Daddy's Deadly Darling (1973)

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.

Produced & directed by legendary character actor Marc Lawrence - known for his many gangster roles - the somewhat obscure curiosity "Daddy's Deadly Darling" (a.k.a. "Pigs" and "The 13th Pig") is nothing if not interesting. It's actually kind of appealing in its warped way, largely because it's just so sincere. The dialogue (screenplay by Mr. Lawrence, billed as "F.A. Foss") isn't always the greatest, but it's delivered with as much gravitas as the cast can muster. It's well shot by Glenn Roland and features a haunting refrain and score by the consistently reliable Charles Bernstein ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" '84, "Cujo").This is largely a vehicle for Marcs' daughter Toni, a pretty and leggy young woman who stars as Lynn, a mystery lady running from something who arrives in a small California community. She takes a job as a waitress in a local cafe, working for a man named Zambrini (Mr. Lawrence), an elderly man who lived through a devastating accident when he worked for a circus. On Zambrinis' property are a dozen pigs, and it is rumored by the locals that these pigs got used to the taste of human flesh long ago, and that Zambrini will resort to murder of drifters in order to keep these pigs fed.Ultimately, the developments in Lawrences' story aren't all that surprising, but the presentation is just offbeat and atmospheric enough to make this an intriguing viewing. Ms. Lawrence does a decent job as the disturbed Lynn, and her dad is likable (for a change) as Zambrini takes a paternalistic care towards his new employee. '70s drive-in favorite Jesse Vint is fine as the local sheriff, and there are other solid contributions by Jim Antonio, Catherine Ross, Paul Hickey, Walter Barnes, and Erik Holland.It's commendable that boutique labels such as Vinegar Syndrome, which released this one on DVD & Blu-ray this year, are doing such a fine job of resurrecting little known cult / exploitation titles like this and giving them such impressive presentations.Eight out of 10.

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!