Harvest Lake

Labeled by some as a horror movie but this isn't such. It is more of a mystery type alien film. It starts off relatively okay as the characters are introduced but with its low budget and bland storytelling, the film doesn't offer much or exactly go anywhere.

Then within the final 20 or so minutes it becomes further away as we see these alien type wood creatures. Apparently the people drank some potion type that makes them possessed with those creatures. The film doesn't exactly lead anywhere after that as it is quite short in runtime. Ellie Church is one of the highlights, otherwise this film is a waste.

I have really dug some of Scott Schirmer's other movies/collaborations (Found, Plank Face, Headless, Space Babes From Outer Space, and to a lesser extent, The Bad Man). This one, not so much. Actually, I'm shocked there are some semi-rave reviews here. I will say this much about his movies, including Harvest Lake: They defy expectation. This is apparently his arthouse/sex/Cronenberg film.

The biggest issue I had with this movie is that it's underwritten. What in the hell was this about? Is everything just padding to get to the weird alien sex scene? Scenes (and characters) go entirely nowhere. Well, admittedly, whatever the scene, just leads to sex. If you're expecting another horror movie... you're wrong! I guess I can give this an extra star for rampant sexuality. And Ellie Church is always a highlight in whatever she's in. Yet, I was falling asleep a couple times.

It was the synopsis of the movie and the fact that it was labeled as a horror movie that initially caught my attention. It seemed like the movie could have potential to be something interesting. It turned out that the keywords here were "could have"...

"Harvest Lake" turned out to be a sleazefest dressed in a horror wrapping. There was so much pointless nudity and focus on sex acts that the movie was almost a softcore porn flick. It was just too much, and director and writer Scott Schirmer could have opted for a much more neutral approach and a more subtle sexual approach, which would have proved for a much more adequate movie.

The acting in the movie was good, especially taking into consideration that the acting talents had very little to work with in terms of script and story.

The storyline, however, was every bit as mundane as it was generic and predictable. Actually, I will go as far as to claiming that the storylien was sort of pointless, because all that this movie was about was showing sexual depravity instilled upon the minds of the young people by the otherworldly being in the forest.

"Harvest Lake" had adequate special effects, mind you that there wasn't a lot of special effects. The creature in the forest was sort of interesting, but it was marred by having a very low budget appearance to it. So a few more dollars thrown after the special effects department would have done wonders for the movie.

What was the toughest part of the movie to get through was the incredibly slow pace that the storyline was presented in. It just trotted on in a very monotonous pace that really had no ups or downs.

I managed to sit through "Harvest Lake" to the very end, but I found my focus, attention and interest in the movie hard pressed many times throughout the course of the movie. I was hoping that the movie would pick up and become better as it went along, but that hope was in vain. My rating of "Harvest Lake" ends on a generous 3 out of 10 stars.

I think- emphasis on think- this was supposed to be an "erotic horror", you know of the kind that used to clog up the video store shelves in the days before the internet. You know. The ones where the images on the box were far more exciting than anything that actually appears in the film. I can imagine "Harvest Lake" has a pretty good box.

Rarely can a film have made sex seem so tedious. It belies it's relatively short running time by feeling interminable as you watch it- indeed time seems to stand still. And then it ends. Thankfully.

The "characters" are dull as ditch water, generally unappealing and not even particularly attractive. Eroticism remains elusive.

And they all liked happily ever after, Or something.

Soft core porn disguised as a horror film. A real snoozefest, that had me falling asleep. The entity that came from the abyss, who and what was it? The creature from the black lagoon distant cousin. I clapped in glee as it ended, because it was painful to watch. Slow and boring with no climactic ending. Five friends rolling around in lube, this movie made me feel like I was in one of those sleazy time square theaters from the 80s, I didn't need a shower though, i needed some good sleep. Please don't waste your time watching this film, you might get better joy watching paint dry. Trust me, I'm good at picking movies.