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DARK HARVEST
Director: David Slade Cast: Casey Likes, E'myri Crutchfield, Jeremy Davies, Luke Kirby, Elizabeth Reaser, Dustin Ceithamer MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:33 Release Date: 10/11/23 (one-night engagement); 10/13/23 (digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 12, 2023 What if the most frightening local urban legend from your hometown were real? That's the basic premise of Dark Harvest, which is set in some anonymous small town, presumably smack-dab in the middle of the country, where everyone speaks in hushed tones about the legend of Sawtooth Jack. Well, they talk about this monster quietly for most of the year. The exception comes near Halloween, when Sawtooth Jack comes to life, makes his way toward the town's church, and kills anyone who gets in its way. As far as we know, this actually happens on an annual basis in this place. Director David Slade's movie adaptation of Norman Partridge's novel shows us the monster, as well as its bloody and brutal ways. It's a daring choice for a horror story—not the escalated prologue, obviously, because that's pretty much the norm for horror movies nowadays, but certainly seeing the creature for what it basically is. By doing so, Slade and screenwriter Michael Gilio suggest there's more to this tale, as well as the monster, than our first impressions. Who gives away a significant part of a story's game so quickly without a few tricks to reveal later? Whether or not the movie actually accomplishes those tricks and pulls off the bigger picture of its story is another matter entirely, but there's little denying the strength of this tale isn't in a couple of plot twists or in some uncertain allegory about something or other to do with society. In fact, it's tough to tell if the filmmakers actually have anything to say about its physical setting, its 1960s backdrop, or whatever its supernatural threat is meant to represent. It's more a simple coming-of-age story about a teenager who wants to live up to the expectations set by an older sibling and escape this little town for some purpose in the wider world. It revolves around the mindset and impulsive nature of adolescence, really. If there is a central lesson to be found here, it's an oldie but a goody that used to be the calling card of generations of American teenagers for a while: Don't trust anyone over 30. Something
is definitely amiss with the adults of this town, who don't do much of anything
when Sawtooth Jack starts its journey from the outlying cornfields to the
village square. No, that job is left to the teenagers, who are locked away for
three days, denied food and water, and left to stew in an exhausted, starving,
and hormonal rage in their bedrooms. On Halloween night, all those teenage boys
are unleashed on the town, ordered to kill Sawtooth Jack, and feed on the candy
that's stuffed inside its scarecrow-like body like some kind of twisted piñata. That's the opening of the story, which sees one teenage boy winning the annual "race" to kill Sawtooth Jack and receiving a cash prize for his family, as well as a new car for himself. A year later, that teen is still on a road trip across the country, and his younger brother Richie (Casey Likes) is determined to follow his elder sibling's example and prove that he's just as good as big bro. Before the monster returns, what's unsettling here is how stereotypically normal everything appears—from the teens defining their assorted cliques by way of outfits to the rich autumnal air of the town—but how there's clearly something demented happening just beneath the surface. Actually, it's right there on the surface a lot of times, and maybe that's why its obviously allegorical aims feel shallow. For example, a local cop (played by Luke Kirby) arrives at the high school to give the teenage boys a pep-and-prep talk, but it's all about how these boys have to kill a monster, how at least one of them will almost certainly die on Halloween, and how failure means dooming the region to a dust storm from which it won't soon recover. Everything here is played in an exaggerated style and at a high volume, especially when Sawtooth Jack starts ripping apart and devastating the skulls of these teenagers, so the tone is consistent, even when the dialogue sounds a bit tin-eared. Despite and—at times—because of that, the movie is eerie to its very core—from the lush darkness of Larry Smith's cinematography, to the unexpected melancholy that's afforded to the monster as the story progresses, to the conspiratorial whispers and hints that come from adults like the cop, Richie's parents (played by Jeremy Davies and Elizabeth Reaser), and members of the local Harvest Guild, which strangely entrust a bunch of teens with the survival of their business interest and the town in general. Another reason the movie clearly has some metaphorical intent is that its plot doesn't hold up to even the most miniscule level of scrutiny. However, Slade's visual flair, the sheer brutality of the "race," and the simplicity of the basic story almost make that irrelevant. As for the simple question of whether or not the movie accomplishes what it sets out to do, it does, and it doesn't. As a horror tale, Dark Harvest is moody, creepy, and, especially during its third act and epilogue, filled with a doomed sense of dread. The movie wants to be more than that, though, and it doesn't succeed in that regard. Copyright © 2023 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for
strong horror violence and gore, language throughout and brief drug use)
