Farm House

This film accomplished what too many thrillers, even though they may be entertaining, fail to do. That is to say AT NO POINT did I enjoy watching this movie! It was creepy, VERY disturbing, filled with an underlying tension on 2-3 different levels (i.e., 'did Scarlet blame & hate her spineless husband for their difficulties?', 'was he really such a self-centered coward?'), and I couldn't wait to see what the next flashback was going to reveal. Flashback is a tricky and too often ill-advised convention. It can be annoying when employed in books and confusing in films. Farm House was a veritable 'workshop' in how to use flashback effectively. In addition to the well-developed and excellently delivered story line,the cinematography was great, the characters were slowly and fully developed, and the ending,,,WHOA!!! A well done piece of cinema on all levels. One of the beauties of film is that we sometimes sit down to watch a movie with little or no expectations and end up being treated to a gem. Such was Farm House.

First i was reluctant to see this film, as i thought it was just another hostel type film...to a certain extent it was. it'll make you rethink about getting into a gambling debt with organized crime. either way by the time you get to the cheese grater scene things pick up REAL quick. i must say the ending was almost telegraphed with all the foreshadowing. but they keep it together long enough to hit you in the gut with the very dark menacing and bone chilling ending. and i heavily agree about the look of the film. it's low budget but you'll never know it, because it looks like a major mainstream picture. this should have definitely been a major release.

this twisted little flick was a great find..

In this review I'll try my best to leave spoilers out so other folks can see what I've seen and make up their own minds about this film. I can go ahead and say, however, that it's not the bloodfest that some reviewers have said it was.

I found myself shouting at the screen a few times at husband Chad because he was a spineless abomination. You will end up asking yourself throughout the film, "What did this wife see in this jerk? Why'd she remain with him for so long?"

Cinematography-wise, the movie was okay. In fact, I'm surprised it didn't find the audience it was looking for. It may have been low budget but it would've played well on the big screen. In a way, it's a poor man's "Hostel" or "Saw". It wasn't a total waste of time; the acting was on point and the right (horrific) atmosphere was created. I guess it's one of those films you take for what it is. Check it out anyway. Mileage may vary, though.

After her jerk of a husband racks up a $25,000 debt with a couple of underground bookmakers, a pregnant woman has a visit in her kitchen from a stranger who holds a knife to her throat. She loses the baby shortly after it is born, and the two of them decide to relocate to another part of the country away from his creditors. Not content with this, and ignoring her advice, he continues to drive while clearly tired, and falls asleep at the wheel, crashing their car miles from anywhere, but of course there is an isolated house nearby, a farm house in this case, which is inhabited by a hospitable although somewhat strange individual, his wife and their deaf farm hand.

They're being incommunicado, they are invited to stay the night. Clearly their host is a bit creepy, but it is not the sort of thing you can put your finger on, and what other option do they have? It is clear too from the beginning that this house is more "Hotel California" than "Little House On The Prairie", but what comes next?

Their, or rather his, earlier misadventures are told in flashbacks, wherein we learn that the debt is actually much more than $25,000.

There is it is true a spectacular twist at the end, one most people will not have seen coming, although there was a hint with the photographs on the wall, and the farmer's wife insisting on taking their photographs too. The real question is though, is it worth sitting through the preceding gratuitous sadism that most viewers will have foreseen, if not the actual quantum?

Chad and Scarlett are looking for a fresh start. Thanks to the death of their child and Chad's gambling debts that have violent thugs threatening their well-being, the couple take to the road until a near fatal accident leaves them stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Walking to the nearest farmhouse, Chad (William Lee Scott) and Scarlett (Jamie Anne Allman) meet Lilith and Samael (Kelly Hu and Steven Webber) who take them in for the night with the promise of delivering them to town in the morning.

But after a night of eating and drinking, Lilith and Samael prove to be anything but the warm and inviting hosts that they projected. As the evening descends, Lilith and Samael engage in various tortures of the young couple beginning with a suffering experiment where Chad must hold the weight of his Scarlett's weight between his teeth to avert her drowning.

The hours before dawn will have Chad and Scarlett in one do or die circumstance after another where their decisions and a mysterious link to their past will have intense, bloody and painful repercussions.

Farmhouse was directed by George Bessudo who was last in control behind the camera for Lake Dead (2007), one of the 8 Films to Die For series. Bessudo shows some real maturity with Farmhouse creating, at times, a threatening atmosphere and two involving baddies in Lilith and Samael.

The violence in Farmhouse is typical of most horrors which dabble in the gore/torture porn genre. A particular scene of an eyeball being plucked with a pocket knife was most noticeably cringe inducing moment.

Based on a script by Jason Hice and Daniel P. Coughlin, Farmhouse is a better than average horror film that is able to develop interesting characters in a ghastly if not unfamiliar scenario.

There are many flashbacks in Farmhouse which will inevitably have you trying to determine the purpose of the past to present shooting scenes. But we will suggest you don't read too much into the couple's past and let things play out as intended.

The final chapters of Farmhouse were both interesting and a bit disappointing with the make-up and special effects that are essential to the final reveal and closure to the couple's evening. Although I appreciated the small twist, the execution of what is arguably the most important scene in the film seemed alienated from the rest of the film and lacked the quality required to execute the climax with above average flair.

The downturn towards the end credits do take away some of the generated momentum of its earlier moments, but Farmhouse is still a film that is worth a mild recommendation.

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