Harvest of Fear

I really liked the bowie knife wielding hillbilly. Where did they ever get someone like that to play this part? LOL. This movie was a lot of fun to watch. Very entertaining. I sure appreciated the low amount of foul language you see so much of in today's movies. Maybe because the setting was a small town and people just speak more respectful in these places. Wonderful surprise ending. Great cast all around and really nailed the editing for surprising effects. Some of the scenes were similar to other slasher movies yet there was a more surprising acting from this group of talent. This movie tells a story just the right way. Good luck to all the talent involved with this production. Hope to see more work from youz guyz real soon. MG

Clichés galore here: squad car 66 (where's the third 6?) Devil's Lake, etc. Killings took place 20 years ago, killings begin again on the anniversary, for yet another cliché.

What could go wrong at costume party held soon after after two killings, a party held by friends of the deceased? It obviously didn't take them long to mourn their friends' deaths. Killer shows up at party, no one suspects anything is amiss, as it is a costume party. Cops named Barker (Clive?) and Jim (John?) Carpenter investigate. They even go to the town drunk to get answers. Killer almost looks like he is wearing a burlap sack on his head, carrying a Rambo knife. Nonsensical ending, killer is retroactively inserted into storyline.

My critique is admittedly disjointed and fragmented, but that is because the movie is so forgettable that I can hardly remember anything more about it, other than the fact that I was bored to tears by it.

Harvest of Fear is not a good movie but any stretch of the imagination but it, judging from what has been said about it from the reviews and from a lot of my friends how bad it was, could have been far worse.

It doesn't look too bad, in fact the production values were the best thing about it. The scenery is striking and have a good atmosphere and while reminiscent of the 80s Harvest of Fear is nicely lit and the photography while not exceptional is well above average(especially for low-budget slasher movies). Some of the music is decent and actually fits in quite well within the movie, and the sound mixing is clearer and less muddied than most slasher movies.

Harvest of Fear does have too much wrong with it. While some of the music is decent, there are times where it is used in too obvious a way, especially in the build up to the death scenes, when the soundtrack swells and crescendos it doesn't take rocket science to know that something bad is going to happen. The death scenes themselves were disappointing, far too repetitive and lacking in any kind of imagination, furthermore the over-obviousness of the soundtrack kills any suspense they could have had. Harvest of Fear's script is very clunky, the dialogue is enough to make your eyes roll so much they get stuck eventually while it is also ridden with clichés and very, very rarely makes sense. Story-wise Harvest of Fear is as unimaginative and atmosphere-less as you can possibly got. The more derivative it got, and it did so almost immediately after the beginning scene, the less intriguing it got, and the tension and scare factors are even less than that. The characters are one-note throughout, including the killer, and the acting is not much better, most of the acting in the secondary roles are laughably bad actually.

All in all, very lame and not a good movie at all but Harvest of Fear could have been much worse than it turned out to be. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I live up in the Portland metro area and heard about the filming so I was waiting to hear about it when it was showing locally. Sure enough I had the chance to see it and I thought it was pretty well done for a low budget film. Special effects were not too bad at all. My favorite character (even though his part was not that big) was that creepy guy who played the son, he was whittling on the porch. I thought he was guilty for sure. Nevertheless I thought he kind of stole the show. I have a knack for spotting undiscovered talent and can see big things on the horizon for him. I've predicted the success of many different actors having spotted them early in their careers.

I have to say that there is one redeeming speck in regards to this "film". It firmly establishes the bottom of the barrel. Now filmmakers know what to aim above when making a movie. Other than that I regret watching this debacle. What shameless abandon the making of this "film" was. What a waste of $100,000 (that's right folks, ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars). This "film" reminds me of that "Adult Video Awards" show in which of group of "industrial prostitutes" stand up a praise themselves, believing that they are real actors, actresses and filmmakers. Ironic then how I've watched blue movies with better acting, directing and writing. I also found it funny that the Executive Producer, Justin Ament, just had to be in the "movie". He plays Deputy Jake Barker. I'm sure his "acting" career has taken off... Ted Pfiffer, the writer, has a part. He no doubt was wallowing in the clichéd glory he created. It should be noted that Carrie Finklea has a lead role in the movie. You might remember her from Gus Van Sant's 'Elephant'. Though I'm not too sure that she'll want to write this film on her resume. And I'm not sure which is a more depressing point; money was spent to make this film or people are going to watch it. Along with 'Torque', 'Godsend' and 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow', one of the worst films, IF NOT THE WORST FILM, of 2004.