STRANGE HARVEST (2024)

Available On Demand on Amazon Prime from Roadside Attractions, Saban Films, and XYZ Films!
Directed/Written by Stuart Ortiz.
Check out the trailer here!!

STRANGE HARVEST plays out like your typical true crime documentary you’d see on Netflix about a series of killings that began in the nineties, stopped for some reason, and then started once again in the 2010’s. The story is told through interviews with the two police detectives (Peter Zizzo and Terri Apple) in charge of this investigation, footage pieced together from body cams, security cameras, and other forms of media. But once the brutal killings begin again, the closer the detectives get—the stranger this case becomes.

Do me a favor. If you watch STRANGE HARVEST with someone, tell them that this is not a feature film, but an actual documentary. Sure, eventually they’re going to figure out that this is, in fact a movie, but it would be interesting to see how long it takes them to realize it’s not an actual true crime doc. If I didn’t know for sure, I might have been fooled for a bit because director Stuart Ortiz, who was also responsible for GRAVE ENCOUNTERS, as well as writer for both GRAVE ENCOUNTERS films, EXTRATERRESTRIAL, and IT STAINS THE SANDS RED as part of the filmmaking duo known as the Vicious Brothers, does a fantastic job of making this film feel as authentic as possible. Like two of my favorite horror mockumentaries LAKE MUNGO and THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES, STRANGE HARVEST stars actors who look like real people and not movie stars for these various conversations as the film puts together this thousand piece puzzle of a mystery about a very peculiar serial killer. The film takes it sweet old time getting into the methodology of the killer, instead opening on the discovery of the ritualistic murder of a family.

If there would have been a point where I was in doubt that this is a horror film and not a doc, it would have been this scene where the bodies of the deceased are shown without blurs or large pixels so as not to offend or disturb any survivors. Here, this brutal murder of a family is shown with an unblinking lens as it floats from one victim to the other, showing how brutal their final moments were. This is not a film for the weak of heart or stomach as these bodies are gnarly and the first indication that something very off is going on, making this not your typical serial killing. While the interviewees do a good job of sticking to the facts and not getting into the metaphysical stuff going on, the film does a good job of peppering in what looks to be some cosmic shit going down motivating our killer to do what he does.

Through security cam footage and computer cameras left on, STRANGE HARVEST is able to show a lot of stuff happening in real time, allowing for that illusion that this is a found footage film or at least pieces of one. Despite the fact that this is produced in a documentary format, I found these found footage moments to be riveting as we already have been shown what the killer is capable of in the opening moments, so who knows what kind of depravity is going to happen next. I found myself enrapt with this movie, especially in these immediate moments where we see these murders taking place as caught on tape.

Everything wraps up nicely with a very cool ending that pays off sufficiently. We know something is happening and that these murders are escalating towards some big payoff. And STRANGE HARVEST delivers. I left this one feeling absolutely on edge, knowing that this is a produced film, yet still finding myself getting sucked into the world where this documentary is real. While I found his previous found footage films fun, Stuart Ortiz’ GRAVE ENCOUNTERS felt light on story and unoriginal with an over-reliance on funhouse jump scares. EXTRATERRESTRIAL just felt rushed and light on everything from story to execution. None of that is present here as it seems Ortiz has taken what he has learned from those two found footagers and molded into what could pass as a real, yet twisted documentary. You’re going to get sucked into STRANGE HARVEST. It’s hard not to do so.