By 
Horror and indie movies go together, like Star Wars and Disney. Most of the time, the indie horrors are all very bland and the same ol’ same ol’. Now and then, something like Strange Harvest pops up, and it’s a refreshing change.
Strange Harvest stars Peter Zizzo, Terri Apple, Andy Lauer, Matthew Peschio, Roy Abramsohn, and Christina Helene Braa.
Stuart Ortiz is the writer and director, who is known for the Grave Encounters movies.
The Story
Strange Harvest is a found footage horror, but done in the style of a documentary. The story is:
Detectives are thrust into a chilling hunt for “Mr. Shiny”-a sadistic serial killer from the past whose return marks the beginning of a new wave of grotesque, otherworldly crimes tied to a dark cosmic force.
At first, it seems like a horror; a ritualistic murder has taken place. Det. Joe Kirby (Zizzo) and Det. Alexis ‘Lexi’ Taylor (Apple) starts an investigation. They say it’s one of the worst cases they’ve had to deal with.
Mostly because the murder wasn’t a break-in gone wrong, it was slow, methodical, and someone had a plan for the poor family. There were also strange markings left at the scene of the crime.
They get a letter from Mr Shiny, saying more murders will happen, and in all kinds of different ways. It becomes a little like Saw, as Mr Shiny is building to something, something big.
Strange Harvest then break down other murders and how someone is the cause of them all. As the story unfolds, it gets deeper into the rabbit hole and has an, umm, interesting ending, which I won’t spoil.
Good Writing
Good writing isn’t something that we hear all that often these days. When it’s a prequel, sequel or pretty much anything else, the writing these days is poor. For example, see any movie in the last 10 years.
I don’t remember Grave Encounters by Ortiz, although they will be going back on the list. However, Strange Harvest is well written. In fact, there are some nice little ‘in jokes’ if you are paying attention.
I say ‘in jokes’, but it was little things, like there is a scene from a webcast, where a girl is doing her makeup. She says the name of the makeup company is the same company that produced the movie. To me, that is a little payoff, if you’re paying the movie attention.
Found Footage
As I have said before, I have a real issue with found footage movies. They never seem to get it right; the editing is all off, and the footage always goes ‘funny’ when the good stuff is kicking off. Man, I hate that troupe.
Because Strange Harvest is done in the vein of a documentary, most of the filming is, well, good! There’s no cameramen shaking the camera like a British nanny shakes a child.
This did make a nice change and helped the movie along, a lot.
Overall
As I said, I’m not going to spoil the end of Strange Harvest, but the ending does go to an odd place. Almost to the point of unbelievable, but at the same time, I was hooked and was happy to suspend my disbelief.
The movie does redeem itself a little more, just after the end credits. I always watch the credits of a movie; I like to think it helps me come back to reality a little. Anyway, there is a scene, after the end credits, that, if you were paying attention, puts a nice twist on things.
You could put Strange Harvest on and tell your partner it’s a documentary and probably get away with believing it. It’s not perfect, but it’s a very good watch for the Halloween season, which has just ended. Not for people like me, Halloween is an all-year thing.
I’m giving Strange Harvest a solid 4 out 5. There is a lot I haven’t talked about, but that’s because it’s one of those movies you can’t talk about without spoiling. If you fancy a decent horror, you can’t go wrong with it.
You can find Strange Harvest on digital.
The post Indie Review: STRANGE HARVEST appeared first on Last Movie Outpost.
