zondag 10 juli 2016

Charlie's Farm (2015)

Summary :
In an effort to do something different, four friends head into Australia's outback to explore Charlie's Farm, the site where a violent family met their end at the hands of an angry mob. Despite all warnings, they persist in their horror-seeking adventure.

Genre : Horror
Country : Australia

Cast :
Nathan Jones : Charlie
Tara Reid : Natasha
Allira Jaques : Melanie

Director : Chris Sun

My opinion :

“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 bodypart 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 started to laugh spontaneously. 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 succesfull. 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.