Spooky Season 2023: Dark Harvest Review

Dark Harvest is the newest fantasy horror film from director David Slade based on the 2006 novel of the same name. Every year in a small Midwestern town on Halloween night a terrifying legend known as Sawtooth Jack rises from the cornfields and threatens the towns children. An annual tradition sees groups of boys unite to defeat the murderous scarecrow before time runs out. A rebellious outcast named Richie (Likes) decides to join the run after being motivated by his brother Jim’s (Britain Dalton) past victory and his parents Dan (Jeremy Davies) and Donna’s (Elizabeth Reaser) disapproval of him taking part. However, as the hunt and night progresses, Richie makes a shocking discovery and faces a choice to break the relentless cycle.

Dark Harvest had a lot of potential. Not only does it have a great premise perfectly suited for film, but it had a talented director in Slade behind it who’s no stranger to making effective horror films set in small, cursed towns. Pair that with some solid early reviews, Dark Harvest had all the makings to be a rock-solid horror film and a standout amongst the underwhelming lineup this year has given audiences thus far, but unfortunately the film doesn’t really work and never lives up to its full potential. While its premise and setting are great, taking place on and around Halloween night, there’s a lot of great Halloween and October imagery including a crazy number of pumpkins that helps to set the mood.

A fast-paced start introduces lore and rules that are different from similar horror films within the opening minutes and continues to develop from there. Even though the lore begins interestingly enough, the film’s first act is tough to get through until things picks up quite a bit, leading to a stronger second act. Its kills are surprisingly very graphic, vicious, and quite brutal with more gore than one would ever expect. But the problem is that there just isn’t enough of the carnage, and the film spends far too much time trying to develop its characters and dive into the backstory of its small town instead of what was terrorizing the town’s population, which would be fine if the characters were interesting and everything still didn’t feel underdeveloped by the end despite the amount of focus given to it.

It also doesn’t help that despite their best efforts, nobody in the cast is all that good. Likes isn’t great as the lead and his lack of experience is apparent from the get-go. Even more recognizable actors like Davies and Reaser aren’t all that good while Luke Kirby is makes certain choices with Officer Jerry Ricks for which none are good. There isn’t a single character worth getting attached to or grow to care about, and it doesn’t help that even the ones the film wants audiences to root for are not very likable. Meanwhile, its second half reveals are almost all insanely predictable. The film ultimately ends on a highly unsatisfying, abrupt, and somewhat of a sour note where one can’t help but wonder what the point of everything that came before.

While there are definitely a lot to appreciate about Dark Harvest including its premise, practical effects, and surprising amount of gore, pretty much everything else is lightweight, generic, and instantly forgettable. David Slade is a talented director who deserves a lot more chances to direct in the horror genre, but this effort feels like he wasn’t given enough effectively pull this one off. Though the film will likely find its fan and may even become a cult film someday, it just wasn’t a very enjoyable experience.

still courtesy of MGM

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/