Now this here is one strange little movie. If you go in blindly, it's going to take you a moment to figure out what this movie is about, but when it hits you, you know you're in for a fun ride.

So who is Farmer Vincent? Who is Ida? What are we doing in this movie to begin with? Rory Calhoun plays a charming southern gent who runs a motel and jerky business with his fat and smug sister. Yeah, I've already said too much...


This movie came out in October 1980. What a fun fucking movie this would have been to see when it came out. People would need to know why a guy wearing a pig's head is weilding a chainsaw. Oh, what imagery. I love how he laughs maniacally during that chainsaw duel, too, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. This movie has a lot of stuff going on, and it's almost mesmerizing to watch it all play out.

Vince and Ida are still pretty shady people, but fortunately for them, their own dim-witted brother is the sheriff. He's a clueless horndog. He's the hero, and he's incompetent, so this movie is all about the villains.

But villains? What are they doing anyway? Well, it becomes pretty obvious when they're talking about how they ate their dog before, and Vincent laughs the line, "Meat's meat, and man's got to eat!"


Even though this came out before the 80s got its groove/cheese, it still had a lot of it, but not enough to ruin the mood of it by making it too goofy. It has gore, titties, perverts, inept cops, traveling rock bands, health inspectors, hypnosis, drive-in movies, and a great and atmospheric rural setting to work with. Oh, and most importantly, it has... Wolfman Jack, playing a sleazy televangelist. I think each scene of this movie serves a purpose, and it's generally just a fun movie to watch.

I love the way they harvest humans. Force-fed, probably shitting and pissing themselves in their dirt hole, but that's why they wash 'em good before they cook 'em! Vincent has his secret family recipe, and he knows how to run his business. Of course, this all comes crashing down because he fucks up. He falls in love. Ida has a strange jealousy about that, often trying to kill the girl he likes. So much zany shit going on in this movie that it all just seems normal in the end. After all, they do present Farmer Vincent as a rather sympathetic character, until the end, when he puts on that pig head...

MGM Midnite Movies had a great double feature of this and "Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile" (1974). Both twisted tales of rural american butchers.

Imdb trivia:

The movie's original screenplay was originally a darker more disturbing piece with bestiality, a lot more violence and was not a black comedy.

Harry Dean Stanton was originally approached to play Farmer Vincent, but declined.

I would have loved to get some bestiality points for this movie, but I think the end result is pretty entertaining either way.