Kevin Lewis on Filming Pig Hill Horror Movie Where Real Myth Takes Place | Interview

ComingSoon spoke with Pig Hill director Kevin Lewis about his new horror movie Pig Hill. Lewis discussed filming it in Meadville, Pennsylvania, how that impacted the film, and also gave an update on whether Willy’s Wonderland 2 will happen. It will be available to rent and own on Digital on December 9, 2025.

“Carrie has been fascinated by the local legend of the pig people of Pig Hill, revolting creatures who breed and cause havoc in the area. As the tenth woman goes missing, Carrie can’t stop thinking that there could be more to these stories,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: Kevin, congrats on Pig Hill. This is a really interesting film. It went a lot of places I wasn’t expecting. I’m actually from Pennsylvania, so I was very excited to learn about these pig people – cannibal neighbors I hadn’t really been aware of. What was most fun about working on a film that’s based on a real-life folk legend and organically happened? You have that fun basis to kind of build off of.

Kevin Lewis: It was great to take Nancy’s book and Jarrod Burris’s screenplay, and just like, “people have been talking about this thing. They’ve been living this thing.” You know? And so it’s like, all right, what are the expectations? What do people believe? What’s real, what’s not? And so you kind of mix that up in a blender, you know, and it’s like, “Okay, all this, what’s my take on it?” What am I thinking then?

But at the end of the day, really, what’s Carrie’s take on it? What’s the character going through? And I didn’t wanna make light of any of that, you know, so that was kind of a delicate balance. But that stuff is real out there. They talk about it. The satellite tower, all that stuff. So that was really interesting shooting at some of these real locations too.

Yeah. I heard that you shot in Meadville. What do you think really added to the experience of actually being on location? That would just creep me out, I think.

You know, it was great. The people there are fantastic, and it lent an authenticity to the movie, you know? It felt like, you know, this stuff could really be going on, and that’s what I liked about it with our actors and the characters. It’s like you feel like they live in Meadville, you know? So that was kind of the thing is just to get it real, try to make it as real and interesting as possible.

The places we shot [are] so close to each other, so you can go shoot one place here and then go. You know – indie film time. It’s time and money, right? And so sometimes it’s like breakout location, you know, and it’s like, “oh my gosh, I’m gonna lose a half a day or something.”

And I didn’t get to do that on this, so I got to build a big canvas for an indie film because of the locations and how central it was. And really, again, grounded it into really what’s happening there. The townspeople knew about it. The book was popular, so that all was fun to do.

How was it speaking with the locals about the myth and getting to hear firsthand from these people who grew up hearing about these whispers and learning about them?

It was great. It was like research, right? So every time you talk to somebody, you just hear a different opinion or a different thing. It’s like, oh, okay, I could maybe take something of that, or whatever. But what was also cool was like, you just wanted to respect it, you know? So it’s like this thing people have been talking about and whatever, and, you know, there are videos of them going to the hill and, and it’s like, “okay, I need to respect this.”

I was coming from out of town, and I didn’t want to come in, just some out-of-towner, and just do it. It’s like, no, I really need to respect this material. And the subject matter, what we’re doing, was very intense, right? So I always wanted to attack it like that. There’s a respect to this. And so yeah, but it was great. The townspeople, they were extras in the movie. They would always, every day, they’d be talking about it. They were so inviting, and it was a great place to shoot.

About 15 minutes into Pig Hill, there is a pig baby birth scene. That kind of just lets everybody know exactly what they’re in for in this film. How is it kind of setting the tone there and really showing that this film’s gonna go all out because it gets intense, and it gets even way more intense as the film goes on.

That was interesting. I read that, and I was like, okay, man, how do we pull this thing off? Well, we gotta make it feel as real and intense, and it is. I wanted to get it to the breaking point of the movie into reels, like that first reel. I needed to get that there, because now, as you said, it’s the hook, right? That’s the first thing that’s [really] like, “Okay, this is the ride. Are you into doing this?” When you’re watching this movie and see that scene, it’s like, “Okay, now you’re on for the ride. Are you down for this?” You know? So, that was kind of the whole thing, like I knew that was a pivotal moment of the movie.

