Color, 2012, 70m.
Directed by Eamon Hardiman
Starring Sam Qualiana, Angela Pritchett, Rob Cobb, Brian Gunnoe, Missy Dawn, Kennie Bass, Robert J. Haddy II
Independent Entertainment (US R0 NTSC) / WS (1.78:1) (16:9) / DD2.0

PorkchopA cheap, homegrown slasher film that managed to provide far more entertainment than dreck like the remakes of Friday the 13th and Prom Night, Porkchop turned out to be a deep-fried slice of Southern depravity as well as one of the more notable direct-to-video horror outings of 2011. Well, it didn't even take a year to fire up the video cameras for a sequel, and as expected, Porkchop II: Rise of the Rind (simply titled Porkchops during the opening credits) delivers more of the same and then soPorkchopme.

Our pig-masked psychopath (played again by Cobb) doesn't waste any time getting down to business, using his boots and farm implements to ruin a lesbian couple's quiet afternoon making out in the woods of West Virginia. Then we meet bespectacled teenager Simon (Qualiana), who's just moved to a small town where he becomes the object of scorn for the local bullies, due in no small part to having to wear his mother's pink pullover after hours to school when the movers don't show up. The one positive is his new friend Meg (Pritchett), who enjoy spending class time talking about the local serial killer, Porkchop, who is supposed to be off limits for conversation at school. Meg decides to help Simon out by throwing a party and invited over some students, but of course, that turns out to be a spectacularly bad idea.

Filled with the expected high quotient of sex, gore, and drugs, Porkchop II continues the same brand of absurd sick humor from the first film (including a hilariously profane Porkchopnews break halfway through featuring a grieving family), and while the kills aren't quite as extreme as the highlights in the first one, there's some twisted fun to be had with sights like a horny guy getting his skull punctured by a bong. It's all short and sweet (barely over an hour if you subtract the credits), and you can expect plenty of weird detours like an impromptu musical number and big heap of bloopers during the end titles. There are also a couple of third-act twists, one surprisingly shocking and another that shouldn't be too hard to guess if you look at the original title.

Made by the same team (and some of the same cast members) from the first film as well as Zombie Babies, Porkchop II is the best-looking offering of the batch so far. That's still a relative term, of course, as we're still taking about a super-cheap production on what looks like consumer-grade video equipment; however, the lighting and framing have definitely improved, and it doesn't have much of that blown-out quality that cripples a lot of SOV productions. The audio is still pretty hit and miss, with some actors standing too far away and sounding too echo-ish for their own good, but the ambient creepy music works well enough with the limited two-channel stereo audio. The extras kick off with a commentary featuring writer/director Eamon Hardiman along with actors Brian Gunnoe, Brendan Rainey, Bill Harrison, and Lauren Landers, along with fx/"general awesome" guy Adam Edwards and musician Billy Hamilton. Topics covered include, well, boobs and blood as well as day versus night shooting and fat suits. You also get a whopping 53 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage (almost as long as the main feature!) along with bonus trailers for Porkchop and an assortment of other company titles like Exploited, Faces of Schlock, Stiffed, and The Sex Merchants. Now, bring on Porkchop 3D!

Reviewed on August 30, 2012.