I love the Halloween movies, but generally think the series has done a pretty poor job of encapsulating the Halloween season itself. Beyond the first and third entries, something is missing. A sense of the right Fall colors, a crispness in the air you can feel through the screen, and an abundance of gloomy glowing lights. I suppose it’s akin to the picturesque ideals of Christmas.
The likes of Trick r’ Treat and even The Monster Squad have captured it to varying degrees and are better for it. It’s a large part of what makes David Slade’s Dark Harvest a pleasure to watch when the story isn’t entirely sure where it’s heading.
Based on the Bram Stoker Award-winning book by Norman Partridge, Dark Harvest sees a cursed town, where the annual harvest becomes a brutal battle for survival. On Halloween 1963, Sawtooth Jack, a terrifying legend, rises from the cornfields, threatening the town’s children. Groups of boys unite to defeat the murderous scarecrow before midnight. Richie, a rebellious outcast, joins the run, motivated by his brother’s previous victory. As the hunt progresses, Richie makes a shocking discovery and faces a pivotal choice to break the relentless cycle.
The movie’s tone is hard to pin down at first, and continues to be a thorny point throughout. It flits from pulpy horror, to melodramatic pastiche to dark and mean parable. It does sometimes struggle to knit these shifts together, yet having had time to think about it, that’s precisely why I was so captivated by it. It zigs when it should absolutely zag on so many occasions, and I was left with a discordant feeling that was oddly familiar.
Then it hit me, Dark Harvest reminded me of the fast and loose horrors of the late ’80s and early ’90s. The sort where big swings are not properly coordinated but still add a sense of scope that isn’t actually there. Like those films, Dark Harvest relies heavily on its visual component, and it’s strong enough to carry it through. Just because we’re several decades removed from that era doesn’t mean we’re suddenly too sophisticated to appreciate good old-fashioned nonsense.
Accepting this means you can look at the wildly jarring acting and character work and feel slightly calmer about it. Luke Kirby‘s turn as crooked police officer Ricks feels like the one to use as a marker. He’s menacing, cowardly, and plain ridiculous, often in the same sentence. The intriguing lilt in his accent only elevates the weird and wonderful performance.
Casey Likes is the lead Richie Shepard, and he admirably wrangles the ever-shifting nature of the plot. What’s fascinating about Dark Harvest is those flits between styles and tones tend to translate to the performances. Some characters are used at the right moment for a particular shift. So the ultra-stereotypical jock bully is most often in scenes of heightened confrontation, and the nervy parents (Jeremy Davies playing Slade’s token weedy, tortured weirdo) are there when you need to be sold on the overlying mystery of the strange ritual.
It seems a little odd initially that this tale of teenage boys battling to batter a pumpkin-headed monster has a romantic subplot between Richie and rebellious out-of-towner Kelly Haines (a spirited Emryi Crutchfield), but it does add something to the desperation Richie has to escape this town. Finding a kindred spirit is both a spark and a curse for his journey.
Central to all this is the legend of Sawtooth Jack. An Unreal Engine ”What if Jack Skellington was realistic?” video made flesh. The movie is quick to establish just how lethal this screeching avatar of Halloween is, and there’s a scene fairly early on where a lot of geeing up between a group of boys hunting for him ends up in a bleakly brutal fashion.
The examination of this legend is interesting. There’s respect, fear, and even empathy for what it is, which resonates throughout the movie. It’s rarely central to what’s happening, but the idea of it is oppressively in the atmosphere. By the time we reach the end, it’s at the forefront of the story being told, but in a somewhat unexpected way.
Even in writing this review and having time to stew on the movie, I find it difficult to place my feelings on Dark Harvest. It’s often a ropey mess, and that’s undeniable, but I’m an absolute sucker for freeform expression and ambition. Both of these are features of Dark Harvest’s structure. A mood piece that sells said mood with visual excellence. I feel strongly that I, and many others, will likely reappraise this movie in years to come as a seasonal favorite.
Perfect? What is? Flawed? Yes, Dark Harvest is, but it’s the kind of flawed movie I actively encourage the genre’s creative forces to make more of. It’s fun, compelling, and visually arresting. Sometimes that makes for a bigger impact than creating a solid story.
Score: 7/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7 equates to ”Good”. A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
