Strange Harvest

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.

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

Like Fenómeno siniestro (2011) before it, Strange Harvest dissects a type of TV program and creates an imitation even better than the original. This is El silencio de los inocentes (1991) as an episode of Forensic Files (1996), a sinister episode of La ley y el orden (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 Juego macabro (2004) movies.

El proyecto de la bruja 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.

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.

Saw this at Nevermore Film Festival in Durham, NC. This film nails the true-crime documentary format, with two hard-boiled detectives relating the story of how they worked to track down a serial killer in San Bernardino County, CA. It's like an extended edition of Dateline crossed with horror, and that's a grand compliment.

There are a lot of killings for the detectives to describe, but leads Peter Zizzo (Det. Joe Kirby) and Terri Apple (Det. Alexis 'Lexi' Taylor) keep it intensely interesting. Their sincere performance helps ground the film, which has a lot of pretty horrifying details to relate.

Although their testimony are mostly filmed seated (separately) in a studio, there are plenty of on-site details of the murders, and insightful and realistic interviews with the people who knew the victims.

The identity of the killer, who calls himself Mr. Shiny, and his reason for his killing spree is kept partially unknown to us until late in the film, which helps slowly ratchet up the suspense from beginning to end.

The film is quite gory, as it doesn't shy away from showing us the aftermath of the murders, each grisly in its own warped way.

When you realize the real reason for the murders (which you might guess sooner than I), the film takes on another dimension of fright.

To finish, if you like police procedurals, but find them too tame, this fictional account is a remarkable likeness of the format, as long as you're ready for some disturbing images.

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.