Daddy's Deadly Darling (1973)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Great Film overall

Better Late Then Never

Absolutely the worst movie.

Mainstream character actor Marc Lawrence found himself blacklisted during the '50s and was forced to flee to Europe for a decade. On his return, he found himself producing and directing all kinds of low budget fare including PIGS, his only horror movie. This ultra-bizarre tale was made on a shoestring budget and pairs not one but two psychopathic characters in a very slow moving tale of murder and madness that's pretty predictable. Bizarrely the film fell foul of British censors although I don't really see why. The gore effects that pop up throughout the movie are shoddy and unrealistic with severed body parts oozing bright-red fake blood, although the cockroach running through the grue is pretty artistic and original.Beauty Toni Lawrence (daughter of the director) stars as Lynn, a girl who starts off getting raped by her dad. She murders him in self defence and is carted off to an insane asylum, escaping about five minutes later far too easily. Lawrence goes to live in the country, where she meets would-be suitors and inevitably ends up butchering them when they try to have sex with her or alternatively when she's reminded of her father. The film tries to get inside Lynn's mind and explore her disturbed character, so throughout we're subjected to cheesy childish rhymes and lots of disturbing squealing from the filthy pigs which send her insane. Lawrence isn't bad at all as the lead and is pleasing on the eye to boot.Her new housemate is crazy old Zambrini, played with sleazy relish by the director himself in an excellent little performance. Zambrini goes out grave robbing at night, finding corpses to feed to his beloved pigs. The pigs of the title are actually pretty disturbing, especially when they run around in the dark terrorising people, and the exploitation angle is played for all its worth. Unfortunately the rest of the characters are a bunch of stock clichés, like the dumb sheriff or the asylum guy, and the acting apart from the two leads is appalling. Generally, PIGS is a difficult film to sit through due to the snail-pace story and the poor production values. It's one of those films where everything happens in the dark and you end up with eye strain through trying to watch it. Irritating music and a stupid twist ending adds to the overall effect but PIGS not without charm; it manages to be disturbing and dumb in equal measure whilst the loony tag-team of the central pairing is enjoyable to watch.

Yet another Troma acquisition which was clearly meant for Something Weird Video. Pigs, aka, Daddy's Deadly Darlings is one of about a thousand inept, no-budget rural Horrors's from the same era. Few of which are not even half as inept as this one. Directed by Marc Lawrence, and starring daughter, Toni Lawrence, as a crazy person (Lynn) on the run after stabbing her pa to death, after a raping. This chick knows how to disappear, as she couldn't have found a more empty nothing of a town if she tried. Lynn finds work and a place to chill with local crazy person, Zambrini, a pig farmer. The fact that Lynn starts to kill people normally might not go over too well with the old man, but his extremely noisy pigs only happen to eat human flesh, so, he's actually glad to have her around. It's just a win-win situation. On the back of the DVD case, it says Pigs has paved the way for stuff like Last House On The Left, and The Hills Have Eyes, and well, it also refers to Pigs as a cult classic. Sorry, guys, but I wouldn't even call that an exaggeration. This is a terrible, dull pile of garbage and to be honest, I'm having a hard time thinking of stuff to say about it. Although, the fact that Pigs was clearly edited by someone who is legally blind, always makes me laugh. That really is the best part. Seeing pieces of scenes repeat themselves is rare, even in the world of B-cinema. So, Pigs definitely deserves extra points for that. Other than that, not really any gore to speak of (unless I missed it), and no witty one-liners to make you chuckle, and well, not really much of anything but terrible lighting, irritating squeals, and a keen little song which sorta reflects the premise. Not a good movie. Hell, not even a good B-movie, but if you like 'em bad, then you're in for a good time. 5/10

Lynn(Toni Lawrence-the daughter of Marc Lawrence)stabbed her father to death after he raped her.She believes that her daddy is still alive.She escapes from the asylum-stealing a car she flees into backwoods America,ending up at Zambrini's roadside diner.Zambrini(Marc Lawrence) has twelve pigs-he butchers people to feed his animals!"Daddy's Deadly Darling"/"Pigs" is another overlooked classic from early 70's.The script is wonderfully bizarre,the acting is pretty good and there is a bit of gore.The photography is grainy,even ugly looking at times-the film actually reminds me "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre","Last House on the Left" or "Eaten Alive".Some scenes are pretty creepy,so if you like horror movies give this little gem a look!

Lynn has a problem. Her father abused her, raped her, and beat her. Lynn killed her father, was put in an asylum, and still believes her father to be alive. Lynn escapes from asylum and heads on the highway to get away. Thus is the first five minutes or so of Daddy's Deadly Darling(Pigs was the title of video I saw). Then comes on one of the best and most ridiculous songs for a horror movie I've seen in a long time, "Somebody's waiting for you." I have to admit it is a pretty catchy tune. The tune plays while Lynn drives away from her troubles till she comes to a small cafe in the middle of nowhere that has a position for employment open. She secures her job here as a waitress and soon creates a bond with the cafe owner. His name is Zambrini and he has a bunch of human flesh-eating hogs in the back. Well, the story really gets bizarre here when we see Zambrini feed a freshly dug corpse to his livestock. Lynn too seems to not haven gotten over her killing ways completely and the two work together going hog wild over their work. This film is actually pretty good. I mean it is not a a good movie, but it is a whole lot better than I expected and I think will exceed many of your expectations. Marc Lawrence wrote, produced, directed, and starred in this film. His daughter Toni plays Lynn. Lawrence is able to create a very eerie feel to the film despite the total lack of logic that exists in the script. Some of the scenes are dream-like and Lynn's nightmare scene is very powerful. Lawrence also does a fine job acting in his professional low-key style. His daughter isn't too bad either and let's just say she sure knows how to fill out a nightgown. The deaths are not particularly plentiful or gruesome. The rest of the acting is adequate with a couple of old ladies doing very well as neighbors complaining about the pigs next door. Watch out for video misrepresentation: one of the older women's names is Katherine Ross(she starred in one movie...this one!) but is given top billing on many videos to try and make you think this is the other Katherine Ross(The Graduate and The Legacy). All in all a better than expected cinematic experience.