‘Dark Harvest’ Review – A Familiar, But Creepy Look At Small Towns

Small towns are like a magnet in horror movies, a place for mystery and evil. It is in these safe, suburban environments people keep secrets. Traditions are commonplace. Innocence is lost. To paraphrase Dr. Loomis from Halloween, “Death has come to your little town.” An ominous warning, except in this movie, Dark Harvest, death is the little town. Director David Slade (30 Days of Night) adapts the book of the same name by Norman Partridge. It is a story of a cursed town battling for survival every Halloween as Sawtooth Jack rises from the cornfield and walks toward town. While the movie offers little new materials on a wretched town with wretched people and a few souls desperate to flee, Dark Harvest delivers scary effects, showstopping cinematography, and a powerful commentary on the desire to break free.

Dark Harvest opens on Halloween 1962. Sawtooth Jack returns, and the eighteen-year-old boys in town must spend the night searching for the monster before the church bells strike twelve. On this night, Jim Shepard (Britain Dalton) successfully slays the beast and becomes a town hero. As a prize, his family receives a new house and Jim a car. However, after Jim sets out on the open road, he never returns. One year later, with the tradition set to continue, the youngest of the Shepard boys, Richie (Casey Likes), is determined to follow in his brother’s footsteps and defeat Sawtooth Jack. However, his family forbids him from competing, prompting Richie to uncover the mystery of what happened to his brother and what it has to do with the annual return of Sawtooth Jack. 

Cursed small towns are a recurring trope in horror movies, and while this one offers nothing groundbreaking, the story benefits from two strong leads in Likes’s Richie and E’myri Crutchfield, who plays Kelly Haines. Both are rebels in a town living on the edge who dream of life beyond the town line. As the Halloween tradition unfolds, Richie and Kelly team up to uncover the mystery behind Sawtooth Jack’s grip on the town. 

Astute viewers of the genre will pick up on twists and turns as the plot unfolds. As stated, Dark Harvest conjures favorites like Children of the Corn and even Jeepers Creepers. Creepy vibes permeate the ninety-minute runtime. While the twist is unsurprising, it is the execution of it where the movie hits its mark. The movie’s emotional center is Richie’s desire to turn his back on the town while dealing with Sawtooth Jack’s connection to his family. Likes and Crutchfield are relative newcomers and bring an earnest quality to their roles. Their struggle is accurate, and there is an investment to see them have the happy ending they crave.

Another plus in this movie’s favor is the beautiful fall canvas. Cinematographer Larry Smith captures autumn in the Midwest, from the maze of cornfields to dark side streets. The Halloween aesthetic is off the charts in this movie and helps raise the quality of the finished product. Viewers and Halloween buffs will thrill at the decorative setting that pops like maple foliage. Even when digital effects enter the picture, the movie never loses its focus. The blending of VFX is a masterful job. The images linger with the audience like some twisted autumn postcard.

Even with the fanciful details, Dark Harvest has something to say about the nature of small towns. Those who hale from these communities will recognize a lot of the trappings. The movie acknowledges how small towns thrive on traditions, which no one questions or explains. Cycles continue for no reason other than, as the movie says, “It’s what has to be done. What’s always been done.”  

The movie offers some spectacular grisly effects, sure to make any fans of gore and splatter proud. Though there are some tense moments, this is not a scary movie in the strictest sense, but a reflective one. It is a movie about survival, not survival against a monster but surviving a small town. Not only surviving but being able to get and be free. Dark Harvest strips away the vanity and charm of small towns and paints an accurate picture that nothing is as it seems, even amid all the Halloween spectacle and gore. The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. 

Dark Harvest will be available on Digital platforms on October 13, 2023 courtesy of MGM Studios. The film will be screening one night only at select Alamo Drafthouse locations on October 11. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pge4NmBzdkE]