We were recently fortunate enough to score the first ever US review for the anticipated Slasher : Charlie’s Farm. If you have read my reviews, or listened to the podcast at any point in the past, chances are you know what I’m into. That just so happens to be  flicks featuring humans doing horrible things to other humans. That’s exactly what Charlie’s Farm is. Slasher fans – rejoice!

The thing about Slashers…is that I can rarely relate to them. Regardless of my love for the subgenre – I’ve never been a camp counselor, a teenage babysitter, or in an 80’s sorority. I have, however, gotten together with friends on multiple occasions to go check out some creepy locations. That’s where Charlie’s Farm initially hooked me. We follow a group of friends that decide to take an impromptu trip to Charlie’s Farm, the site where a violent family met their end at the hands of an angry mob. I could finally see myself in one of these situations… and  it didn’t hurt that we get a pretty gruesome decapitation within the first ten minutes. We will get to that soon enough.

You are sure to see some familiar faces pretty early on as well. We have Tara Reid, as well as genre staples like Bill Moseley and Kane Hodder. These guys turn in the performances that you would expect, but it was the relatively unknown Australian actors that shined for me. The characters are logical and feel genuine. Actually, you may forget that you’re watching a slasher flick for a while. That’s not to say that things get boring – we simply aren’t seeing the wall to wall gore that one might expect. That’s okay though. I mean, if we don’t have some sort of connection to these people by the time shit starts to go south… what’s the point?

Make no mistake about it though – Once Charlie begins his rampage, it is a sight to behold. This is the biggest…thickest bastard that I have ever seen in a horror film. He makes the 2009 Jason Voorhees look like a girl scout. His sheer size leads to some rather creative and original deaths. One or two in particular are sure to make anyone’s “Top Kills” list. Furthermore, Charlie positions himself as a horror icon of the future in a way that feels natural and unforced. That’s important. There’s nothing worse than a film trying to force feed you an icon. Look no further than Hatchet’s Victor Crowley as an example in what NOT to do. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the Hatchet series.I simply felt they were trying too hard to create something that might not form on its own. That’s not the case in Charlie’s Farm. At least, not for me.