Stream it:
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With: Casey Likes, Emyri Crutchfield, Elizabeth Reaser, Jeremy Davies, Luke Kirby, Britain Dalton, Steven McCarthy, Alejandro Akara, West Mulholland, Austin Autry, Carter Heintz, Maclean Fish, Dustin Ceithamer
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Written by: Michael Gilio, based on a novel by Norman Partridge
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Directed by: David Slade
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MPAA Rating: R for strong horror violence and gore, language throughout and brief drug use
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Running Time: 94
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Date: 10/13/2023
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'Run' of the Mill
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
It might be interesting to catch up with the novel this horror movie is based on, in the hopes that it might fill in some blanks, since whatever ended up on screen is total nonsense.
Dark Harvest is meant to evoke things like Shirley Jackson's legendary short story "The Lottery" and films like The Wicker Man, The Hunger Games, Midsommar, and The Purge, essentially challenging our unquestioned devotion to tradition.
But the actual deadly ritual in the story is full of holes, with many frustrating questions unanswered. How is Sawtooth Jack actually created? Are there supernatural forces at work? How can he move and still have candy stuffed inside of him? Why are the boys starved for three days before The Run? (There's a painful montage of screaming boys to illustrate this.)
When the Run actually begins, where are they all running to? Why doesn't Richie have any marks on his face after being brutally beaten up? Does anybody wonder why Jim just drove away and never came back? What is it really like for a young Black woman, alone amongst small town Whites, in 1963?
These and other bothersome queries just stack up over the course of the movie, distracting from whatever story is there… and there's not much. The only saving grace in Dark Harvest is Luke Kirby as the obnoxious local police officer Ricks, cranked all the way up to "ten" the entire time. Kirby seems to have put some thought and energy into his work, and it shows. Too bad he was the only one.
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