This gloriously gory horror movie is a Halloween treat
Based on the 2006 Bram Stoker-award-winning novel of the same name by Norman Partridge, Dark Harvest, from 30 Days Of Night director David Slade, kicks off with an ominous warning about a legendary creature known as Sawtooth Jack.
Every Halloween, Jack rises from the cornfields in the rural town of Bastion, Illinois, where he fights his way through groups of mask-wearing high school boys who try to stop him from entering the local church before midnight. If Jack manages to make it beyond the church gates, the town and their harvest will be doomed, according to the legend.
Quite why it is up to the teenage boys to stop Jack, we don’t really know, but this has been the tradition for many years and it’s something the local community have become accustomed to.
The boy who manages to slay Jack wins a new car and a better house for their parents, so there is an incentive to take part, despite the risk of having one’s head lopped off by the menacing creature.
The movie begins with hordes of young high schoolers chasing Jack and at the end of this opening segment, the ‘monster’ is caught, butchered, and then torn open by the teens who then eat the bloody entrails (we’re guessing school dinners are cancelled during Halloween). The victor, a high school jock named Jim (Britain Dalton), receives his prize and then, as is tradition, leaves town to start a new life elsewhere in his shiny new Cadillac.
A year later and Sawdust Jack is about to rise again. Jim’s younger brother Richie (Casey Likes) gears himself up to take part in the hunt, against the better wishes of his parents and the local Chief of Police (Luke Kirby) who, for reasons that are later explained, don’t want him to take part.
Still, Richie is determined to join the hunt as he doesn’t want to be labelled a coward. But when he does participate in this brutal Halloween tradition, he discovers a secret that the adults of the community have been trying to hide. What is this secret? There will be no spoilers here, lest a pumpkin-headed killer hunts us down and tears us limb from limb.
The first 30 minutes of Dark Harvest are confusing, to say the least, as we aren’t given a lot of backstory into the reasons behind the hunt and the identity of Jack. Some viewers will be frustrated by this, but it’s important to note that certain elements of the baffling plot become clearer as the movie progresses. It ends with a final reveal that will likely surprise and shock you, but after coming to terms with the final twist, you’ll have a better understanding of some of the movie’s unexplained plot points.
While the narrative does little to bring us up to speed with the legend of Sawtooth Jack, at least initially, the director still manages to draw us into the movie with a series of extremely well-realized death scenes. Heads are either chopped off or sliced in two by the creepy monster whose only goal is to get to the church on time. These scenes are obviously very gory but Slade doesn’t dwell on each bloody death, in the same way that certain other horror directors might. Yes, they are gruesome but the screen isn’t showered with the red stuff.
The kills are very inventive, showcasing the director’s strong imagination. As these are depicted via the excellent special effects, you’ll likely be thrilled by what you’re seeing instead of sickened, as unusual as that sounds.
The VFX that is used to bring Jack to life are very good too. He’s essentially a walking scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head but as his face is very emotive, and not at all like the carved pumpkins you expect to see on people’s porches during Halloween, he exhibits a sort of soulful humanity. This probably isn’t something you would expect to hear about a movie monster but as you’ll discover during the movie’s runtime, Sawtooth Jack isn’t quite as malevolent as he first appears. This isn’t to say he shows any compassion towards his unfortunate victims but as you watch the movie, you’ll start to experience feelings towards him that aren’t purely born of revulsion.
Dark Harvest was scheduled for a theatrical release in 2021 but it was then delayed due to the pandemic. After missing its next scheduled date, it eventually debuted on Amazon Prime Video without a lot of fanfare. Don’t let the delays put you off though. While it certainly has its weaknesses in the narrative department, it makes up for that with a foreboding atmosphere, a likeable protagonist, an intriguing mystery, and some well-directed death scenes.
As such, Dark Harvest is a decent movie that is worth your time, especially if you’re looking for something scary to watch during Halloween. If you can forgive the baffling beginning and lack of a proper backstory, you’ll be rewarded with a movie that could be worth an annual rewatch during the spooky season. This will certainly be a better tradition than one that involves a manhunt for a pumpkin-headed scarecrow!
Read More: Dark Harvest Ending Explained
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10