A teenage coming-of-age story takes a darker turn when a young girl (Laura Galán) befriends a local serial killer. Horribly bullied by the local clique of mean girls, Sara experiences the worst day of her teenage life (thus far) when she is ambushed at the local pool. As she struggles to recover from this distressing experience, Sara makes a sinister new friend. Drawn into his horrifying world, the pair are inextricably bound together as the killer (Richard Holmes) develops a fascination with the teen.

Like Carrie before it, scenes of bullying and humiliation are almost as horrifying as those of torture and violent murder. Writer and director Carlota Pereda captures teenage anxiety and awkwardness in young Sara, from her crush on the local badboy (no, not the serial killer, classmate Pedro) to frequent clashes with her domineering mother. As Sara, Galán does much between the monosyllables, speaking volumes with her eyes, tears, and anxious hair-chewing.

Indeed, Sara’s plight is so compellingly depicted that it’s almost disappointing when the film makes its late about-face to French extremist style violence and aesthetics straight out of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel. Piggy’s horror trappings are undeniably well done, but sit ill at ease with the otherwise tender, sympathetic character study (it doesn’t really go here).

A deeply affecting work of teenage pain and trauma, horrifying and upsetting, even before the bloodletting starts.