Dark Harvest

Plot

In a small Midwestern town, a deadly annual ritual unfolds when the mythical nightmare, Sawtooth Jack, rises from the cornfields and challenges the town's teenage boys in a bloody battle of survival.

Cast

Written and directed with chaps with a lot of experience and starring Jeremy Davies (Who is excellent here). The rest of the young cast are very middle of the road for what they bring to the table here.

Verdict

I had no idea what I was walking into, it was movie night and not wanting to sail through an ocean of movies to make my choice I went with the first horror movie with interesting cover art and the rest is history.

The first thing I noticed was the incredible cinematography, they nailed it here. Even though it's mostly in the dark it looks the part, so very very impressive. Next the premise took me back, though not unique it's fairly original and I appreciated that in a world of generic horror movies. And the third thing? The kills, bloody, brutal and impactful and I appreciated that as all I see lately are terrible cut-away deaths which are just pitiful.

So the film looks the part, the writing is perfectly passable and the movie consistently delivers the thrills, the spills and the engaging plot. It's downside? The finale could have been better, it's not awful but it does let the film down as it's definitely a lower tier of quality to the rest of the movie.

Rants

See, isn't it great when we get something original? Something that's not a remake, a reboot, a unnecessary sequel, part of a franchise? I love it, let's see more of this. Prove the nay sayers wrong who insist the industry is in its death throes due to the lack of imagination from modern day writers.

Breakdown

Fantastic plot Incredible cinematography Impressive kills Well constructed Some of the cast could have done a better job Weak finale.

This wasn't the greatest horror I've ever seen but it definitely felt like a 2000s horror and not the generic s**** for 'modern audiences'

I thought this was going to be a 2-3 stsr movie going into it, it had its flaws but I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the ride

The acting was a bit cheesy at times and the story is a little all over the place, what you're left with is a chaotic b movie horror thriller. I'd definitely recommend giving it a watch if you fancy a turn your mind off kind of film.

It's let down by some of the story (reactions to events in the movie mostly) however, I think I'm expecting to much realism for this kind of film.

Felt like Husk vs Michael. Myers.

I found this film to be an absolute blast of a mashup. It felt like The Outsiders meets Pumpkinhead. Is it perfect? Not at all. Is it fun and well made? Heck yes. It looks great, it's well acted with excellent special effects. A few parts are clunky, but luckily they're counter balanced by all the good stuff. It's a Halloween treat to behold. It's not scary in my opinion, but it's often tense and the action scenes are well choreographed and bloody. It feels like a throwback to the simpler storytelling of 80s genre pictures. I don't think it will ever make any top 100 horror lists, but it's destined to become a cult hit. Without overthinking it, I recommend it.

It's doesn't give you much more than that in terms of its own thing.

The acting is decent. The effects are good. The gore is fun and plentiful. But I am just not entirely convinced by the experience as a cohesive whole. It does just seem like a bunch of ideas around a period in time that just don't gel for me. And I think a lot of it has to do with the bleak Manitoba filming location. It just seems off and disconnected.

And the "twist" was pretty obvious fairly early in the film.

I did like that that a lot of the participants dressed up for the event. Suits and ties didn't make any sense from a practical standpoint but I like the sentiment, especially given the old-fashioned year.

It had rocking oldies on the soundtrack though.

I did not expect much when this popped up on Amazon on a lazy Friday night. But for those of you that are into 80s-style -creature horror movies (although the plot is set in the 60s), this is for you. Without giving away too much, the story is nicely set up so you do not have that typical slasher movie. There is more to the cornfield killer and it is scary fun to find out. The movie's pace is slow at times, that's kind of a downside. But the dezent production design, the well-designed monster and the kind of graphic kill scenes make up for it. So if you are in the mood of watching a scary Halloween movie, this is for you!