Vibes vibes and more ghoulishly delicious vibes throb and thrum through the filthy straw heart of David Slade’s Dark Harvest, a silly but stylish and often terribly fun new horror flick about small-town secrets and the scarecrows that feed upon them, hitting here just in time for Halloween. An adaptation of Norman Partridge’s 2006 book, the director of Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night and lots of Hannibal episodes makes this 50s-set story feel like an R-rated Goosebumps – it’s simultaneously too slick and simple-minded for its own good while also being giddily mean-spirited and gory. Like a mash-up of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and all acted out by the background cast of Riverdale (plus Jeremy Davies doing his creepy Jeremy Davies thing), Dark Harvest barely fills its 93-minute runtime out, even dragging at times.
But there are a several scenes and shots here that will etch themselves right into your brain – a bit of ultra-violence silhouetted by the full moon made me yip with delight, as did the bunker of blood business. And what a monster! You’ll get me on your side pretty quickly if you deliver unto us a good new monster, and Dark Harvest has one I already want an action figure for. So maybe it’s a mixed bag overall – treats and tricks, apples and razor blades, the stray eyeball and a fistful of spaghetti it keeps telling you are brains. But vibes! Such great vibes, baby.
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