Jason Baker did the puppet for the pig, which he did a fantastic job. He did the Black Phone mask for the Grabber and Terrifier 3. So he did all the effects for this and the pig people masks and stuff. He did a great job. But yeah, it was just the idea of trying to get in […] Carrie’s head and what’s going on with her, and how she would see this. And a big movie for me that was an influence was like Jacob’s Ladder with Tim Robbins, the original the idea of the surreal other world that he was experiencing, you know?

I wanted to ask you about finding the tone in Pig Hill, because when there’s something inherently heightened, like pig people, there’s like an inherent campiness to it. But those that booted it up on their computer or go to a theater clearly want to go on a ride and are accepting that. So how is it kind of finding that tone that works for the film?

Well, I kinda like that, right? Like, it is kind of goofy and stuff, but then it’s kind of interesting. Like, even if it’s goofy, you’re like, “Okay, well, how are they gonna do that? Or what is it?”

Then you start peeling the layers and start going into the mystery, and then the thing… is it real? Is it not? And you start going down that road. And then I’m trying to make it where it makes a sharp left turn, you know? And that was kind of the whole plan going in. Like I said, I really, really loved what we do on the third act.

I wanted to do something that it didn’t throw it [away], where it’s like, oh, just do it [for the sake of] doing it. If you rewatch it or something, it’s like, okay, we’re setting you up. You can see little things are here. So always trying to make it organic and real and natural as possible, you know?

And you mentioned Jason did the puppets for the pigs. How was it just coming up with the pig people designs? Because there are a lot of ways to take it. You could do more humanoid, you can do more pig. How was it kind of trying to find a balance there?

You know, it’s the emotional thing, right? We’re just working on a bunch of things, and it’s like one, one artist rendering or something hits you, and you’re like, oh, that’s it.

But then you’re like Frankenstein. It’s like, “What if we take, I like this, but I didn’t like the snout here, but we take this, we put it over here, and that,” and now you’re creating. I was really worried, like I just didn’t want to do a Spirit Halloween costume, right? And you could do it if you go to Spirit Halloween, they got pig masks, you know? So, it’s like, okay, but how do we do it and make it real and original?

Jason did such a great job, but yeah, it’s like, show me everything. It reminds me of when I was a kid, you do the suicide drink at 7-Eleven, the Slurpees, or the Big Gulps. Mountain Dew, Coke, Sprite, root beer… so it’s like, that’s what we did with the mask. I had all these different masks. It was like, “I like this here,” and it came up with the pig people.

I love that Cineverse is involved because it just seems like a perfect fit. What does it mean for you to have a backer that really embraces going all out and isn’t afraid to really embrace these films that tackle some very controversial subject matter, as the twists later on in this film show?

I love Cineverse, and I respect them greatly. They’ve been such a fantastic partner on this movie. You know, they’re one of the rare companies out there that’re doing these just really cool, edgy movies, right? Releasing these movies that back in the day, you know, there were a little more distributors out there. There are not that many anymore. Everybody wanted to play it safe and everything. So Cineverse to me, when you hear them, when you see them, it’s like, okay, edgy, cool, different, I’m in, you know? So I’m very happy to be partnered with Cineverse.

The first film of yours I saw was Willy’s Wonderland, and I’ve been keeping up with you ever since. Is there any update on a sequel there? There’s a demand there.

We have some really cool ideas for it, and hopefully, maybe one day it’ll happen. I mean, and you know, I know Nic was interested. He’s interested in doing something, so we’ll see. You never know. That’s the thing about the film industry, man. It’s like one day it’s like, I mean, look at these movies, right? That just happened like 20 years ago, and all of a sudden now they’re doing a sequel. Like what? I mean, Beetlejuice, right? I didn’t even think they’re gonna ever do a sequel of Beetlejuice. So never say never, you know? It’d be great if we did one for sure.

Source: Comingsoon.net