DANGEROUS LIAISON
A bullied teen bonds with a sadistic killer in Carlota Pereda’s grisly coming-of-age thriller.
Ifelt the need to write something that would exorcise my own fears,” says writer/director Carlota Pereda, talking with Teasers about the inspiration behind this tale of teenage bullying and murderous fascination.
Based on Pereda’s own short film of the same name (Cerdita, in native Spanish), Piggy follows teenage Sara (Laura Galán) as she struggles with vicious bullies in small-town Spain. After a horrific incident at the town pool leaves her humiliated, Sara forms a mutual bond with the sinister serial killer who kidnaps her bullies for torture and, inevitably, murder.
This is where the short film ends, and the feature begins. “I realised that there was a conflict that I was refusing to let go of,” says Pereda. “I had to see what happened next.”
What happens next is a sunand-blood-drenched thriller, told from the perspective of nervous hair-chewing misfit Sara. “She has such a great heart, and such great empathy,” says Pereda of star Galán.
“She empathises with every single thing that happens to Sara.”
The film puts Sara through a wringer of torment in which the bullying is just as upsetting as its scenes of grisly violence, partly informed by Pereda’s own experiences.
“I know that place, I know the people,” she says, talking of the swimming pool where she herself once bathed alone. “I always wanted to write something about bullying, and at the same time
I wanted to write something that was horror in daylight.”
Informed, in Pereda’s words, by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, neither sunlight nor darkness offers respite for Sara. “There was not going to be any chance to hide in the shadows in the day. There’s not going to be any moonlight in the night,” says Pereda. “The light is going to be almost abstract.”
Lurking both day and night, Richard Holmes’ killer shares few scenes with Sara. However, he was there for every day of the shoot, often as Galán rehearsed. “We wanted to have this connection, always present. He’s not there, but he’s always in the background of the film,” says Pereda. Nor is Sara the only one to have formed a fascination with the monster. “In Spain, he’s become a massive hit with the gay and bear community,” Pereda laughs. “I love it!”
Love or hate him, such strong feelings were important to Pereda. “One of the main characters in the movie for me is the audience. People are going to bring their own experiences, their own background to the viewing of the film.” The horrors it presents are both universal and specific, but for Pereda can be neatly summed up in a few words. “Being female can be a real horror story.”
‘There was not going to be any chance to hide in the shadows in the day’ CARLOTA PEREDA