Charlie's Farm (2014)

Overrated

Great Film overall

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Heading off on a trip together, a group of friends decide to investigate the truth about an urban legend involving a killer boy living in an isolated house only to stumble upon the actual killer and must find a way to hold him off and get away alive.This one was quite the fun if slightly-flawed slasher. One of the film's better elements here is that there's a rather strong and traditional set-up that plays into the confines of the genre really well, as the urban-folklore backstory used here is the perfect introduction to the killer. The rather simple nature of the story that's told here and the accompanying flashback telling the story of the family tormenting the lone backpacker before they get ambushed by the posse which turns into a fine bit of vigilante justice that's quite an appropriate set-up here for the killer's background. Once it starts in on the slashing scenes, there's some great fun to be had here with the hulking, deformed killer getting into a nice series of stalking scenes featuring him chasing them around the house, from the opening attack on the lost backpackers to the scenes in the barn going after their new friends as well as the fine chases of the couple down at the lake. The last half hour likewise has some great times here with the discovery of the killer as he slaughters them throughout the house and engages in a brutal fist-fight with their late-arriving friend that's filled with some nice brutal deaths mixed in with some really good chasing, and the moments in the underground den makes for some chilling moments with the darkened location and nauseating conditions of the bodies left down there with the killer right after her is a great finish. Complete with the fine make-up on the killer and some rather fun gore- effects, these here are enough to hold this up over the few flaws present. The biggest issue with the film is the fact that there's just such a bland, overlong first-half filled with absolutely overlong sections here that just eat up running time with them traveling to the house and waiting around the house which offers up very little of anything interesting within here. It's not all that much fun to get the same lame jokes about their friend repeated over and over in here while also featuring nothing of any special interest throughout as the whole section of the running time in here is bland time-wasting scenes that prevent the slashing from happening. That also means the film tends to get rushed through in the finale where it really runs through the kill scenes which mean that they're action-packed yet not really all that creepy or chilling and it comes off as a series of missed opportunities due to the extended first half. The only other issue here is the lack of explanation as for why the killer's been alive all this time out in the bush of wild Australia without anything as far as parental guidance, but otherwise this one wasn't all that bad.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity.

"You're not planning to go there? Totally. What do you know about that place? Nothing! Stay out of there, boy.""Girl in woods" ended with the birth of an urban legend. This Australian slasher starts with one. The legend of Charlie. A disabled son who escapes from a lynching, organized by villagers. This retaliation was necessary to put an end to the violent activities of the crazy Wilson family. Murder and cannibalism were their favorite leisure activities. "Charlie's Farm" is a masterful blend of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th". Don't expect an intellectual story, of course . And the intelligence quotient of the participating characters isn't impressive. This bloody slasher meekly follows the established rules of a true slasher. I was just wondering if the massacres in terms of originality would rise above average. Indeed, they did in a way.The recipe for a slasher movie is as simple as the simple-minded who appear in it. Take a gang of youths with not enough brain cells, who still continue with their stupid initiative despite multiple warnings. Next you come up with a destructive and inhuman creature out of the past who's hiding in the area where those stupid morons are heading for. That's it. You have all the ingredients to create a slasher. The mindless company is led by Jason (Dean Kirkright) and Mick (Sam Coward), also named "Donkey" because of the size of a particular body-part where, according to another legend, most brain cells of a male are hidden. The company is completed by Natasha (Tara Reid) and Melanie (Allira Jaques). Traditionally, the characteristics of the females are totally opposite. Natasha is the cautious type, while Melanie is the adventurous and naive girl. Obviously their feminine curves are proportionally balanced, so that even a widescreen viewer is presented with a richly filled image.The subsequent course of the film can be summarized as follows. First there's an introduction of the future victims, using nimble and uninteresting conversations in such a way that they look amiable. After the announcement of their ultimate plan, you get to handle some flashbacks with relevant background information. The road to their destination is littered with individuals who are trying to persuade them to abandon their plan. Fruitless attempts as always. Usually other random fellow sufferers arrive coincidentally and join the group (here a couple suddenly pops up out of nowhere). And after this it's just patiently waiting until the presumed legend appears. From that moment on it's simply guessing who'll be the first victim that'll be chopped into pieces by Charlie and who'll be the lucky one to get away scot-free.Thus we have dealt with the chapter "content relevancy". This part is negligible (as usual). What remains are the massacres and the central character who's responsible for this. And to be honest, this was the shortest part of the film, but also the most entertaining part. Charlie is impressive and frightening at the same time. He behaves like a human meat grinder. And without hesitation he'll stab his absurdly large knife into a victim who gets in his way. The massacre is bloody and merciless. The most grotesque killing is that of "Donkey". On the one hand it looked terribly painful and on the other hand it was such an absurd, comic situation, I spontaneously started to laugh. Charlie himself (played by Nathan Jones, former WWA) is an imposing, hideous-looking character. A retarded serial killer with a demonic grin. Unscrupulously he turns somebody inside out, so he can use him later for dinner. The used effects look professional and successful. Physically Charlie looks really creepy (although there were some moments when it looked rubbery). You can expect some gore fragments with several liters of blood being used. And a gloomy environment similar to the basement of the Sawyer family."Charlie's Farm" is not such an impressive or original film. And of course it's without depth. The intention of the film is also to be meaningless and will purely focus on the senseless and morbid killings. Fans of this genre will therefore enjoy this film and appreciate a sequel. One thing I must admit. I wasn't expecting such a dark denouement. More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

