No.212 : The Harvest (2013)

The Harvest (2013) at the IMDb

Not so much foreshadowing about that poster as much as ‘this is how it ends’! Oh well, with one surprise out of the way let’s have a look at what else this decent thriller can offer.

The film opens with a boy going down after being struck by a ball at a pee-wee baseball match. He is saved by surgeon Samantha Morton, who we presume to be a good sort and worthy of a solid clapping on a Thursday night. We further sympathise with her when we learn that her son Andy is confined to a wheelchair due to an unspecified ailment.

His Dad, blog favourite Michael Shannon, manages to get him black market medicine from a pharmaceuticals rep who he is also boffing on the side. Andy‘s pitiful existence of watching the corn grow outside his window is enhanced with the arrival of Maryann, a 14 year old who has moved into the neighbourhood with her grandparents following the death of her parents.

She chances across Andy and is soon climbing into his bedroom and getting up to those usual teenage games of building scarecrows and sneaking around the house. Samantha is very protective of Andy to the extent she gets totally mental with any interference with his rehabilitation. Maryann gets grounded by her grandfather Peter Fonda, but a revelation in the basement leads to her taking even greater chances.

What is going on in the secret household and will ‘the harvest’ be a lovely big pile of potatoes - or something more sinister?

I liked this film despite some of the crazy leaps in logic that were needed to propel the plot. I liked the young Maryann, who was very Nancy Drew, but I have no idea her motivation for creeping into sick teen’s bedrooms and for digging about for clues when ostensibly there was nothing going on. Maybe she just though Mum’s overacting was hiding something.

Samantha Morton didn’t quite ring true as the mad mother with her outbursts seeming a bit of a stretch.I was hoping for more from her in the last third but she just faded away. Shannon was his usual good value but was a bit underused. He was clearly meant to be in Morton’s shadow but I could have done with a bit more of his trademark mania. His arc wasn’t that well defined with his actions at the conclusion not really being merited, given his years of devotion to the cause.

The two kids did well, with Andy played by Charlie Tahan who later becomes Wyatt in ‘Ozark’ and Natasha Calis was good value as Maryann, and certainly better than she was in her last sighting in ‘When Calls the Heart’.

The film kept me guessing for the most part and I liked the big twist at the end. The make up seemed a bit off with both Fonda and Shannon looking decidedly orange in several scenes - maybe the harvest was of fake tan.

Nit picking aside this was an enjoyably mystery thriller with just a smidgen of horror thrown in for good measure.

THE Tag Line : Pick of the Crop!  73%

No.158 : The Visit (2015)

The Visit at the IMDb

‘Big Twist’ director M. Night Shyamalan is clearly trying to make the ‘V’ annex of the Definite Article blog his own with this, his second entry after the decently received The Village

His star dimmed following  his early promise but he has come back strongly with those James McAvoy superhero offerings, which I liked, and this effort which was a huge financial success despite never having invaded my consciousness.

To be fair it was a low key ‘found footage’ effort with a $5m budget, but it retains his twist signature and was an enjoyable offering.

The film opens with a couple of precocious kids getting ready to visit their grandparents whom they have never met. Their single Mum, Kathryn Hahn, fell out with them 15 years ago when she chose to marry an older man who was the kids’ father. He’s since left, but Mum’s divisions with the parents remain. They did however reach out and asked to meet the kids and they agreed to it. Mum was happy with the deal as it means she can go on holiday with her new fancy man.

The older child, Becca (Olivia Delonge) is about 15 and a keen documentary filmmaker. She insists on recording every moment on multiple cameras and this is the basis of the film. Prepare for lots of jerky but high quality footage. Her brother, Tyler, is about 10 and thinks he can rap, but he totally can’t. Mum sticks the kids on a train, with the grandparents meeting them at the other end for a week of fun and bonding. And terror!

We can guess things wont go well when blood red captions announce ‘Monday’ ‘Tuesday‘ etc., just like my pants. The grandparents seem fine at first but soon small quirks start to give the kids pause for thought. Things like Grandpa piling up shitty nappies and Grandma wandering about in the night puking up are written off as old people eccentricities. 

We get intermittent clues that things may not be what they seem, when visitors come looking for the grandparents when they aren’t around and their general phobia of being filmed. Mum makes regular webcam appearances and tries to settle the kids, but what is the mystery of the forbidden basement? What will the twist be? - because you can bet your ass there will be one!

The annoying children and the tired ‘found footage’ format encouraged me to dislike this film but I was won over by the creepy setting and the pacing which ratcheted up from ‘slow’ to ‘madcap’ in the last half hour.

The found footage angle is a bit misleading as you get a lot of angles and perfect focus on even the most frenetic scenes. I’m all for this as I came to be entertained, not convinced that the whole thing was shot on a single Sony Handycam.

The kids were decent, even the annoying boy, but the grandparents take the prize with some suitably mental behaviour. The pace was good and for a while I almost believed it would be a nice film about bonding before it all went to hell. The reveal wasn’t totally unexpected but it was well handled and there was a real sense of ‘Oh shit’ when the penny dropped.

The clues were peppered about so it worked as a twist as it wasn’t totally left field. On reflection it would be hard to see what else the twist could have been, so kudos to all concerned for blurring the lines enough to give at least a light ‘Wow’ moment.

There were some great creepy scenes especially with Grandma going all ‘Silent Hill’. Grandad was good too and some of his scenes were genuinely hands in front of face time - either that or you could earn a used nappy yourself!

A good fun ‘whatisit’ that will offer a few laughs and a few scares to even the most jaded movie fan.

The Tag Line - I hope that’s Nutella! 74%