The Dark Secret of Harvest Home

Say what you will about the translation of Tom Tryon's fine gothic chiller Harvest Home into this TV film, Bette Davis' performance here is riveting and really nails home the creepiness of the tale. Unlike her sad farewell in The Wicked Stepmother (1989) where she was clearly having trouble focusing on her acting, here she is a powerful presence that (goose)fleshes out this telefilm the way it should be.

Playing the Widow Fortune (a prophetic name if ever there was one), she is the matriarch of Cornwall Coombe, a small Connecticut village just on the other side of the Lost Whistle covered bridge where "the ways" hold sway over the villagers. What they do and how they do it is bound by tradition, one hundred percent, so when a city family comes to stay, culture clash is inevitable.

Of course we all know this is a gothic chiller standard--sophisticated city couple/family comes to small quiet village only to find it mired in evil and horror, et cetera. Too true. But Davis' character is spellbinding enough that the viewer can overlook this tried and true plot point and enjoy the proceedings. Additionally, aside from some minor outdated bits of dialogue here and there, the script is actually pretty intelligent; a low stupidity quotient in the dialogue helps tremendously.

Unfortunately the VHS release of this film was chopped considerably; the original five hour length was shown on TV but unless the viewer taped it (as I did), it's completely unavailable. High time for a DVD release.

This is a great way to spend an evening with a roaring snowstorm outside. And the ending really is a shocker.

With THE DARK SECRET OF HARVEST HOME, Tom Tryon's novel is presented in the best way possible for the time of its release, a TV Mini-series. This allows for the story to unfold gradually, making the growing tension and creeping horror more effective. Much like in Mr. Tryon's classic, THE OTHER, we're taken to a seemingly wholesome, more "innocent" place, where everything appears idyllic. The true terror lies behind it all, where something sinister crouches and waits.

The brilliance of this tale lies in its mystery, which isn't fully revealed until the end. Until then, we're given hints and symbols to decipher. David Ackroyd is artist, Nick Constantine, who, along with his wife and daughter (Joanna Miles and Rosanna Arquette), purchase a house in the lovely town of Cornwall Coombe. At first, all is well, perfect in fact. Of course, if it stayed that way, this wouldn't be much of a horror story.

Enter Bette Davis as Widow Fortune, the town matriarch, healer, and spiritual center. Her dominion is evident from her first appearance. Ms. Davis gives this character a dignity that few others could instill, proving once again that her legendary status is well earned. Hers is a quiet, calm malevolence, a steel claw in a silken glove. Underplayed to perfection.

Special mention for young Tracey Gold as the enigmatic Missy Penrose. She's one creepy kid!

If you enjoy those shivery, dark, 1970s made-for-TV horror movies, then you should love this...

I saw this in its original form during the first run on Television. Normally I think that most made for TV movies are really second rate. This one stands out as one of the best! A family looks to leave the rat-race of the big city for a simple quiet town. They found out that this town may be quiet, but it is anything but simple lving there. A particularly chilling performance from Bette Davis is of note in this one. If you are conditioned to think that every horror movie has to have a minimum of 200 severed heads and 10,000 gallons of blood in it to be good, you'll hate this one. The rest of you who still believe in great acting and a tense plotline will be THRILLED with Harvest Home. RATING: 10 out of 10!!!

This was a terrific mini-series with just the right mix of fantasy and horror. The reverence the people of this matriarchal town holds for its main crop, corn, is nearly as creepy as the out of control little girl who foresees things. Nice touches were the long sharp scissors Ms. Davis wore on a cord hanging from the belt of her long black dress, the shunning of the old couple and the suitable cluelessness of the menfolk.

This was an edge of your seat, can't wait to see what happens next movie. Anyone who missed it one its first run should try to get a copy--it's a truly excellent creepshow.

Directed by Leo Penn (father to Sean, Christoper and Michael and director of many, many TV shows), the near 5-hour movie moves as slowly as the book at times, but it's definitely worth watching. Broken into two nights, the real craziness doesn't really start happening until the second part.

Nick Constantine (David Ackroyd, who played Dr. Nicholas Conrad in the 1970's TV movie ripoff of Iron Man, Exo-Man), his wife Beth (Joanna Miles, Bug) and their daughter Kate (Rosanna Arquette, Desperately Seeking Susan) are living the kind of dreary life that I imagine everyone in New York City does. Nick cheats on her and drinks away his problems as he struggles in the advertising industry. Beth stays in therapy every day of the week. And their daughter has such a bad case of asthma, she can't even stay outside for long. Yet they decide to relocate to a Connecticut village called Cornwall Coombe after falling in love with it on a trip.

Sure, the villagers only do things the old ways, not using modern farming equipment or communicating with the outside world. Sure, they celebrate weird festivals all year long and are obsessed with corn. But come on — the couple's romance is back, Kate is cured and everyone is just so nice!

Kate even has a love interest — Worthy (Michael O'Keefe, Caddyshack), who wants to leave the town behind and go to college. He's been saving money so he can escape, but as Kate becomes more and more part of the town, he sees that their love can't survive.

Then, there's Robert and Maggie Dodd, their neighbors. They once lived in the modern world and have also decided to come here. Robert is blind and listens to Donald Pleasence reading from several plays. And oh, hello, here's Justin and Sophie Hook, who will be this year's Harvest Lord and Corn Maiden in the Corn Play. And most importantly, here's Bette Davis (if I have to explain who she is, stop reading now) playing Widow Fortune, the town's herbal healer and most important person. Davis claims that she wanted this role since she read the book and she's a force in this — perfectly sweet at times and infused with menace at others.

Nick increasingly becomes obsessed with learning the secrets of the town, particularly why one grave — that of a suicide victim — is outside the cemetery. Things get worse when Worthy busts into church and curses the corn and someone called Mother before running away. And then he gets seduced by Tamar, a widow who has a clairvoyant daughter who picks each year's Harvest Lord (she's played by Tracey Gold from TV's Growing Pains).

So what is Harvest Home? Its "who no man may see nor woman tell," a pagan fertility rite connected to the earth mother. Nick is now obsessed with it and his marriage is falling apart all over again. His wife just wants to get pregnant again and he can't figure out why.

Worthy is hiding, but a letter to Nick is intercepted. A posse goes to get him and they hang his corpse in a field as a scarecrow before burning it on Kindling Night. At this point, there's no normal in this town. Nick tries to escape and turns to his blind neighbor Robert, who tells him that Harvest Home is happening. He explains that he was blinded trying to learn the secret and that Nick should just run.

Instead, he goes to save his wife and daughter. The ritual scene that follows is lunacy and worth sitting through this entire movie. To Nick's horror, he learns that his daughter is the new Corn Maiden. He is forced to watch as the Harvest Lord has sex with her, ending with the man's throat being cut as he is sacrificed to the earth. Nick is caught, blinded and his tongue is cut out, much like his friend Jack Stump (Rene Auberjonois, Eyes of Laura Mars and so many other roles). He is trapped in the town now, forever stuck, his virility reduced to being dependant on his pregnant wife and daughter, who are now part of the pagan secret that is Harvest Home.

There's a cut down commercial release of the film, but there's no way to get this on DVD without finding a bootleg. It's worth the search, however. The last ten minutes of the film are perfect.

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