The Lost Realities of Hog Caller DVD
Currently on the festival circuit, and being released by Wild Eye Releasing in 2012!!!
Film Review: The Lost Realities of Hog Caller (2011)
Posted on 02/01/2012 by Killion Leave a Comment or Post Review
SYNOPSIS:
For some reason or another a local news station has decided to search out and find the grind core band Hog Caller. There are many witness’s who have quite a few things to say about the duo of musicians, and most of it is hardly nice at all. It seems the two members of the band have a great appreciation for drugs, devil worship and dead pigs. In what could only be described as one long music video done while on the influence of a whole lot of drugs the viewer is given a glimpse into the “lives” of these musicians.
REVIEW:
Directed by: Tom Richards
Starring: Tom Richards and Steve O’Donnell
“Those guys are kind of dicks!”
Over the last few years I have seen quite a few films that seriously make me question just what exactly I was watching. There were the pseudo snuff films and of course a whole slew of POV films well now it seems I can add a music video to the list of strange and unusual films. Tom Richards’s The Lost Realities of Hog Caller presents itself as a POV style of film about a news channel reporter named Skip Jenkins who is searching high and low for the band Hog Caller. When the film ends however the casual viewer might do some research and learn that yes Hog Caller is a real band and that they have just been tricked into watching one long music video.
Skip starts his research of the band by tracking down those who claim to be friends or at least close with the band. Among the people that are interviewed are ex girlfriends, a priest and a friend who seems to be smoking dope the entire time he is being interviewed. Through these interviews the viewer is informed that the band Hog Caller is a grind core band, I’m not going to describe this musical movement I will just state however you either like it or you don’t and it can at times be quite abrasive. Hog Caller has been around since the early 2000’s and was formed by two members. The two men are known as The Dirt Farmer and Vomitorius. There are various rumors as to what has happened to the band and it is only through these interviews we are given a glimpse into who exactly these two men are. Both of the young men were altar boys when they were younger, both men are heavy into drugs (each one having their own drug of choice); both men also have been prone to forms of devil worship. The Dirt Farmer’s ex girlfriend also enlightens the viewer that it wasn’t just these things alone however that drove her ex boyfriend, he also it seems had a thing for anal sex.
The interviews go on for a little while and during them we are treated to our first music video by the band which basically shows a dead pig’s severed head being stabbed by the two members. That is one thing that comes up a lot in this film is the dead pig head, almost every scene with the band incorporates one in some way….after all the bands name is Hog Caller.
News caster Skip Jenkins soon gets somewhere when he visits a rather large flea market and is sold a bunch of VHS tapes that once belonged to the band. It is then that the viewer is given an even more twisted glimpse into Hog Caller. A twisted glimpse indeed that involves George W. Bush, Elvis, Bin Laden, a dead pig being played with on a play ground and a topless woman wearing a pig “mascot” head and a skirt made out of bacon and sausage. By the time the film ends the viewer might be hard pressed to ask just what in the heck they just witnessed, but I still believe we have quite a well packaged music video here.
The Lost Realities of Hog Caller likes to play with its audience a lot from its soundtrack, which is mostly composed of the bands music and a lot of strange noises (think original Texas Chainsaw Massacre). This soundtrack just adds to the surrealism that is put in front of the viewer. The imagery also is very twisted from a scene where Vomitorius takes his baby (a dead pig in a stroller) out for some ice cream and then to play at a play ground, to strange attempts at humor which is displayed in a scene where The Dirt Farmer is hunting for Bin Laden. Visual FX highlight these scenes though complete with tracking marks as if the viewer is watching an old VHS tape. The dead pig heads pop up all over the film as well which make up for the obvious George W. Bush and Bin Laden costumes and overdubbing.
Again I cannot be certain with 100% but I still believe that I just viewed a cleverly packaged music video, but it is definitely quite strange and unusual and should be checked out by those who want to watch something that makes them scratch their heads when its all said and done.
