Have nothing against slashers, far from it. Have actually been entertained and creeped out by a number of them. The 80s also saw some classic horror, and it was interesting for 'Charlie's Farm' to intend to be a throwback homage to 80s slasher/horror. Not a new premise as such but one that did spark my interest a good deal.

Like as was said for 'Lost After Dark' recently, 'Charlie's Farm' was one of those films sadly that had its moments and pros and started off quite well, but at the end of the day was not that clever, entertaining or creepy and suffered from taking a too serious approach, complete with some moments of juvenile humour, and bringing nothing new to deliberately familiar elements. Not a waste of time certainly, there are far worse films out there that are far more amateurish and made the mistakes of insulting the intelligence or making one consider turning off. 'Charlie's Farm' just isn't too good either and doesn't execute its premise very well.

The production values did have some atmosphere, some nice shots here. The film does start off unsettling and shows a lot of promise that sadly falls downhill quickly.

Nathan Jones gives the only halfway decent performance of the film and is actually the best thing about it. His imposing physique and creepy look makes for one quite unnerving performance that deserved a much better film

Sadly the rest of the acting is poor, with a somnambulist Tara Reid and Bill Moseley and Kane Hodder having nothing to do, no matter how hard they tried as characters that don't require much acting. Didn't find myself getting behind the characters at any point, did not mind the stereotypes, did mind that these stereotypes were bland and annoying, no development or likeable traits. Not only do you not care what happens to them, but you are rooting for Charlie to do away with them.

Furthermore, nothing here is clever, it's very predictable and run-of-the-mill stuff that has familiar tropes yet does nothing fresh or interesting with them. It takes itself far too seriously to be fun, in a film that cried out for some humorous tongue-in-cheek approach here and there. The humorous elements attempted are embarrassingly juvenile and felt out of place. The pacing drags hard constantly and there is very little creepy and next to no suspense or anything creative or nail-biting. The inane quality of the dialogue is enough to make one vomit and it's tepidly directed throughout with no urgency in the drama and there is a sense that not much is at stake or one caring very much at what happens to them. The chemistry lacks sorely.

Editing is jumpy and sloppy and there are pacing problems throughout, mostly dull and then the ending is rushed and abrupt, don't think the writers knew how to end the film because that's how it came across. Some of the story too felt incomplete with parts needing resolution not getting it. There are a couple of creative kills, but most are too quick, appear randomly with no build up and too tame. Charlie's creepiness is marred by the character being underdeveloped and by being revealed far too late and out of nowhere.

On the whole, weak. 3/10 Bethany Cox