Strange Harvest

The trailer made this look like it was a hardcore, disturbing horror film. It was not. It's all framed within a fake true crime episode and we truly don't get to see much of the action, more so we have it described to us. Color me disappointed, but not entirely.

I will give the film props. It does the true crime bit pretty well. The acting is mostly good, there's a certain authenticity that's upheld throughout. They did a fine job of making this fake mocumentary look as real as possible. I appreciated that.

On the flipside, the film delivers some great unintentional comedy along the way. Things definitely intended to be scary made my whole theater crack up at how silly it was and some of the dialog was outright bad. Not a deal breaker though.

The story also becomes a snoozer about two thirds of the way through. For a film that's only about 90 or so minutes long, that's not great. It felt like the story really goes nowhere at the end. I would elaborate but spoilers.

Overall, I couldn't recommend spending money on it, but it wasn't the worst thing I've seen and it was creative on a few fronts. With some tighter writing and editing, I'm positive they could come out with a sequel to this and it would be a good flick. As it stands though, the film was just ok for me.

2.5 sacrifices out of 5.

This mockumentary gave me the creeps beyond creeps. This film was so detailed and elaborate that it made my skin crawl. The crime scenes shown in this film were so vile and disturbing that this film will leave you feeling uneasy and looking over your shoulder. This film blends horror with true crime, creating a chilling experience.

I went in completely blind, didn't know much about this movie, other than the few trailers I seen at the theater. I was interested in it, cause it was an indy horror movie, and lately indy movies been turning out better storyline than big budget blockbuster. As soon as the started , man this is true crime documentary and I started to lose interest, then I was thinking this was a docudrama. I was oddly invested in this movie by staying watching it to the end. A serial killer named mr.shiny reeked havoc on a city for decades without being caught and 2 homicide detective doing everything in their power to bring justice to these hurting families. As it turns out this movie was shot in a documentary style, but it is a mockumentry. Kudos to the creative team behind this movie.

True-crime programs on TV wish they could be this good.

Like Fenômenos Paranormais (2011) before it, Strange Harvest dissects a type of TV program and creates an imitation even better than the original. This is O Silêncio dos Inocentes (1991) as an episode of Detetives médicos (1996), a sinister episode of Lei & Ordem (1990) taken to its horrific logical extreme.

I saw Strange Harvest at the Nevermore Film Festival. It's a simple, low budget portrayal of a straightforward premise (at least until the end), yet masterfully executed. Peter Zizzo and Terri Apple are quite believable as average suburban police detectives pursuing what they uncover to be an extraordinary crime spree. By telling the story in chronological order, the audience knows what the detectives knew at the time and share their confusion in trying to make sense of the crimes, the lack of evidence, and their frustration in trying to identify the perpetrator and track him down because he disappears like a ghost. Each crime is different, and one in particular in a swimming pool is as diabolical as the traps in the Jogos Mortais (2004) movies.

A Bruxa de Blair (1999), the mother of all found footage films, used its documentary film style to seem totally real. Strange Harvest creates a similar fake reality that makes the audience feel like they're learning about an incident that really happened. The story's simplicity and its streamlined portrayal make it all the more convincing. I've watched a lot of big budget horror movies that aren't nearly as compelling as Strange Harvest.

There's an extra scene after the credits, be sure to stay for that.

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.