| The Cottage | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Paul Andrew Williams |
| Produced by | Ken Marshall |
| Written by | Paul Andrew Williams |
| Starring | Andy Serkis Jennifer Ellison Doug Bradley Georgia Groome Dave Legeno Reece Shearsmith Steve O'Donnell Jonathan Chan-Pensley Eden Groome Johnny Harris Katy Murphy Simon Schatzberger Eden Watson Logan Wong |
| Music by | Laura Rossi |
| Cinematography | Christopher Ross |
| Editing by | Tom Hemmings |
| Distributed by | Pathe Distribution Ltd |
| Release date(s) | 14 March 2008 |
| Running time | 92 mins. |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
The Cottage (2008) is a darkly comic horror film, written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams.
Contents |
Two brothers, David and Peter (Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith), kidnap Tracey (Jennifer Ellison), the stepdaughter of Arnie, an underworld crime boss. After a heated conversation at the kitchen table, Peter and David retrieve the unconscious Tracey from the car boot. As they try to get her upstairs Peter gets side tracked by her chest not realising that she's woken up. She headbutts him several times and Peter screams with pain. David manages to get her off him and has to fix Peter's now bloody and broken nose after tying her to the bed. The pair hold her for ransom in a secluded country cottage. Things begin to go wrong when Arnie's dimwitted son and stepbrother of Tracey, Andrew (Steve O'Donnell) delivers the ransom. Instead of money, the bag is filled with napkins. David and Peter realize that not only have they been deceived, but Arnie knew about Andrew's involvement in the scheme all along.
After Peter breaks his phone by accidentally dropping it in water, David goes down to the village to use a telephone box to call in another ransom. While there, he happens across some sinister locals who, upon learning that he and his companions are staying at the Barnarby Cottage, warn him to keep his doors locked. Disturbed, David returns to the cottage to find that Tracey — who has proven to be highly intelligent and resourceful, albeit foul-mouthed and somewhat psychopathic — has incapacitated Andrew and abducted Peter.
Some distance away, Peter and Tracey arrive at an ominous looking farm. Upon entering the house, they soon discover it to be the home of an insane and hideously deformed serial-killer known only as The Farmer (see section below).
After opening a trapdoor in the kitchen to reveal a secret staircase leading down into the cellar, Tracey is stabbed through the stomach by The Farmer. Terrified, Peter flees upstairs and jumps out of the bedroom window. Tracey survives her injury and calls out for Peter to help her escape too, all with The Farmer in pursuit. Peter manages to incapacitate The Farmer with a shovel, saving Tracey's life. Tracey then urges Peter to kill the madman before he regains consciousness, but he is reluctant.
As the two of them argue, The Farmer comes to and quickly amputates the end of Peter's foot with the shovel. As The Farmer is about to kill Peter, Tracey begins mocking him, ordering him to hurry up and do it. Frustrated, The Farmer suddenly turns around and gruesomely decapitates her at mouth-level with the shovel. He then knocks out a hysterical Peter and hangs him by his jacket from a meathook in the shed.
Meanwhile, Andrew and David, discover Andrew's hairdresser Steven (Simon Schatzberger), dying from being disembowled, before setting off through the woods in search of Peter and Tracey, when they stumble across the dead body of one of Arnie's henchmen, who has had his throat slit. Soon after, they arrive at the farm, where they discover a shed full of severed heads. The Farmer suddenly appears. David and Andrew hurry outside, where The Farmer pins David to the ground with a pickaxe through his leg. He then chases Andrew into the nearby horse stables, where he viciously attacks him with a hunting knife before ripping his spine out.
Peter comes to and manages to release himself from the hook and crawl across the ground to David. After making up for a lifetime of squabbling, they vow to fight on, and drag themselves back into the farmhouse in search of a phone. The Farmer soon reappears, tossing Andrew's severed head and spine through the window. David attempts to defend his brother, only to be suddenly impaled by The Farmer with the pickaxe. Outraged at seeing his brother murdered, Peter begins to throttle The Farmer to death by strangling him with a length of rope.
The Farmer manages to toss Peter down into the cellar and slam the door shut. But Peter still has the end of the rope, and he continues tugging on it, eventually causing The Farmer to collapse on top of the trap door. With the weight of The Farmer's body on top of the door, Peter is unable to escape. With nowhere else to go, he descends down into the cellar. He flicks on his cigarette lighter to reveal The Farmer's equally insane and hideous wife, son and daughters standing all around him. He mutters defeatedly "You must be joking" before they set upon him, the lighter goes out and Peter screams as they attack him.
After the credits, Arnie and his right-hand men are seen arriving at the farm. As they step up to the front door, The Farmer suddenly rushes out at them with the pickaxe raised above his head. As he swings at them with it, the image freezes and the screen fades to black.
| The Cottage character | |
|---|---|
| The Farmer | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race | Caucasian |
| Location | England |
| Signature weapon: | Machete Pickaxe |
| Portrayed by: | Dave
Legeno (The Cottage) |
The Farmer is the main antagonist of the 2008 film The Cottage, portrayed by Dave Legeno.
The Farmer's backstory is gradually revealed throughout the film through various items discovered by the protagonists.
At an undetermined point in the past, the Farmer was caught in a machine accident that left his face hideously deformed. For undisclosed reasons, attempts were made to close his farm, and the Farmer became a cannibalistic serial killer, murdering anyone who trespasses on his land with a variety of farmyard implements.
The events of the film itself follow a group of Londoners who stray onto the farm and are subsequently attacked by the Farmer. The main character David learns that the Farmer's activities are common knowledge in the nearby village, but that his practices are tolerated rather than attacked outright. The Farmer is also shown to keep human hands in his freezer, and that his wife and children reside in the cellar of his house. As further items in the farmhouse become revealed, it seems they became aware of his murderous activties and tried to leave in fear. The Farmer caught them, however, and kept them prisoner in the cellar, where he fed them human flesh as they gradually lost their minds.
Possibly because of his deformity, The Farmer does not speak any coherent dialogue throughout the film, instead communicating through a variety of roars and grunts to the other characters when confronted.
When David explores the Farmer's house he discovers various body parts and masks made of human flesh, along with photographs of the Farmer wearing them. This bears resemblance to the real life serial killer Ed Gein.
The Cottage received good reviews from critics, including a good score on Rotten Tomatoes, attaining 71%.
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