The Lost Realities of Hog Caller (2011)
The Lost Realities of Hog Caller (2011)
Posted on January 30, 2012 by Ted Brown
Much in the vein of classic Gwar films comes a visual mind fuck for an entirely new generation of degenerate fans of heavy music, disturbing visuals, and bacon covered T&A. The Lost Realities of Hog Caller is a documentary/mockumentry about central Pennsylvania’s most infamous grindcore band Hog Caller, made up of the duo Vomitrocious and The Dirtfarmer. Join award-winning reporter Skip Jenkins, as he ventures to Three Mile Island in hopes of locating the hard to find Hog Caller, resulting in a series of interesting interviews and even appearances from George Bush and the late Bin laden (sort of).
“Featuring repugnant footage of swine desecration, alcohol abuse, weed worship, Satanism, and the grotesque birth of an interspecies pig/human hybrid.” A bold claim from the back of the DVD case, which made this film impossible for me to not instantly throw into my DVD player, quickly followed by throwing up the horns, as I was taken over by twisted anticipation.
Influenced by various early grindcore/death metal/doom/sludge/ and stoner bands they formed originally in November 2004, as a way to get through the intense Pennsylvanian winter, the duo quickly found themselves with two-dozen finished tracks. This lead to the band being featured on a split CD from Last House On The Right Records, with Netherlands grindcore group Headcrash entitled “Proper Parasite Mannerisms” in August of 2005. Shortly afterwards they released their first full length 16 track record called “Predestined For Hell” setting into motion the rise of Hog Caller.
Growing up I was a die-hard Gwar fan, and use to obsessively re watch the movies they released. Just a few moments into The Lost Realities of Hog Caller, I quickly found myself having flashbacks of these simpler times of my life. Interviews with the weirdest of the weird, with equally messed up music videos of the bands songs, create an interesting look into the damaged minds of Hog Caller. Prior my viewing I had never heard of Hog Caller, but after spending 85 minutes lost inside their world, I can now say that I am a fan.
If you love grindcore music, and are not easily offended, I highly recommend cracking open a cold PBR, twisting up a fat joint, and banging your head with Hog Caller. The Lost Realities of Hog Caller does a great job at bringing the bands background story to life, and introducing potential new fans to the groups sick sense of humor. I found myself laughing my ass off through out the flick, and after the credits rolled, quickly pointed my browser to Hog Caller Music, to order some swag.
REVIEW BELOW BY THE DAILYGRINDHOUSE.COM WEBSITE
Well, I certainly didn’t expect that.
The bastard child of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and HARD CORE LOGO (with some non-sequitur segments thrown in for good measure), THE LOST REALITIES OF HOG CALLER is less a narrative feature and more like a collection of music videos, comedy skits and interviews loosely tied together with scenes of an investigative journalist trying to track down the titular grindcore band Hog Caller. Occasionally visually inspired – with more organ meat and pig heads this side of a SAW sequel – it’s also an intentionally grating experience, and might be a difficult watch for your average viewer. Still, for those dialed into the very specific sensibilities of the band, there’s a lot here to love.
Hog Caller has existed as a musical entity since 2004, and members The Dirtfarmer (Tom Richards, who directs here) and Vomitrocious (Steve O’Donnell) are the main participants here. The two men make a hell of a racket, and if you’ve never experienced the grindcore genre, well, it can’t really be explained in text. It’s intentionally abrasive and confrontational, and – let’s face it – super fucking bad-ass, and you’ll be hearing a lot of it if you sit down to watch THE LOST REALITIES OF HOG CALLER. It’s inescapable, and in the same way that the music is provocative and anarchic, the film itself follows suit. Richards uses the mockumentary format – news broadcast footage, candid interviews, found footage – as a way to throw everything and the kitchen sink into the video melting pot.
A major influence on both the band and the film is Middletown, PA, the hometown of the two members and best known as being less than five miles away from Three Mile Island and its famous 1979 meltdown. The reactors make numerous appearances throughout the film, and it’s not hard to believe that growing up in the shadow of such an incident could twist a person’s sensibilities. And The Dirtfarmer and Vomitrocious are certainly twisted individuals, spending their time doing drugs, drinking beer, playing with meat and casually murdering people (with or without being accompanied by a topless woman in a pig mask). Interviews describe the duo as mysterious, awful, pious, mutated, spiritual and everything in between.
