“Freaky Farley” is a cult movie in search of a cult. It’s a movie for the future—not so much because it’s revolutionary or groundbreaking (it isn’t), but because it was made with an eye toward midnight movie fans and B-movie aficionados destined to discover it in some dusty pile of DVDs decades from now.
“I think it’s going to be a long process,” says Matt Farley, the Manchester-based co-writer, producer and star of “Freaky Farley.” “We’re only just now discovering great movies made in 1982. In a way, maybe we’ve made this movie for kids in the 2020s to watch during slumber parties.”
In comparison to other homemade horror projects and no-budget productions, “Farley” holds up pretty well. Drawing inspiration from the low-budget horror flicks that flooded video store shelves in the 1980s, Farley and his collaborator Charles Roxburgh have created a movie that not only succeeds at being bad, but actually turns out to be pretty funny and wonderfully strange, to boot. In true cult movie fashion, “Freaky Farley” was screened on Halloween night with “The Other Side of Hell,” another New Hampshire-produced horror flick, at the Ioka Theater in Exeter.
“A lot of horror movie fans are big on the blood and guts and gore, but we kind of like the strange, awkward moments … that happen between characters,” Farley says. “Half the time, you’ve got a bad script performed by bad actors, and those things together make for wonderful viewing.”
“Farley” fully delivers on that promise. Released in 2007, the film presents viewers with a stable of weird, unhinged characters, misfits and freaks who proceed to interact with each other in surprising ways. At the head of the pack is Farley Wilder (played by Matt Farley himself), a loveable loser in his late 20s. Farley is well known throughout his small New England town. He never left for college, can’t get a job and spends his days wandering around town, spying on pretty girls and acting generally creepy. When he meets an attractive, adventurous young woman named Scarlett, Farley falls in love—much to the annoyance of his father, an over-bearing Dr. Phil-esque talk radio host who treats Farley like a child. But Farley’s strange ways are nothing compared to the other odd folk in town, from the ninja who hangs out in the local park to the surly hobo who tries to warn everyone about the monsters that live in the woods around town.
Movies like “Silent Night, Deadly Night 2,” “The Pit” and “Memorial Valley Massacre” all influenced the feel of “Freaky Farley.” The scare factor is low, but that’s beside the point. There are moments of surreal humor that really make the film, like the scene where Farley, the Witch and the Ninja team up to fight some monsters.
“For me, the best thing (about bad movies) is the moment in the movie when you sit back and say, ‘I can’t believe this movie exists,’” Farley says.
Farley and Roxburgh focus on the freaks and weirdoes that typically populate the edges of slasher flicks and monster movies. “The characters in low-budget movies and the actors aren’t very good, so you might as well make the characters strange, so that it’s going to be interesting for the audience,” Farley said.
Thankfully, Farley and Roxburgh do strange really well. The two have been friends since college and in that time have self-published three books that review obscure 1970s and ’80s horror flicks and produced five feature-length movies (most of which were about druids, Farley said, with titles like “Druid Gladiator Clone” and “Druids, Druids Everywhere”). “Farley” was their first feature shot on film (rather than digital) and is a tribute to the kinds of movies they love.
“A lot of those (filmmakers) wanted to make a movie and got just barely enough money and got friends and family together and made it. We decided, ‘Let’s create the same exact circumstances for ourselves.’ We only spent money on film—80 percent of the budget was just paying for the film and developing.”
Farley lives and works in Manchester, and much of “Freaky Farley” was shot in New Hampshire. Farley and Roxburgh recently wrapped up work on “Monsters, Marriage and Murder in Manch-Vegas,” their latest movie. It’s a “little more ambitious” than “Farley,” according to Farley, mostly because there are more characters in the film. The cast of “Farley” mostly consists of friends and family of the filmmakers, which presents its own challenges.
“The one thing you need to think about when you’re not paying actors is, are they going to show up? We’ve been making movies since college, so we know all the little tricks you can do to get around a lack of budget,” Farley says.
“Freaky Farley” is available at www.filmbaby.com and sales have been modest, according to Farley. But, it’s still building buzz. Since its release last year, “Farley” has been screened at a number of venues throughout the state (including a showing at West End Studio Theater earlier this month) along with “The Other Side of Hell.” Farley said “Other Side” creator Jim McCrackin has been instrumental in getting “Farley” out in front of audiences.
Already, though, “Farley” seems to be building the kind of audience Farley and Roxburgh had in mind when making the film. Farley works at a group home for troubled teens and has showed them “Farley” and a rough cut of “Monsters, Marriage and Murder,” and they loved it.
“They get a kick out of it,” he says. “They all want roles in the next movie.”
Originally published in The Wire, Oct. 29, 2008.