Yet another hackneyed been-there-done-that recycled rubbish regarding stupid people, an old abandoned house with a legend, and six people who ALL apparently had a death wish. "Charlie's Farm" proves there are absolutely no new ideas out there for the horror genre. It seems some sort of family resided there, killed backpackers, and then ate them. That would certainly be on MY bucket list to visit, but I digress.Four people decide to visit these legendary haunts, even though they are warned at every turn to stay away. Tara Reid plays one of the people who have no spine and simply doesn't know when to give up and just stay at home. Why anybody would want to give up luxuries of an in-ground pool and civilization to go lurking about abandoned buildings (with a past, no less) still escapes me. One of my running complaints is that a cell phone never works out in the woods. This point, however, is made abundantly clear in the first of the film when one of the dudes tells Tara Reid not to bother to take her phone because it will get no service. That is all I'll discuss about this overused plot line.I just reviewed another lesser known horror film ("Judas Ghost"), which pleasantly surprised me, and one of the reasons it surprised me, was because the writer made ALL the characters in that movie likable. Not here. The one loud-mouth oaf named Donkey (and I'm sure you can guess why), I wanted to immediately die. The others were too stupid to live. The pacing was horrible. It took the story FOREVER to really get started. You get flashbacks and all sorts of other unnecessary filler to bump up the time limit, I suppose. Tara Reid looks like she's 60 years old. Bill Moseley and Kane Hodder make appearances...just for the sake of making appearances. This movie finally proved (to me at least) that Bill Moseley cannot act. His 1-note acting ability has proved very tiresome. Unlike the characters he's played in other movies, e.g. Chop Top in TCM 2 and brother Firefly in "The Devil's Rejects," his characters have now all become caricatures with absolutely no life in them.This movie is rated "R" for disturbing images, some nasty kills, and major stupidity.

For four friends it is supposed to be a weekend of fun… and of course, a bit of cheeky cheeky. Jason and Natasha are a steady couple, although she thinks he can be a bit of a dolt sometimes. While Jason's friend Donkey plans on using the weekend as a way to impress Melanie.The four decide to head to the legendary Charlie's Farm, a farm that is was once the scene of a tragic murder spree instigated by John Wilson who was then murdered by the town's folk, who were tired of the district getting a bad name for the number of backpackers who were going missing in the area.While the four believe they may be able to find a few things of value at the farm to sell what they don't expect to confront is John's mentally disturbed son Charlie, who has called the property home since that night.It's been a long time coming, but finally, hers a film that can stand proud with the stalk n' slash movies that dominated the horror genre in the eighties, and even though it's more or less a blatant rip off of Friday the 13th, its still a hoot from start to finish.And this is purely because it doesn't take itself seriously at all, and Ozploitation movies work much better when they tell of a legend, or back packers are involved. This is the best horror movie Australia has given us since Wolf Creek.It's pretty simple stuff, we have our four backpackers who have heard of the titular legend an decide to venture there for a bit of an adrenaline rush, and wouldn't you know it, the deformed son we saw in the flashback is all grown up, invincible and ready to kill just like Jason did all those years ago.And wouldn't you know it? Old school Jason Kane Hodder is in this as the salt of the earth, down to earth, working class stereotype who knows of the fours visitation, and tries to help.It's nice to know that a film that homages not just eighties slasher movies, but also the gorenography craze that Eli Roth polluted horror movies with for a few years, can feel so fresh and original.If you are a fan of exploitation horror, that is self knowingly never scary, and can make fun of itself, then this is the horror you've deserved, because I'm sure, like me, you've trudged through a lot of rubbish to get to this little nugget of gold.I really hope they make a sequel.