Demented Death Farm Massacre (1986)

June 16, 2018

This Troma release is poorly made even by Troma standards. Most of the film was originally released in 1971 under the title Shantytown Honeymoon. Then a producer bought the film, shot about three minutes John Carradine (Grapes of Wrath actor and John Ford favorite), added it to the film, and retitled it Honey Britches. Then it was sold to Troma who rereleased the film in 1986 under the title Demented Death Farm Massacre... The Movie. Don't let the title fool you, there is no farm, little dementia, and very few and disappointing deaths.

I really wanted to like this film and was excited when I saw the Troma logo pop up at the beginning of the movie. Troma's films are usually fun, if nothing else. Unfortunately I could not get into this film whatsoever. The movie looks at religion showing its hypocrisy with regards to sex and alcohol. This was done with some care. The biggest problem is, however, that the film draaaaags. There are numerous scenes where the characters are just walking or running or driving for five minutes at a time while chaotic discordant music plays. It seems like the moviemakers only had an hour of material and stretched it to an hour and a half by including these scenes.

The first death doesn't happen until over an hour into the film. The characters are obnoxious caricatures. The deaths (aside from the pitchfork in the throat which awesome) are boring and bland with no blood and the characters yelling into the camera as they make goofy faces. There was also a lot of women slapping in the film. Instead of making a movie the producers relied on the use of very busty women to sell the film. And to be honest the film more resembles a bad softcore 70s movie than a horror movie.

The shots of John Carradine as the Death Judge begin the film and then are seemingly inserted randomly throughout the film. Carradine's character is very similar to Bela Lugosi in the early Ed Wood movies.