By Dana Berry
A Pittsburgh video production company makes a horror movie located around Pittsburgh? Alright, following in Mr. Romero’s footsteps, let’s check it out!
Unfortunately, though it may appeal to some desperate gore hounds and surgery porn fans, Body Farm is a rather clumsy and forgettable attempt at making an engaging, scary film.
The premise isn’t bad – a location scout is sent to a medical research facility by a film production company desperate for an actual news story. She disappears and a crew of four head to the facility, which also happens to be a prison. They (very) slowly realize all is not as it should be and find themselves (not really) fighting for their lives.
Sadly, the story is waylaid by bad writing and worse acting. The directors probably felt they knew the lead characters better than anybody so took on the roles themselves. Be that as it may, a story should not be sacrificed at the altar of convenience and/or ego. A film needs a few good actors to get us out of being skeptical viewers and into the flow of the story. This never happens in Body Farm and the introduction of even worse actors tanks this movie before it even had a chance.
There are also cheap editing effects, canned sound effects, a way too clean video sheen, poor lighting in many scenes, incongruous locations and writing that drifts in and out of coherence, but it’s the acting that ultimately dismembers this film (however, if you enjoy overacting, Officer Thompson is your man).
To end on a positive note, there is a wonderfully unpleasant ankle breaking scene as well as a lovely, long tracking camera shot. Regrettably that shot is on a waiter finishing a smoke and delivering hamburgers to our protagonists table.
Bloody Flicks 