Strange Harvest

As of this writing there are currently two very good scary movies out right now. Weapons and this little known movie that had good word of mouth sparking my interest.

Strange Harvest and Weapons are well worth your time. Both are scary but where Weapons is the larger budget, mainstream movie, Strange Harvest is equally if not slightly more intriguing.

This one plays out like a "mockumentary" creepy little hidden gem. The two detective characters here are convincing enough with a formidable hidden villain that quite honestly had me uneasy and freaked out. No spoilers here but just a good time to throw your money at. Stick around for the end credits after a terrific third act that will stay with you for a minute.

I'm a huge fan of found-footage, mockumentary style filmmaking. I really love and appreciate the illusion of truth convincingly told through interviews, first-hand accounts, character exploration etc., and this new independent horror film "Strange Harvest" checks off the boxes I needed to go see it in theatres. It's also the same writer/director who gave us "Grave Encounters", a personal favorite of mine.

Stuart Ortiz's new project centers around a ghostly serial killer with a cosmic agenda and a ritualistic manner of executing his victims. Much like the infamous Zodiac killer he enjoys taunting and mocking law enforcement with cryptic letters while meticulously tracking his victims to make sure they fit his demented criteria. We are told all of this through a series of ongoing interviews with San Bernardino County detectives and investigators as well as friends and loved ones of some of the victims. Overall I felt the acting was really solid and clean, if I wasn't already used to this style of filmmaking I would have genuinely believed these were true accounts that simply went under my radar. I would have assumed there's been a sadistic and disturbed man rampaging through the inland empire.

I've never seen this style of filmmaking on the big screen before, but I'm very glad I did and I do highly recommend this to anyone who loves and wants to support independent horror projects or anyone interested in the world of true crime mystery and lore. (8/10)

"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.

The vibes of Fincher's Zodiac combined with Lovecraftian cosmic horror, expertly presented in a found footage/true crime documentary format. It's unsettling, interesting, and compelling, with some great practical effects and an intriguing antagonist. I absolutely love found footage horror, I think it's a sub-genre that, when put in the right hands, can lead to some truly creative filmmaking. This is now a new favorite of mine, and has the potential to become a classic of the genre.

Strange Harvest had so much promise, blending its true crime element seamlessly into an eerie, gripping story. For most of the runtime, I was hooked with the pacing, atmosphere, and slow-burn tension were top notch. Unfortunately, the ending completely fizzled. There's barely any satisfying conclusion, and not even a clever final twist to leave on a high note. It's such a shame, because the rest was so strong. A 6/10 for me. Worth watching, but the final moments left me more frustrated than thrilled.