Monday, May 1, 2017

Farmhouse


Sometimes I love surprises. They keep you on your feet so you don't get lazy or complacent. And that's the exact way that I would describe the structure of this hidden indie gem to any zit or zombie that was interested. Farmhouse has twists and turns that you don't expect because it leaves the audience in the dark on purpose. It wants you to work for the story. It wants you to feel and experience the pain that the characters go through so you can figure out just what the hell is going on here. Farmhouse wants the viewer to believe that what is happening is actually happening, but you need to dig deeper to come to your senses and realize that there is a toll to be paid. Everything begets everything, and you just have to pay attention. You have no choice. There is an investment to be made and a judgement to be cast. Honestly, the first time I watched Farmhouse after I bought the dvd I thought this was just some shitty Saw knock-off. No, no, no. There's much more to be had here than just that. Even the Saw franchise has it's layers and corridors to wade through, but this... this film has much more to it's overall meaning than just some guy capturing people and having them choose to live or die to learn a lesson about their own personal lives. This is redemption. This is payback. This is what you experience after passing on.

    A cross won't help you. A gun and a bullet will do the trick.

Go away you old pedo guy-man person.

Moving is tough. I've done it a lot in my lifetime.

A 20 hour drive? Stop and get some rest sir.

At this point, flip phones aren't relevant anymore.

Steven Webber is class A, brother!

 Nothing beats a little simplicity sometimes.

 "May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future."

Owning and maintaining your own wine vineyard would be badass.

Voyeurism. You perverted bastard.

This is where the sick fun starts.

I've already hinted at this earlier, but nothing in this film makes any sense until you start trying to piece everything together yourself. That's why Farmhouse works beautifully as a masterpiece of indie horror cinema. It keeps you guessing all the way until the car accident towards the beginning flips itself into something else that you just didn't see coming. A quick nit-pick about the dvd itself is that if you watch it on a blu-ray player to try to upscale it, the resolution of the transfer in some spots is sort of grainy and pixelated around objects and darker lines. Other than that there is a cool behind the scenes featurette and a few other little things on the disc to round it out. If I sat here and made a top 10 favorite indie horror flicks, Farmhouse would have to be somewhere between 3 and 1. Seriously. Check it out. Everyone has to pay up sometime.