Director John McNaughton knows how to craft camp. In 1998 he delivered the cult classic “Wild Things” but for whatever reasons, over a decade has passed between that film and his next feature, "The Harvest." And it has been slow in arriving, filmed quite a few years ago, and making its way around the festival circuit in 2013 and 2014. It finally has a home at IFC Midnight, and the first trailer has arrived for this awesomely campy thriller.
Starring Michael Shannon, Samantha Morton, and Peter Fonda, the story follows a deathly-ill, bed-ridden boy who forges a friendship with the new girl who moves in next door. However, his mother slowly begins a campaign of psychological terror against her son as she takes what seems at first like an unreasonable stance against the friendship. And even her hen-pecked husband can’t stand up to her domineering ways. But when the secret behind her hysteria is discovered, no one is safe. Having watched this with our critic Nikola Grozdanovic last year at Fantasia, I completely agree with him that it’s "hellishly entertaining." McNaughton shoots the film with all the hallmarks of a Lifetime movie complete with TV soap opera-style production values, but works the genre elements so well, you can’t help but be on the edge of your seat. The audience we watched it with were howling in delight.
"The Harvest" arrives in select theaters and on VOD on April 10th. [Collider]
