Harvesters

You will enjoy every cheesey second of this cinemagraphic tour-de-force! This movie has the best blood bath scene ever! Joe Ripple not only directs this masterpiece but also has a costarring role as a U.S. Marshal. There are special effects that you won't believe as well as an incredible surprise ending that will leave you stupified. Wake up if you don't have a DVD player and go get one today, because the special edition of this one of a kind film has a 30 minute documentary filled with interesting facts about the making of The Harveters, something I assure you, should not be missed! Lucas beware, CGI has a new master and it's name is Time Warp Films.

"Harvesters" is a thoroughly entertaining mishmash of genres. It starts out as a "criminals on the lam" picture, segues into a home invasion thriller, and finally becomes an outright horror film. The striking Donna Sherman stars as Frankie Falzone, a Gulf War veteran who's become the ringleader of an outlaw gang. While on the run, they carjack a young woman, and force her to drive them to her place. Before too long, they learn that they actually picked the worst possible place to hideout: this family is hiding a bloodthirsty secret.

This viewer had a lot of fun with this one, precisely because it's like three movies in one. While it does NOT really measure up to classics like "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "Motel Hell", it's quite enjoyable. Maryland-based cult favourite Don Dohler wore a lot of hats on this one: writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound designer, and end titles designer! The director is a man named Joe Ripple, who also co-stars as a Federal Marshal tailing Frankies' gang. He gives the outrageous story great pace; it hits the ground running, and rarely lets up. Dohlers' screenplay may not hold up to a lot of scrutiny, but while the movie is playing out, the viewer may not really mind. The gore and deaths are delightfully nasty, and Dohler & Ripple make sure to include a lot of sex: some of the supporting actresses are quite attractive, and a number of them do show off the goods.

One of the irresistible hooks is that you have a main female character who's not really "good" or likeable at all, but you sure end up rooting for her in the final quarter-hour of the movie. In fact, very few characters in this story are what most people would consider likeable. It makes things a little more interesting.

Granted, a lot of the acting is amateurish. The closest thing the cast has to a "name" is Dohler / early John Waters favourite George Stover, as the father figure among the Harvesters. That said, Sherman and sexy teens Jaime Kalman & Erin Palmisano still manage to be real bright spots: they're fun to watch, especially during the big action finale.

Overall, this is definitely a bit better than a lot of the B genre pictures taking up space on store shelves.

Seven out of 10.

I'm wondering why nobody has mentioned Pamela Mones' involvement with the film. As a woman screenwriter, the movie clearly shows the influence of her input into the character-driven film as well as the horror elements that Don Dohler is known for. To ignore the contribution of one of the writers downplays how this film got such favorable reviews compared with other Dohler films, especially regarding story structure and tightly scripted scenes. It would make an interesting project for some film student to compare Dohler's earlier works (and those since Havesters) to determine if gender in fact influences the medium of film.

Watched it both on VHS & DVD! This is Don Dohler's best ever film and guaranteed to please his long time fans as well as new recruits. Joe Ripple deserves kudos for his directorial debut and should be motivated to do another film as quickly as possible. Here is hoping that Dohler and Ripple team up again to scare the "crap" out of us and make our "guts" churn with heart thumping mayhem! Don't miss this bloody epic!

If this film weren't shot on mom's camcorder, which lends a certain amateur quality that isn't the "fun" kind, it might be a sort of minor trash classic. It's flamboyantly sleazy but also hapless, which is good, so the sleaze feels entertainingly faux. (Rather than, y'know, icky.) The performances are bad but committed, the story moves along despite a lack of real surprises, and the violence is ample--even if the gore is pretty much Halloween-party-grade. In other words, it's a guilty pleasure...just not a memorable one. It does seem to be a step up from the director's prior work--I tried something called "Fiend" first, and that was a little too much on the "unwatchable" side.