Blutige Ernte - The Harvest

'The Harvest' is one of those viewing experiences that gets by largely on mood & atmosphere. It features a bunch of ingredients - interesting theme, damaged characters - that when blended together go down smooth like a refreshing drink. It's the after taste that's off putting.

Charlie Pope (Miguel Ferrer) is a burnt out screenwriter who gets a paid trip to Mexico to try and turn in one final draft of his script he's been churning for two years that will appease the studio and his headache of an agent (Harvey Fierstein). Doing so he finds the original basis for his story is incorrect. More importantly he meets a bunch of characters - particularly Natalie (Leilani Sarelle) - and loses a kidney in the process.

I've watched a lot of movies so when a plot deals with a writer I know enough to see where things might be going. You have to question if what you see & hear is fact or fiction. Add in the usual tropes about foreign countries where you don't speak the language, corruption and holiday romance and you've just summed up 3/4's of this film.

Writer/director David Marconi's 'The Harvest' has two things going for it. Standout acting from Ferrer & a great musical score. Unfortunately as the tagline states "They stole one of his kidneys. Now they've come for the other one" the movie is playing loose & unfair with the rules. It's a fine trip up until that point though.

A screenwriter goes to Mexico and gets his kidney stolen! Along the way, searching for that appendage which did a vanishing act, he meets a girl and they have a sexual liaison. It all spells trouble with a capital T, as he finds out that his other kidney is about to be targeted!

Miguel Ferrer, a lesser known supporting actor whom you may of seen in such flops as "Another Stakeout", "Royce", "The Stand" and "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me", does a great job as the smitten man frantically searching for the nabber of his kidney.

Another woman, dubiously surnamed "Ferrer" as well, plays the sexual interest. She was the lesbian offsider also in Basic Instinct, this girl surely does get around! Going from ice-pick crazy millionaire lesbian to kidney stealing enthusiast is a leap at both ends of the spectrum.

The intrigue builds through a plot that develops relatively devoid of action, and builds up to an abrupt climax which halts the film. But, I found myself strangely drawn to the movie. I liked it, I really did!

I hope that Miguel Ferrer makes something of himself, because seeing someone of his acting calibre would be very satisfying.

Eight out of ten.

In this excellent unabashed B movie from 1993 you get to watch Miguel Ferrier and his wife turn one of the most enduring urban legends ever (guy wakes up in a bathtub of ice missing -insert body part- with instructions to call an ambulance) into a South of the Border escape covering topics from the Hollywood screen writing culture to Latin American police corruption to long term depression to child molestation to the underground gay community back to the Hollywood screen writing culture. What it lacks in production values (not much) it makes up for in heart.

This type of film was often showed on the off-brand pay movie channels in the early to mid 90s but usually centered more around the exposure of many, many nude body parts belonging to Shannon Tweed, Joan Severence or C. Thomas Howell (::shudder::). This film keeps its clothes on (and puts a dress on George Clooney, to boot) and delivers an enjoyable watching experience of pure escapist fantasy throughout which you will consistently thank God you aren't Miguel's character (when he is rolling around on the ground in pain) or curse God you aren't Miguel's character (when he is rolling around in the front seat of a Volkswagon with his insanely beautiful real life wife).

Good stuff.

The Harvest is the very definition of a hidden gem that one stumbles upon while watching late night cable and sits through to the end just because it's such a wickedly nasty little thriller. Erotic and steamy, dangerous, very darkly funny are qualities that all reside within a terrific script that has one kicker of an ending that's quite the chuckle inducing payoff. No one wants to have their organs taken while on vacation in some sketchy South American country, let alone consider the thought of it. Hard luck screenwriter Charlie Pope (an intense Miguel Ferrer in one of his few lead roles) falls right into that unthinkable scenario. He's sent to Mexico by his bad tempered boss Bob Lakin (a sleazy Harvey Fierstein, who REALLY needs to be in more movies), and marinates in the sweatiness trying to get some work done. After a hot and heavy night with a gorgeous local babe (Leilani Sarelle) he wakes up with the mother of all hangovers and is horrified to find that one of his kidneys has been removed. From there it's a stomach churning mad dash to figure out where the smugglers have gone, and evade the, at the same time, because they're coming to try and get his other one and silence him forever as well. It's an uncomfortable little piece of white knuckle trash, but it's made with solid flair and like I said, the script is top shelf stuff. Ferrer is the running man here, trying to keep one step ahead of some very dangerous people, his bountiful acting talent putting us right there with him. Fierstein is always a gravel voiced gem, and gets two penultimate scenes that spin the plot on its cogs, both which will have you laughing uncomfortably. There's also an early career appearance from George Clooney, who is Ferrer's cousin. His credit here, and I'm not even making this up, is 'Lip syncing transvestite'. How's that for a leg up in the industry. Lowbrow, gut churning black comedy mixed with the exotic fish out of water thriller makes for a neat little piece of genre bending, grotesque shocker fun.

I saw this on cable, and it impressed me. Hollywood makes tons of boring thrillers, full of gunplay and mindless brutality. What I liked about this movie is that the hero goes through unusual trials to find the people that did him wrong: he doesn't just shoot and interrogate bad guys.

An author goes to Mexico for inspiration. He get seduced, get drugged, and wakes up minus one kidney. He is too obsessed with the woman who wronged him to drop the matter and fly home, however. To find her, he tangles with corrupt cops, endures his weakened state (he has just lost a kidney, after all), faces off with Mexican gangsters, and hikes through the jungle wasted on psychedelic drugs.

Not a bad film as far as these things go. There is also a hot love scene in a moving Volkswagen beetle, but I don't want to spoil that part for you.