Frenchman's Farm (1987)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Ron Way

Writers:

James Fishburn (writer)
William Russell (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

The farm . . . where the calendar plays strange tricks.

Plot:

An Australian woman's car breaks down in the country, and when she goes to get help, she's whisked back in time to 1944 and witnesses a murder...

Plot Keywords:

Time Warp | Time Travel | Independent Film

Cast

Tracey Tainsh	...	Jackie Grenville
David Reyne	...	Barry Norden
Norman Kaye	...	Reverend Andershot
John Meillon	...	Bill Dolan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ray Barrett	...	Harry Benson
Alexander Black	...	Archives clerk
Andrew Blackman	...	John Mainsbridge
Tui Bow	...	Miss Morton
Phil Brock	...	John Hatcher
Robert Eastgate	...	Second detective
Gennifer Flowers	...	Mrs. Grenville
Laurence Hodge	...	Man at telephone
Maurice Hughes	...	Country policeman
Andrew Johnston	...	William Morris
Penny Jones	...	Programmer
Ian Leigh-Cooper	...	Librarian
Kym Lynch	...	George Slater
Errol O'Neill	...	Programmer
Lynne Schofield	...	Madame Cheveraux
Keith Scott	...	Radio announcer (voice)
Rod Warren	...	TV newsman
Bill Watson	...	Farmer

Runtime:

100 min | UK:91 min | USA:86 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Queensland, Australia

Company:

Mavis Bramston Productions

more a mystery than a horror flick...but fairly decent

Apparently not many folks like this film, and I'm not sure what they expected going into it but I rather liked it myself. A young girl has taken a detour to avoid fires (it's a very bad drought in Australia) and while on this particular road her car malfunctions, and her radio begins broadcasting big-band music and reports of Allies, Nazis, and Anzio, much to her confusion. She realizes that her car needs water so heads to a nearby farm where she witnesses a murder and then after fleeing back to her car and racing away she ends up back in the present. So does anyone believe her story? Hell no, of course not, otherwise there'd be no reason to go on with the film. So she returns with her boyfriend and they do some poking around and investigating and she finds out that there WAS a murder at that farm but the accused was not the person that she saw, so she's out to unravel the mystery. Also involved is the current resident of Frenchman's Farm, a booze-swilling old man with a dog that also has a taste for whiskey, and the local Vicar. And there's supposedly some kind of buried treasure and other odd things afoot. This is sort of presented as a horror film and it does have ghosts but there's not really much more to any horror element than that, no gore, etc. Much more a mystery-thriller & fairly well done too, although not terribly big on the thrills department. Passable entertainment, 6 out of 10.