One memorable sequence involves the intrepid reporter finding a box of video tapes reportedly belonging to the two band members, and we’re treated to two BIZARRE sequences featuring our stars. The first is Huntin’ with The Dirtfarmer, which begins with the image of a rotting deer corpse. Lovely. The Dirtfarmer is out to track down Osama Bin Laden (or, some guy in bedsheets), who happens to be meeting in the middle of the woods with George W Bush (or, some guy in a mask) to pal around and shoot at targets with pictures of Jesus affixed to them. Yes, this happens. The two smoke weed, and are mowed down by The Dirtfarmer. It’s more provocative ridiculousness than political commentary, but it gets the job done.
Inter-cut is a second sequence called Babysittin’ with Vomitrocious, featuring Hog Caller’s other member carting around a dead pig (decked out in a bonnet) in a stroller. He takes it to the park, and feeds it ice cream (intermittently abusing it verbally and physically) before bringing it out into the woods, shooting it and then setting the whole thing on fire. Oh, and they overdub the sound of a back gurgling and crying, just to up the what-the-fuckedness of the whole thing. Squeamish viewers might duck out at this point, but if you’re squeamish.. why the hell were you watching in the first place?
Richards uses plenty of appropriately psychedelic filters, and the rapid fire editing keeps you on your toes. Production values are very impressive, though the image quality varies considering that almost every video format you can imagine – Hi8, Super 8, miniDV, HD, 16mm – was used. Even better is the use of audio, encompassing both the Hog Caller music as well as a bevy of moans, squeals and other oddness just to make sure your senses are being attacked on all fronts.
It’s all a bit of a mind-fuck, but if topless women covered in meat, the gutting of an Elvis impersonator, fishing for dead opossums, or bodily dismemberment hold some appeal, then you’ll be in hog heaven. Even if you’re not a fan of the group, the film has the gleeful, bad-taste sensibility of an early Troma film and there’s a real sense of energy in the proceedings, even if a viewing my require an occasional time-out in order to recover. Definitely an unforgettable experience.
Three Nightmares out of Five
One Nightmare – No-Budget Perfection, Two Nightmares – Shocking Success, Three Nightmares – Shows Potential, Four Nightmares – Not Much Fun, Five Nightmares – Please Kill Me
Join us this week for an interview with The Lost Realities of Hog Caller director Tom Richards
Watching THE LOST REALITIES OF HOG CALLER is a unique experience. You feel it in your teeth. You feel it in your bones. It’s a sensory experience that at times is almost overwhelming. The combination of bizarre, sometimes surreal images and droning, squealing music is a lot for a delicate soul to take. But Daily Grindhouse has never been for delicate souls. Tom Richards, one half of Hog Caller and this film’s director, was good enough to take some time to answer some questions about his influences, Canadian Content and where the hell he got all that pork. DOG WILL HUNT!
Sweetback: Before we get into the movie, let’s talk about the band. Who are Hog Caller? And, how would you describe Hog Caller’s music to, say, a suburban soccer mom?
Tom Richards: Hog Caller is Steve O’Donnell and myself (Tom Richards). We share equal writing/playing duties, but I do all the drum programming and Steve does all the samples. I would describe the music to a soccer mom as the kind of music you listen to when trying to get in touch with your inner pig.
SB: What brought Vomitrocious (Steve O’Donnell) and yourself together initially? How did your interest in grindcore/hardcore music form, and how long have you been making a racket?
