Dark Harvest review: a Halloween horror misfire

“Dark Harvest is an unfortunate case of missed potential.”

Pros

• Impressive practical design of the film’s central monster

• Some delightfully extreme moments of violence.

Shortcoming

• a plot hole script

• Vague understanding of logic and setting

• an unfavorable, unnecessarily drawn-out ending

The best thing anyone can say about dark harvest The thing is, it wastes no time in telling you exactly what it is. Based on Norman Partridge’s 2006 novel of the same name, the film begins with a bloody prologue that doesn’t so much explain itself as it prepares you for the strange tonal experience to come. Its opening images include teenage boys being mutilated by a pumpkin-headed scarecrow, and a Southern fried voice-over piece accompanying those images, dark harvest It makes clear that it’s neither the least bit self-serious, nor afraid to shed a little blood. In the 90 minutes that follow, the film delivers on both of those promises.

However, it never succeeds in doing so, finding the right balance between its own, heightened satirical tone and the already loose sense of logic that its story demands. For a movie that’s little more than a group of teenagers who are forced to hunt a monster every year, dark harvest It has a surprisingly hard time addressing the many plot holes and questions that its premise invites. This not only diminishes the effectiveness of the numerous, genuinely impressive, instances of violence and mayhem, but also makes the film largely toothless.

I am deeply indebted to the horror stories of Shirley Jackson. lottery, dark harvest Takes place in the 1960s in an unnamed small Midwestern town that forces its teenage boys to compete each year in an event called “The Run”. Each Halloween night, contestants on The Run are ordered to kill a murderous monster named “Sawtooth Jack” and, as a result, guarantee another year of “prize crops” for their town. In return, whoever kills Sawtooth Jack is given not only an expensive car and enough money to leave their hometown forever, but also resettle their family into a new home for free.

The film follows Richie Shepard (Casey Lykes), a high school bully whose football star brother, Jim (Britten Dalton), has a chip on his shoulder after winning The Run the year before. Determined to prove his worth once and for all, Richie goes under the orders of his town’s zealous sheriff, Jerry Ricks (Luke Kirby), as well as his parents, Donna (Elizabeth Reaser) and Dan (Jeremy Davis). Ignores it, and heads out on Halloween. A night to truly follow in your brother’s footsteps. However, as Richie’s dreams of glory are soon dashed, he begins to suspect that everything he was led to believe about The Run may not be true.

the twists that finally come dark harvestThe third act should be fairly obvious to even any moderately experienced horror fan. That said, the film’s screenplay, written by Michael Gilio, does an admirable job of ensuring that its biggest reveals arrive with little weight, and Laich’s performance as Richie delivers the emotional journey of his town’s biggest secrets. Helps convey the destructive nature of the form. However, as a commentary on the inherent rot of American small towns and how the traditions of a place can blind its residents, dark harvest Falls tragically short.

Despite being packed with top-notch performances and caricatures of ordinary, idealized personalities, the film fails to successfully shed light on small-town American culture. History of dark harvestTo critics of the film, the central city is so undefined that it doesn’t feel as accurate as it should, and even the sets, costumes, and buildings featured in it are half-hearted attempts to recreate iconic American designs. Looks like nothing more than. The thriller knows what it wants to say about its characters and the world, but it lacks the ability to flesh out and express its ideas.

As hard candy And 30 days of night Director David Slade’s first feature effort in over a decade, the film is an undeniable disappointment. Through my experiences working on shows like Hannibal, american godAnd black MirrorThe filmmaker greatly honed his own, deeply impressionistic visual style, and many bizarrely gorgeous images can be found in dark harvest, However, Slade’s unusual directorial vision does not compensate for the schematic nature of Gilio’s screenplay, but rather reinforces its shallowness.

When? dark harvest Committed to the exaggerated nature of its violence – at one point, a massacre is imagined by geysers of blood gushing from the entrance of a stormy basement – ​​it briefly becomes the simple, fun horror that its story suggests. Is. With his long limbs, gaping teeth, and pumpkin-adorned face, the practical design of the film’s Halloween monster makes him a wonder to behold. Unfortunately, as impressive as many of its elements are, dark harvest Never really brings them all together. It’s an attractive looking creation, but like Sawtooth Jack himself, there’s nothing hidden beneath its surface except a few piles of straw and several pieces of candy.

dark harvest Now available to rent and buy on all major digital platforms.