Blood Harvest

I saw this movie on the Brentwood DVD, included in the Psychotic Tendencies 4-pack. It would seem to be the same cut version described by another user on the single disc DVD. Nevertheless, there is a fair amount of blood and nudity, including full-frontal nudity albeit in a different scene than the shower one.

I thought this movie was pretty effectively creepy. The beginning is disorienting. A clown sings in a high pitched vibrato "Gary and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Gary fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after" which he repeats. There's a shot of a pulley raising something, which proves to be a dead man hanging upside-down. Then there's a shot through a rainy window of police arriving and taking a body, and we see a young man looking through the window. Then there's an auction of a farm, and we see the clown without his makeup on looking upset, and there's a quick flash of the hanging man. Then there's a young woman walking down a road, while in voice-over she's having a phone conversation with her mother about arriving home.

The young woman is the daughter of an unpopular banker, unpopular because his bank is seizing farms. When she arrives home, her parents aren't there and her house has been vandalized. The clown is there, and clearly he's not all there. It turns out that he is Mervin "Merv" AKA Marvelous Mervo the clown, and he's the brother of Gary who is her ex-high school boyfriend. She's now engaged to someone she met in college.

Someone is killing people, and hanging them in her creepy barn, which she never goes into. Merv keeps showing up and acting weird. She realizes more people are disappearing. There are some scenes that make for high contrasts, as when she is hugging a stuffed animal, while elsewhere someone is being killed. Or, a scene of her unknowingly being chloroformed in her sleep, posed for a bondage Polaroid, and waking none the wiser being followed by a genuine sensitive lovemaking scene. There are a number of pretty sadistic scenes.

Tiny Tim plays Mervo and he sings to himself or to others a few times throughout the movie. Over the end credits, he sings an entire song "Marvelous Mervo." I rather enjoyed it! The DVD in the set lacks the extras the single disc is supposed to have. I'm curious how Tiny Tim got involved with the movie, which evidently those extras do touch upon. It would be nice if the uncut version were rereleased, or for those scenes to be included as an extra. It does happen sometimes that the director's cut is shorter than the original theatrical or straight to video version.

Prior to watching Director Bill Rebane's opus, BLOOD HARVEST, it helps to know a little about it's star, Tiny Tim. He might not be the main star, but he's definitely the one you'll remember, whether you want to or not.

If you are old enough to remember him during his "heyday", plucking at his ukelele and warbling his way through the 1970s talk show circuit, you already know what to expect. However, if you are too young to know who he is / was, then it is recommended that you do a bit of research on this extremely odd, some might say, annoying character.

In any case, the fact that Tiny Tim owned his own clown suit, and was ready to go after meeting Mr. Rebane for the first time, tells us all we really need to know.

BLOOD HARVEST is among Mr. Rebane's highest achievements in the annals of schlock filmmaking. It has every ingredient necessary to make it a classic.

The only characters in the film that need to be mentioned are the aforementioned Mr. Tim, and the lovely Itonia Salchek, who plays the lovely Jill (she shows a lot of her loveliness here!). Sadly, Ms. Salchek mysteriously went missing after making this, her one and only movie. People have been trying to find her for years.

The plot of BLOOD HARVEST is about a series of murders around the time that Jill's father becomes responsible for dispossessing a lot of local farmers. Jill's friends soon start disappearing, while Mervo the Clown (TT) lurks around looking and acting completely nuts.

Not a bad way to spend a late-late night of mindless movie viewing...

Basically there are only two reasons to see "Blood Harvest" First, the falsetto wonder that was "Tiny Tim", playing "Marvelous Mervo", a drooling, slack jawed, giggling clown. Second, Itonia Salachek playing a naked girl throughout the film. Forget plot and acting skills, live with the fact that this is not the viscera-stained, sex, sleaze, and horror epic it is claimed to be. What "Blood Harvest" is, is a curiosity, much like a crowd would be drawn to a carnival sideshow, you sort of have to keep watching for the next "Mervo" appearance, or excuse for Itonia to lose her clothes. Certainly watchable, but just barely. - MERK

'60s ukulele-playing pop-star Tiny Tim's contributions to horror: that disturbing 'Tiptoe Through The Tulips' song featured in Insidious (2010) to great effect, and this late '80s slasher, in which the falsetto singer dons clown make-up and garb to play Mervo, a crazy weirdo who may or may not be a psycho killer.

The film begins with beauty Jill (Itonia Salchek) returning to her hometown to visit her parents, who have been harangued by the locals on account of her father working at the bank that is overseeing the foreclosure of several farmsteads. When she gets home, Jill's parents are nowhere to be found and the walls are daubed with threatening graffiti; the local sheriff does little to investigate. Old childhood friend Gary (Dean West) tries to calm Jill's nerves, but she feels increasingly uneasy, especially with Gary's oddball brother Mervo hanging around and snooping on her. To make matters worse, other people in Jill's life start to disappear, including her boyfriend Scott (Peter Krause) and best friend Sarah. Is Mervo responsible?

Wisconsin-based horror auteur Bill Rebane fails to keep up the brisk pace necessary for such nonsense, and some stretches are duller than watching wheat grow, but he knows well enough to include plenty of nudity courtesy of sexy Salchek, and some decent gore to keep viewers watching, the blood-letting including some convincing throat slashings (the effects far better than I expected). Rebane also makes the most of Tiny Tim, who proves effectively unsettling throughout, singing a few creepy ditties and generally acting convincingly deranged.

It's far from a top-tier '80s slasher (but then few late'-80s slashers are), but there's just about enough fun to be had to make it of interest to fans of the genre. 5/10.

Got High On Life, and sat and watched the movie with Gene, we're cool now.

Plus it's got that one guy, dressed as a clown, and Bush, not sixteen stone either, the real deal.

I feel like Gene was just watching me the whole time, which was kinda creepy, at first I kinda missed the aerobics show with Denise Richards and Paul Walker (RIP!), but, this was pretty good. I'd say if your into weird stuff from the 80s, give it a shot. It might be as good as Killer Clowns From Outer Space, but then maybe not. I dunno, neither are as good as Over The Top, but, who could ever beat that?? Maybe like, the Bodyguard, or like, that really bad biker movie with Brian Bosworth, that I still watch every now and again cause it's a guilty pleasure.