TR: Steve and myself were born and raised in the same small town (Middletown, PA), the home of Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant. I have older siblings that always had 70’s, early 80’s vinyl that I would pilfer and it gave me an opportunity to listen to heavy stuff at an early age (Sabbath, Alice Cooper, early Judas Priest). Steve is about 6 years older than myself. When he wasn’t selling $5 hits of acid at the local convenience store (Turkey Hill) he would be playing guitar in different bands. He eventually ended up as the guitar player in grind legends Exit-13. As for getting together and making a racket, we were hanging out at a one-time industrial chicken coupe that was converted into band practice spaces. I was in a band playing Clutch covers and a few originals, Steve was in a band doing straight up rock music. Steve mentioned that we should record some kind of grind project and he will give it to Bill Yurkiewicz at Last House on the Right Records. Bill was the singer in Exit-13 and one time Relapse Records honcho. So we recorded several tracks in the winter of 2005, let Bill have a listen and he said he will release it on a split CD with Headcrash from The Netherlands. The title is “Proper Parasite Mannerisms”.
SB: One of the things that really sets Hog Caller apart is that you have guys have a ton of experimental music videos – usually involving pigs, internal organs and extreme violence – three of my favorite things. Where did your own fascination in filmmaking come from? Is it just an extension of your music, or do you consider the two forms seperate?
TR: I would say my own fascination with filmmaking comes from the VHS culture of the early 80’s. I remember my family’s first VHS deck probably 1983-84? And how awesome it was to go to a local movie rental store and be able to walk out with a stack of VHS tapes. You could fast forward, slow-mo, rewind cool parts, and even record.
I have never personally thought of them as two different forms, to me they were equally important or complimentary to each other. I remember playing FACES OF DEATH on vhs, putting the TV on mute, cranking Slayer “Hell Awaits” or something similar on the stereo and scaring the shit out of myself and my friends. That was powerful to me to be able to customize your own visual/audio experience.
SB: Now, THE LOST REALITIES OF HOG CALLER includes segments from many of these music videos, as well as a narrative following a news crew attempting to track down the missing band. There are definitely mockumentary elements and mythology building at work here. What was the original idea behind the film? And what were some of your influences in making the film?
TR: We started out just wanting to make a few disturbing videos for our tracks on the CD. We had so much fun doing it that we just continued making videos. Then at some point we had over a half-hour of videos and I was talking with my friend Jim Hollenbaugh who is the Director of Photography and Skip Jenkins on THE LOST REALITIES, we thought we should try and make a full length DVD of some sorts. So we were throwing around ideas and I ended up watching THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GUY TERRIFICO (Canadian Film) and thought we should take a mockumentary angle and of course I’ve seen THIS IS SPINAL TAP. It just seemed like a logical way to pull some of the imagery together into a storyline. I wanted it to look like you are actually watching a really fucked up news story. I thought Jim Hollenbaugh would be great as a shitty local news reporter. A lot of the influences with Hog Caller music/film come from living in Central Pennsylvania, we live in the town that to this day had the worst nuclear accident in United States (Three Mile Island), during the March 1979 accident I was in the third grade, my father worked at TMI, now retired from there and all of these families are leaving town, people freaking out, President Jimmy Carter is in town, and my dad had to go to work so we were one of the families that stayed in town and at our home. I remember the extreme fears and paranoia associated with the accident that people and the media exhibited and rightfully so. So to have the nuclear facility so close by it seemed like a good idea to use it as a prop or somehow weave it into the film. We also live about 30 miles from the Pennsylvania Dutch (Amish) communities of Lancaster, PA who shun modern technologies and lifestyles, but have also influenced the Central PA region culturally through their own way of life. I always thought how interesting it is to have a nuclear power plant which displays mans ability to harness power & technology next to a community that shuns electricity and will not drive automobiles. So the extreme juxtaposition was definitely an influence.
As for cinematic influence I remember watching the original DAWN OF THE DEAD and DAY OF THE DEAD in Junior High on VHS and was like this is great, CLASS OF NUKE ‘EM HIGH, and a bunch of other pre-DVD stuff. I also had a Nick Zedd STEAL THIS VIDEO VHS from the early 90’s that someone stole from me.
SB: One film that came to mind a few times was the awesome Canadian fake punk-doc HARD CORE LOGO? Are you guys fans? Am I transparent in my attempts to get Canadian content into this interview?
