La ferme du cauchemar

An 80s Aussie lassie goes for a drive in the country and suddenly finds herself in the 40s (cue: 40s car and music.) She pops out of her car to figure out what's going on, which is a bad idea because she witnesses a murder! Ooooh! She time-warps back to the 80s, and enlists her boyfriend to help her solve the mystery of the 40s murder. Eh. This really isn't that bad, it's just way too long. It almost feels like an episode of "The Twilight Zone" and really would have worked better as a half hour short. The villain is indeed creepy and it does have an eerie atmosphere going for it, but the bigger picture is just too bland. Admittedly, I was distracted throughout most of the film, but it was hard not to be.

"Frenchman's Farm" is one of the most compelling and strangely unsettling mystery/thrillers I've seen in a long while, and it's a damn shame that the film isn't more known or easier available on disc, like it deserves to be. EDIT: apparently the film is available on DVD, so what are you waiting for? It has a great basic premise (although admittedly not without flaws) and the atmosphere is thoroughly ominous, the only exception being overlong images of a music concert. Too many potentially great 80's movies, whether horror or not, were ruined by long stretches of music edited into the story, but luckily enough the plot of "Frenchman's Farm" is strong enough to overcome that error and, besides, it only occurs once. Whilst on the road all by herself, young law student Jackie gets stuck in an unexplained time warp. She arrives at a remote farm but before she can talk to anyone she witnesses a creepy guy chopping off the head of a farmer with a shovel. He then comes after her, but she's transferred back to modern times before he can get to her. During the next few days, Jackie discovers the murder really occurred 40 years ago and an innocent man got charged with it. She convinces her disbelieving boyfriend to help investigate the matter and together they reveal some strange facts in the little town where the Frenchman's Farm is located. The neighbors are friendly and helpful but appear to hide a secret; the place bathes in a strange lavender odor and what exactly happened on the continuously reoccurring date of the 29th of February? The slowly unfolding mystery plot "Frenchman's Farm" is extremely suspenseful and absorbing. Parallel with the kids' investigation, local authorities also dig up the case from the archives and out the roots of the case date back all the way to time of Napoleon and guillotine executions. The events in the film demand your full attention and then still it sometimes gets too confusing and overly complex. It's also too sad the time warp never fully gets clarified. The warp is a nice and sinister given, and undeniably essential to the story, but at the same time it's the only truly implausible obstacle in the otherwise impeccable story. "Frenchman's Farm" primarily isn't a horror film, but the depicted murder at the beginning is extremely grisly. Jackie's nightmare about her boyfriend beheaded by the guillotine is truly disturbing as well, not in the least because it's the only scene filmed in eerie black and white. The last couple of twists are unpredictable, shocking as hell and – in my humble amateur opinion – uplift the wholesome to being a true masterpiece. The killer is one of the creepiest guys I've ever seen! Numerous close-ups reveal his dead-staring eyes and the way he carries around a pickax alone is already horrifying. The actor, Phil Brock, should have appeared in more films of the same kind. "Frenchman's Farm" is a rare diamond in the rough 80's swamp and it urgently demands a glorious rediscovery by fans of cult cinema. Masterful film, and finally one that fully lives up to the promotional writing on the VHS-cover, namely 'A Chilling Trip into the Unknown".

Absolutely brilliant! Intriguing, well thought out mystery.

Good acting. Original and inventive story.

The ghost cum murderer was extremely malevolent and exceedingly creepy in appearance.

The end left a few loose ends that could have been tied up, but all in all, an absolute delight.

Better than other high profile Australian movies like Picnic At Hanging Rock and the rather garish Wolf Creek.

This should be up there with the very best and be far more well known, it certainly deserves to be.

A supernatural slice of '80s Ozploitation, Frenchman's Farm is a bit Twilight Zone and a bit Scooby Doo, combining a time-twisting tale of murder with a young couple's hunt for some long-lost Napoleonic gold, the horde of treasure protected by a malevolent ghost. Sadly, as intriguing as that sounds, the film is too convoluted for its own good, the confusing plot suffering from too many twists and loose ends to be wholly satisfying.

The film opens as law student Jackie Grenville (Tracey Tainsh) encounters a time warp that whisks her back to 1944, where she witnesses an old unsolved murder. Returning to the present day, Jackie investigates the crime, with help from her boyfriend Barry Norden (David Reyne), and uncovers a centuries-old mystery...

The acting is decent enough and director Ron Way delivers some effectively creepy moments, but likeable performances and spooky atmosphere only go so far, and as the film progresses, it become more and more unfathomable and consequently less engaging. The sub-plot about prisoners of war sharing the secret of the gold is poorly developed, while other elements remain a total mystery: the initial temporal displacement, the police computer glitching, the smell of lavender, the crypt vandalism and the importance of the tomb 'key'.

4/10 - not unwatchable, but had the potential to be a whole lot better.

Or so says the leading man in the film at one point. Sadly, he's wrong. This might have made a middling 30 minute episode of some TV series like 'Tales from the Darkside,' but doesn't cut it as a full length film. Other reviewers say the ending was the best thing about this but if you'd seen or read a number of horror/mystery films/stories, you can pretty much guess what's going to happen.

Still, it's OK in it's own way if your expectations are set suitably low and the idea itself is reasonable. A murder in the past continues into the present.

They didn't push the boat out with the special effects though, the journey into the past of the 1940's is portrayed by the radio playing old songs and war news, a newspaper will a war headline and a vehicle from the period. Well...that would convince anyone they'd gone through a time warp....er....perhaps not.