The headline of a newreport by Deadlinereads, “Netflix’s True-Crime Shows Are Killing It.” In the first half of this year,American Murder: Gabby PetitoandGone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killerwere two of the most-watched shows on the streaming giant, amidst stiff competition. The niche genre has also carried over to the big screen, with the new faux-documentaryStrange Harvest: Occult Murders in the Inland Empireas the latest example.
Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire
WhenStrange Harvest begins, it seems like an authentictrue-crimecase about two impassioned detectives hunting for acrazed killer. The first act is all “shot, chopped and cut,” as Robert Rodriguez would say, like a small-screen documentary, implying that the actual feature presentation will come after the mock-doc footage. But no,Grave Encounterswriter-director Stuart Ortiz’s latest take on found footage is restricted entirely to the documentary format. Presumably, the end result is supposed to rise above real-life Netflix and Hulu offerings due to its unique, otherworldly tie-ins. Ultimately, these are not enough to compensate for the nagging feeling that, if we’re sticking it out for a documentary, shouldn’t it shed light on something real?
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Can You Buy into This Fiction?
Ortiz does his homework by incorporating all the necessary ingredients of agripping docuseriesepisode, adequately lengthened to fill a feature-film runtime. The actors do a passable job at tackling their respective roles, as they’re each seen sitting down for insightful interviews surrounding the case at hand. It starts with detectives Joe Kirby (Peter Zizzo) and Alexis Taylor (Terri Apple); viewers may be fooled initially into thinking these talking heads are actually members of law enforcement, which is a letdown once any suspended disbelief wears off.
When the opening credits finally come on screen, for example, it will probably click in audiences' minds that they’ve never heard of this case — especially viewers in Southern California, where it all goes down. Such a horrific case would certainly garner national — even international — attention. That’s whereStrange Harvestscores some points: It’s a genuinely chilling, otherworldly mystery, and the lead-up to a cosmic conclusion might actually have you fearing for your life. If you just go with it, that is…
What starts as a probe into a series of seemingly unrelated, utterly gruesome deaths around SoCal’s San Bernardino County ultimately spirals into a complex investigation into a single man. “Mr. Shiny” reveals himself by corresponding with the authorities in unique ways. One adult actually survives the masked assailant’s efforts and is left with a horrifically scarred face; his tragic look gives Gary Oldman’s jaw-dropping character inHannibal(2001) a run for his money. At that point — as in a few other VFX-heavy moments — viewers might think director Ortiz will drop the faux-documentary act and transitionStrange Harvestinto an actual narrative film.
But Ortiz sticks with the same format all the way through the film. This may be OK for the found-footage fans out there: if you were fine with sitting throughThe Blair Witch ProjectandParanormal Activity, maybe you’ll be able to accept that there is nothing to be learned inStrange Harvest, given that Mr. Shiny never actually roamed our planet. (Cue the conspiracy theories.)
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An Otherworldly Tie-In
Mr. Shiny’s real name is Leslie Sykes (Jessee J. Clarkson), and we only see glimpses of the man throughoutStrange Harvest. More prominent is a series of creepy and cryptic letters which hint at more violence to come. These suspenseful reveals help keep up the thriller’s momentum, and one victim in particular might genuinely break viewers' hearts: young Victoria Macenroe (Dawsyn Eubanks), whose assault by Mr. Shiny is actually caught on the teenager’s webcam. Victoria actually survives the ordeal, and how she ultimately perishes soon after — in an entirely different location — might just instill nightmares.
As with any ongoing criminal case, there are red herrings along the way in Ortiz’s story, in the form of suspects who eventually prove innocent. The third act, set in a tucked-away campground (at night, of course), offers otherworldly new surprises: New law enforcement personnel join the scene once they have a read on Mr. Shiny’s location, and additional talking heads include nearby campers impacted by cosmic events that may or may not be tied to Mr. Shiny’s final attempt at fulfilling some ancient evil calling. There are ritualistic clues throughoutStrange Harvestthat hint at some sort of Satanic belief system that’s apparently motivating Mr. Shiny to mutilate his victims in ungodly ways. But these all come too late. Introducing more of these sci-fi visuals earlier on could have helped boostStrange Harvest,so that the end result didn’t end up feeling like a knock-off docuseries.
