Director David Slade (30 Days of Night) dishes up a devilishly delicious Halloween treat with MGM’s Dark Harvest. Slade and screenwriter Michael Gilio deliver plenty of gore and gruesome deaths, and the R-rating is not only justified but embraced.
It’s made clear straight away that there’s something wrong with the small town of Bastion, something that only the death of a terrifying creature known as Sawtooth Jack (think Slenderman with a pumpkin head) can fix. However, it’s also clear that killing this supernatural beast isn’t a once-and-done event.
Each Halloween, Sawtooth Jack rises from the cornfields and makes his way into town. If Sawtooth Jack survives and reaches the church before the bell tolls midnight, then the town will be destroyed. If he’s slaughtered – and the candy and treats stuffed inside him are consumed – then the town will prosper for another year.
In a bizarre twist, it turns out the town’s unlikely saviors are teenage boys. Leading up to Sawtooth Jack’s return, the boys are kept locked in their rooms for days and denied food. It’s a tactic designed to drive them crazy from hunger and make them willing to take on a monster they know is easily capable of killing them in a variety of grisly ways.
Besides finally being able to eat, the teenager who deals the death blow to Sawtooth Jack is rewarded by The Harvesters Guild with the means to leave town for good: a $25,000 check and a shiny new Corvette. The chance to claim the huge payday and escape this bizarre Midwestern town is the main incentive to risk death and kill Sawtooth Jack.
But, of course, there’s much more going on in this sleepy little farming town than meets the eye. Something sinister lurks in Bastion besides Sawtooth Jack.
The 1960s setting lends the film an old-school horror vibe, adding to the “isolated town under attack from a monster” angle since the action takes place before cell phones and social media.
Although the teens at the heart of the story – Richie (Casey Likes), Bud (Alejandro Akara), Mitch (West Mulholland), and Kelly (Emyri Crutchfield) – can be sorted into obvious archetypes, the story supplies enough little details to make you either root for or against their survival. The town’s adults are far less fleshed out and there just to provide a little exposition to move the plot along up until the big finale. It’s only the final act that brings the adults (played by Luke Kirby, Jeremy Davies, and Elizabeth Reaser) into the story in a meaningful way.
Social issues, including bullying and racism, are briefly touched on but more as padding than pushing a message. Characters pop up in unlikely locations, and the rules for the hunt seem to be made up as the action goes along. At one point, the story devolves into The Purge for dumb teenage boys…but strangely, that transition works. In fact, once the killing begins in earnest and Sawtooth Jack kicks off his night of terror, any story shortcomings are forgiven. Sawtooth Jack is a terrifying addition to the lengthy list of horror villains, and Dark Harvest’s ending leaves open the possibility of further visits from the scarecrow-like creature with the grisly Jack-o’lantern smile.
Odds are you’ll guess the twist early on, but that doesn’t matter. What Dark Harvest lacks in plot and jump scares, it more than makes up for in blood, guts, and gore.
GRADE: B-
MPAA Rating: R for strong horror violence, brief drug use, language throughout, and gore
Release Date: October 11, 2023 (limited) and October 13 (streaming)
Running Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Based on the Book By Norman Partridge
