Killer Pickton
| Killer Pickton | |
|---|---|
 DVD release cover (Australia) | |
| Directed by | Ulli Lommel |
| Produced by |
Ulli Lommel Jeff Frentzen |
| Written by |
Ulli Lommel Jeff Frentzen |
| Starring |
Curtis Graan Jillian Swanson Heidi Rhodes |
| Cinematography | Bianco Pacelli |
| Edited by | Peter Blumenstock |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Peacock Films Ltd. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Killer Pickton is a 2005 American horror film that is loosely based on the crimes of Canadian pig farmer Robert Pickton.
The movie was filmed in New Hampshire[1] and was directed by Ulli Lommel. The movie was co-produced and co-written by Ulli Lommel and Jeff Frentzen. Frentzen portrayed the killer, herein called "Billy Pickton", using the stage name Curtis Graan.
Killer Pickton became controversial when its planned 2006 release in Australia was delayed when the government of Canada put pressure on the Australian distributor, Peacock Films Ltd., to pull the movie from its release schedule for legal reasons—Canada's ban on publishing details of the alleged crimes prior to Pickton's trial was cited.[2] The movie was later released in Australia after Pickton was convicted of murder,[3] and remains listed in the distributor's catalog.[4]
Although Lions Gate Entertainment had acquired Killer Pickton for DVD release in North America and marketing materials were created for the release,[5] it remains unavailable in North America due to the legal problems of distributing the movie in Canada.
Plot
Billy Pickton (Curtis Graan) is with his attorney (Christian Behm) in a police interrogation room, about to be questioned by a police detective (Michael Barbour) and district attorney (Rachael Devlin). As the detective and district attorney converse about Billy's case, the movie is told in flashback.
Billy is shown running a severed pig's head and hoofs up and down the body of a prostitute (Jacqueline Horrell), in a strangely sexual sequence, as the detective narrates.
Billy's modus operandi of luring prostitutes to his sister's expensive home to drug and kill them is shown in a series of episodes. His first victim (Lauren Kruskall) is drowned in a bath tub, placed in a large wheeled trash can, taken to the family pig farm, and fed into a woodchipper. The remaining episodes follow a similar pattern. The next victim, played by Kate Hackett, is drugged and abused in one of the bedrooms of Billy's sister's house. The abuse is interrupted by a housekeeper (Marilyn Cortez), who quietly observes Billy move the drugged woman into a trash can and wheel her to the pig farm. There, he suffocates her and feeds her hand into a meat grinder.
Billy forces alcohol down the throat of the next victim (Jillian Swanson). He drags the incapacitated woman around the house, up the stairs, forcing her to swallow pills before killing her. She is later fed to the woodchipper.
Throughout the film, the detective implies and then finally accuses Billy of mixing the remains of the victims with pork meat that was then sold to a national food market chain for public consumption. In flashback dinner scenes with his sister (Jill Pennington) and brother (Frank Godek), Billy does not answer questions about why the pork products "taste so good."
After the next victim (Anjeannete Stairs) is strangled and buried alive, Billy is interrupted by three teenage hitch hikers, one of whom he treats for a spider bite before sending them on their way, unharmed. Billy narrates how his mother made an audio recording of his father's (Carsten Frank) death, which forever colored his view of women as "evil whores." There is a brief flashback of Billy dancing and frolicking with a prostitute (Nicole Polec), and attending church.
Billy's next victim, Annie (Heidi Rhodes), is treated to a tour of the house attic, and their relationship starts to take a bizarre romantic tone. She reads an Edgar Allan Poe poem to Billy before he drugs her—she wants him to kill her. However, he cannot bring himself to feed Annie to the woodchipper, because as the detective intones, "She was the only woman he ever cared for."
In the pig farm basement, the brother discovers Billy and Annie's corpse, which leads to Billy's arrest. The movie ends with title cards that explain that Billy may have killed "as many as 135 ... unfortunate women."
Filming
Production of Killer Pickton took place during July 2005 at the home of producer Jeff Frentzen, in Windham, New Hampshire, and at the McCauslin Farm in Weare, New Hampshire. The church scene was filmed in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Scenes of Billy's father dying were filmed in Heidenheim, Germany in the fall of 2005.
In an interview, actress Jillian Swanson has stated[1] that in one scene she was tied to an attic ladder, crying and begging. "It really is incredibly draining when you go home with that feeling still with you," she said.
Co-producer and co-writer Jeff Frentzen agreed to play the killer after he and director Ulli Lommel were unable to locate a suitable actor in New Hampshire and Massachusetts to play the part.
One of the teenage hitchhikers was portrayed by producer Jeff Frentzen's son.
