Savage Harvest

While there is nothing new in the concept of teens trapped in a cabin in the woods surrounded by evil and, one by one, becoming possessed, director Eric Stanze manages to breathe some life into the overused plot by inventing realistic and likable characters and showcasing some truly impressive effects and gore. The low (if any) budget film SAVAGE HARVEST is atmospheric, serious in its approach to the genre and the material and a very entertaining movie.

Since the plot is basically irrelevant, I'll get straight to the film's assets. First of all, Stanze knows how to utilize the format and never shoots anything too bright or too dark. His camera angles and framing are on a professional level not usually seen in these SOV films. It's easy to see the guy would be a success if offered a project allowing his work to be exposed to a larger audience.

The acting is believable and the film benefits, as any horror film does, from having a cast of unknowns. The characters seem like real people because they are real people.

The effects and gore in the film are on par with anything you'll see in bigger budgeted movies. The blood looks like blood, the makeup work is fantastic and Stanze knows when to linger and when less is more.

Despite a meandering scene or two of characters providing exposition, the movie is never dull and the death scenes come quick and brutal.

Do yourself a favor and get past the fact this movie was shot on video on a limited budget. A big budget and a cast of familiar celebrities doesn't necessarily make for a great movie and although many of these cheapies are downright torturous to watch, SAVAGE HARVEST is a solid entry into the Demons – Ate – My - Soul subgenre.

This is essentially a low-budget rendering of the classic "Evil Dead" premise. However, I don't think it was intended as a rip-off to cash in on that cool movie. It's more likely that no-budget auteur Eric Stanze wanted to cut his teeth on this flick, and didn't want to stray too far from genre conventions. Not to say this is just "Evil Dead," minus Sam and Bruce and a few hundred grand. Compared to most of the shot-on-video horror stuff released, this is halfway decent. Sure, the actors are bad, but the effects are cool, and plot prances along at a pretty steady pace. And the plot, by the way, is a bunch of kids going into the woods and meeting their demise at the hands of demons they inadvertently resurrected. Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. For what it is, it ain't bad. And just to comment on distribution, Miramax and the like aren't exactly chomping at the bit to get their hands on regional shot-on-video horror flicks put together for a couple grand, which leaves few avenues for the independent filmmaker to pursue. But Eric Stanze, I feel, has made the best of it, and has gotten his movies out there. I found two of them with relative ease. And just to be redundant, considering 95-percent of shot-on-video flicks should be thrown into a pit and burned by a Haz-Mat team, this is a decent, entertaining movie of nearly professional quality, and it does fall into that small percentile of watchability.

A group of young adults go up to stay at one of their Uncle's cabin in the woods. But it's located near an old Indian burial ground, and they get trapped with body possessing demon Indian spirits. Eric Stanze is a independent film maker who is difficult to pin, on one hand he gave us utter crap like "I spit on your corpse, I p*ss on your grave" On the other he made the pretty watchable "Christmas Season Massacre", so he's not talentless. This film falls between the previously mentioned two quality wise. The first twenty minutes are so are slower then molasses, but after wards it moves at a fairly decent pace.

My Grade: C+

DVD Extras: Commentary with Eric Stanze and DJ Vivona; Second commentary with Lisa Morrison, Ramona Midgett, William Clifton, David Berliner, and Jerry Bates; stills Gallery; 'Hotel Faux Pas' music video; two promo trailers; and Trailers for "Ice From the Sun", and "Scrapbook"

Easter Eggs: Trailer for "the Christmas Season Massacre"; Production Facts; two music videos by 'Ded Bugs'

Director Eric Stanze has become infamous for taking a minuscule amount of resources and turning them into art. His most famous (and in my opinion best) film "Ice from the Sun" managed to be both visually impressive and unique despite having virtually no budget to work with. "Savage Harvest" was created five years earlier, and it's clear to see that Stanze was no stranger to stretching limited resources to do amazing things. The characters in this film were likable, even if underdeveloped. Most of their relationship conflicts were less than interesting and worked mostly to set up the plot. This is typical of slasher films, so I won't hold it against this film in particular. Once the slaughtering began, this movie became a non stop Gore fest that actually took some unexpected turns. The ending was a bit confusing, as I'm not entirely sure what happened to the surviving character. Still, it did seem to tie the film together, while adding a much appreciated element of mystery. Savage harvest doesn't offer much as far as originality. However, it manages to be an entertaining horror film, with enough realistic blood and gore to satisfy any seasoned gore hound.

This is about, well, I am not sure exactly. I think a group of kids decide to camp near a lake where a Native American tribe elder was doing voodoo, got lynched, and buried in a water hole. They somehow conjure up some demons, a portal to another dimension, and a crazy looking witch doctor.

The film gets off to a really slow start. The acting is bad and the dialogue lame. I found it hard to even look at the actors. The kills do not begin until the 30 minute mark and then it is too late to save the film. The whole idea surrounding the magic rocks and tribes and conjuring demons was complicated and with boring characters explaining the back story, you will not care to listen at all.

The positive is that the special effects are pretty good considering the low budget. There is one demon with slime squirting out of a nail at the end of it's tongue!?! There have been comparisons (mostly likely by the production team themselves) that this is the next Evil Dead. I beg to differ. This film was boring whereas Evil Dead was hilarious with an immensely likable "hero".

This is the first outing for Stanze in the director's chair or any other chair for that matter. Considering this was done on a low budget with limited experience, I think it shows he can accomplish better things down the road. I have seen Scrapbook (2000), which had better acting and moved at a fast pace, so that is proof enough to me.

Bottom Line: Moves along slowly with easily forgettable characters. Watch only if a Stanze fan or in need of new mild gorefest.

Rating: 4.5/10

Molly Celaschi www.HorrorYearbook.com MySpace.com/HorrorYearbook