every few seconds or so. I mean, we've all seen wedding videos from the late 80s where such interference occurs ... but, really, in 2014, whose camera equipment suffers like this? Fucking hell, you can film stuff on your 'phone these days and it rarely suffers from problematic playback. So I found this to be quite a stupid ploy. It's a stupid ploy of ALL 'found footage' flicks, but I thought it was especially dumb here as Stefan had been hired specially to document the trip ... so, how come he's (a) so crappy at framing stuff, and (b) his equipment is subject to visual hiccups every 10 seconds or so? Crazy; infuriating over time.

Still, get past that ... and the wait for the horror stuff to arrive ... and you may just be entertained by this little flick.

A sequel - THE PIGMAN MURDERS 2: LOST FOOTAGE - is already announced.

88 Films' DVD opens to an animated main menu page, complete with piggy squeals on its soundtrack. An animated scene selection menu allows access to the film via 12 chapters.

First up in terms of bonus features is a 2013 short from Kenny entitled "Curse of the Banshee". This 18-minute affair details a group of men with flaming torches searching local forestry for the titular creature. Of course, it's a matter of time until they find what they're looking for - much to their cost. Events then shift to the present day, where the legend rears its ugly head once again.

A blend of Irish humour, melodramatic music and minor gore, it makes for a fun - and surprisingly well-shot - addition to the disc.

The main feature's original trailer runs for a snappy, spoilerific 66 seconds.

We also get a gallery of handsomely mounted production stills which play out over the course of 2 minutes.

Last but not least, we're treated to the usual compendium of trailers for other 88 Films titles: PUPPET MASTER, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, DEMONIC TOYS, BLOODY BIRTHDAY, TWO MOON JUNCTION, DOLLMAN, BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, PUPPET MASTER 2, PUPPET MASTER: TOULON'S REVENGE, TOURIST TRAP and CASTLE FREAK.

Two words: 'found footage'. Your choice.

Review by Stuart Willis