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"Strange Harvest" is a mockumentary that follows two San Bernardino police officers and their decades-long investigation into the case of "Mr. Shiny," a brutal serial killer whose sadistic crimes come to take on occult-like features.

Largely consisting of interviews with the officers, witnesses, and experts involving in the various crimes, "Strange Harvest" very much represents a "Dateline" or "20/20" true crime documentary, albeit a much more graphic and, eventually, fantastical one. Like many of its type, the film plays under the guise of being a "true story," a conceit that we know is a gimmick, but one that I will at least accept for entertainment's sake.

What this film excels it as it capturing the tone and feel of the true crime documentaries that litter nighttime television and major streaming services. From the editing, to the interview formats, to the police and surveillance footage, "Strange Harvest" is an admirable facsimile. The performances and dialogue are also, of the most part, reasonable effective and naturalistic enough to provide functional storytelling; with a film like this, I sometimes find it difficult to suspend my disbelief, but I can say that it came just about as close to "real"-feeling as any other mockumentary I've seen.

"Strange Harvest" owes a lot to films like "The Poughkeepsie Tapes" and the crimes profiled have echoes of "Seven" as well as footnotes referencing things like the Zodiac Killer. For true crime buffs, the film is a fairly entertaining odyssey through an outrageous series of murders--almost so outrageous that it at times stretches credulity--but the pacing and presentation manage to hold it together nonetheless.

The graphic photographs and footage scattered throughout are at times bone-chilling, as are the sequences in which we see the killer either in still image or video. As the film ramps up toward its conclusion, things get admittedly hokier and cosmic, with an H. P. Lovecraft bent to the crimes. Unfortunately, none of this totally gels, and the implications get a bit too silly for their own good.

Even still, I feel "Strange Harvest" is worth seeking out if you are a true crime documentary devotee or enjoy the mockumentary format. It may not revolutionize the genre, but it is a formidable indie film with a number of chilling moments, and it recreates the true crime documentary genre with an admirable amount of realism (despite the more fantastical wiring revealed to be underneath the floorboards). 6/10.

"Weapons" focuses on a Pennsylvania town where a large group of children-coincidentally (or perhaps not) from the same home classroom-flee their homes one night and disappear. Suspicion naturally falls on their teacher, but an intricate web of events unfolds, showcasing a dark, if not unbelievable, turn of events.

While writer-director Zach Cregger's "Barbarian" attracted a significant following among genre fans, I was not particularly a fan of that film; while I thought it had its share of strong elements and could see why some people loved it, the tone and genre-bending grotesque humor did not appeal to my taste. Because of this, I had tempered expectations for this film, but on the whole was pleasantly surprised. There is certainly dark humor here, but it is played in a more human way.

The screenplay utilizes segmented vignettes that interlock, forming a larger portrait of the strange, almost Stephen King-esque events unfolding in the small community. Tensions abound, as the missing kids' schoolteacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) receives her scarlet letter, with grief-stricken parents such as Archer (Josh Brolin) blaming her for their children's disappearances. Further characters are thrown into the mix and each have their own narrative strands in the chain of events, including a struggling cop (Alden Ehrenreich), a young drug addict and petty thief (Austin Abrams), and the school principal Andrew (Benedict Wong).

While this narrative mode can often be hit-or-miss, it is played to great effect here and is clever without being too gimmicky or pretentious for its own good. On a purely technical level, the film is solid-the cinematography and locations are atmospheric, the sparse use of music and silence is pointed, and the performances are uniformly good from everyone involved. That being said, Amy Madigan, playing the aunt of the sole child in his class who didn't vanish into the night, steals the thunder from everyone , giving a performance that is of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" proportions.

Many have noted that the less you know about the film going into it, the better, and while I think that adage stands true for most moviegoing experiences, it is especially true here. The interlocking character vignettes are compelling in their own right, and the plot strands playfully connect by degrees, keeping the audience firmly planted on their toes. The truth eludes you until the outrageous final act, which is where I think the film could lose some people; however, by that point, I think even most hardened horror fans will remain invested due to the high level of intrigue that has brewed over the previous hour and a half. "Where could this possibly go?" was a recurring thought as I watched this, and even when it stretched credulity as the answers came, I remained firmly in the crosshairs, just as each of the children in Ms. Gandy's ill-fated homeroom. 8/10.

"Bring Her Back", the Philippou brothers' followup to "Talk to Me", focuses on teenage siblings Andy and his younger sister Piper who, after a tragic accident, find themselves in the care of a foster mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins) a hippy-dippy therapist who has her own dark past and possibly nefarious intentions.

The Philippou brothers impressed many horror fans with their highly unique debut film in 2023 (myself included), and this is a formidable second feature that has some cross-pollination with their previous film, albeit with an entirely different villain at the helm.

"Grief horror" has become a prominent sub-genre/thematic glue over the last decade, and while "Bring Her Back" is just as much a part of this thematic trend, it has the spin of placing its two teenaged leads in the hands of a villainous parental figure who is selfishly driven to go to the ends of the earth for her own purposes, pitting the youth against a corrupt adult figure wielding control. This is not necessarily a unique plot device, but the collision of the two elements makes for some real emotional fireworks. Hawkins's portrayal of Laura is a stunning one, and her character--despite her motives being driven by her own personal tragedy--is one so reprehensible and evil that she is difficult to shake off once the credits roll.

Interpolated with Laura's sinister plot is that of the two siblings who have landed in her web, as well as Ollie, a mute young boy also residing with Laura who is not (or perhaps, is) entirely what he seems. The film goes for gut punches that hit the right emotional notes, interspersing a vague occult element at work which is hinted at in disturbing ritual footage that serves as a model for Laura's own corrupt form of quasi-necromancy.

There are a few potent moments of gore that will leave you wincing, but it's the suspense in the final act that really ramps up and drives the film toward a conclusion that offers a couple of grim surprises, despite the supernatural mythology of the entire piece not feeling like it fully comes together.

In the end, though, the performances and characters here make this a worthwhile viewing experience. For all its thematic gravity anchored in grief and pain, I found myself utterly disgusted by Hawkins's character--she is unforgivable, vile, selfish, and downright wicked, and her portrayal, disturbing. There is not enough grief in the world to justify her, and that, to me, was probably the most interesting aspect of this narrative riddled with tragedy. 7/10.