TR: I have not heard of HARD CORE LOGO, but I just watched the trailer on youtube and now can’t wait to see it. I just gave you GUY TERRIFICO props, correct? That film’s Canadian!
SB: Where the hell do you get all that pork?
TR: We have this great meat market in a place called Elizabethtown, PA. It’s called Groff’s Meats, you can get any type of pig, beef, lamb parts that you like. The only think I don’t think you can purchase is intestines. I must have ordered over 20 different pig heads/feet and several pig hearts that come with the lungs, trachea, and arteries. Pig heads are about $15 bucks a piece and the heart, lung, and arteries are about $5 bucks.
SB: Of the new filmed scenes, how much was scripted vs just you screwing around improvising material? It looks like you were having a hell of a time.
TR: I would have a rough idea scripted and run it past Jim Hollenbaugh the DP and some of the other people that would be on the shoot and we would just go for it. I always made sure we had a cooler full of cold beer for the cast and crew. We had a blast shooting it.
SB: From personal filmmaking experience, getting permission is for pussies. Did you get any grief while filming the scenes of pushing the pig corpse around the city, or playing with it on the playground?
TR: Fortunately the day we shot Steve O.D. with the piggy walking around town there was a heat wave, It was the middle of August 2008 and it must have been at least 100 degrees outside with like 90 percent humidity. No one was outside, it was too hot. By the end of the day the flies were already starting to lay egg larvae on the pig. Poor piggy!
SB: How much of a one man show was this? And what were some of your biggest challenges while filming?
TR: Hog Caller the music is Steve O.D. and myself. When it came to the film I couldn’t of done it without Jim Hollenbaugh. I would take ideas from whatever the song topic and try and relate it to visuals. Every shoot for the most part went smoothly, we were usually under time constraints, we had absolutely no budget other than two 30 packs of beer and if something wasn’t working we would try it another way and just keep moving. The biggest challenges was getting people to act or help out and then hoping they would show up.
SB: While you’ve been directing videos for a while, this is your first stab at directing a full-length picture. You’re obviously a busy guy with your music projects, but is there interest in making another feature? I’d love to see your take on a more traditional horror piece.
TR: Yes, I would love the make another feature, I would love to be able to support myself making films but for the time being I work in an internal marketing department shooting and editing corporate video. It pays the bills. Barely! I have a feature length script that I wrote maybe 10 years ago that someday I would like to shoot, but now I need to push this film out there. Somehow!
SB: Let’s talk about the marketing of THE LOST REALITIES OF HOG CALLER. It’s an intentionally aggressive, and sometimes very weird film. How are you getting such an “out there” film out there?
TR: Well I have entered into a shitload of festivals and it seems like it is too “out there” to get accepted into any, so I’ve blown some dough on festival fees without much to show. I would like to get into the 2011 Mockfest Film Festival, I should find out in a few days. I’ve also sent the dvd out to distro companies and not much happening there either. Just seems like a tough market.
SB: What’s the final destination? Ideally, what would you like to see happen with the film, and for anyone reading this, how will they be able to see it or purchase it?
TR: At some point, hopefully by the end of 2011 something happens, such as maybe someone has a soft spot for pork and is willing to release it. If not I’ll probably put it out ourselves on our website. www.hogcallermusic.com
SB: If anyone wants to learn more about HOG CALLER, or THE LOST REALITIES OF HOG CALLER, where should they go?
TR: Go to www.hogcallermusic.com or check us out on Facebook
SB: Anything else to plug?
TR: We have cd’s and t-shirts and if nothing happens with the dvd it will be up there the end of 2011. We have a track on the double CD, Bulldozers United “A Tribute to Cock and Ball Torture”. It can be found on Mierdas Productions out of Mexico. A split 7 inch several years in the works is supposed to come out on Vomi dPorc Records. Also I am getting itchy to record some new Hog Caller music.
SB: Awesome. Thanks for your time, Tom!
TR: Thanks a lot for this opportunity!
Sweetback
