Dark Harvest
Dark Harvest
R | 01 January 1992 (USA)
Dark Harvest Trailers

A broken down van strands a group of college students in the middle of the desert. Forced to hike their way out, they unwittingly enter a sacred Indian burial ground...A place they should have left alone.

Reviews
HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
IncaWelCar In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.
Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Scott LeBrun A septet of young adults go on a hiking / horseback riding excursion in the desert, led by a guide named Alex (Cooper Steve Anderson). Wouldn't you know it: the locale they're travelling through includes a former Indian burial ground, and those places are always ripe for freaky things in the horror genre. The group will end up menaced not only by local rednecks, but by the murderous scarecrows proliferating in the area.The first two thirds of this minor genre item are actually not as bad as you'd think, given that this particular obscurity was of the "SOV" (or shot on video) variety. Writer / director James I. Nicholson does go out of his way to try to flesh out his characters, and make them more than one dimensional cannon fodder. The actors are also reasonably likable, and Nicholson does subvert expectations in terms of who will be the last characters standing. Since the budget for this was probably next to nothing, expect the cheapest possible visuals and makeup effects. But you can *also* expect some fairly decent atmosphere, and the occasional guffaw when the scarecrows pop up and utter a one-liner. Yup, Nicholson is not taking his little film *that* seriously.Where the film ultimately descends into typical "so bad it's good" cheese and camp is in its final third, when the killings finally begin in earnest. Then the performances, and the dialogue, become ever so much worse.Some of the characters do become insufferable, like Tom (David Zyler) and Jude (Tracy Vivat). Then you become impatient, waiting for them to get theirs. Sex and violence are doled out adequately, with some of the ladies taking off their tops, and the scarecrows gleefully enjoying their own acts of sadism.Not bad entertainment for fans of the entire SOV genre.Five out of 10.
Woodyanders A group of various annoying folks who are on some kind of nature hike find themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere after their van breaks down. The group stumble across a sacred Indian burial ground that's watched over by a malevolent killer scarecrow.Boy, does this hilariously horrendous hunk of junk possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as a real four-star stinkeroonie: We've got flat (non)direction by James I. Nicholson (who also wrote the silly script), a plodding pace, tacky gore, irritating bickering characters (whiny and abrasive New York City shrew Jude in particular rates as an especially obnoxious ordeal to put up with), a hysterically hokey and unconvincing scarecrow, zero tension or spooky atmosphere, a meandering narrative, and rank amateurish acting by a lame no-name cast. On the plus side, Nicholson makes neat use of the desolate desert locations and several women bare their breasts in the name of low-grade exploitation. A total cruddy hoot.
HumanoidOfFlesh First of all I absolutely adore horror movies about killer scarecrows for example William Wesley's "Scarecrows" is an classic of B-movie horror."Dark Harvest" plays like an unofficial sequel of it.A broken down van strands a group of college students in the middle of the desert.Forced to hike their way out they unwittingly enter a sacred Indian burial ground.There is a bloodthirsty scarecrow on the loose that promptly starts killing them...Very bad and amateurish horror flick with some of the worst acting I have ever seen.The action moves at snail's pace,the film drags relentlessly and the killer scarecrow looks poor.There is a bit of nudity for anyone interested.It's no surprise that "Dark Harvest" aka "Bloody Harvest" is completely obscure.Death reaps what you sow.Yeah,right.3 scarecrows out of 10.
seanisean I am one of those people who will seek fulfillment in the viewing of hard to obtain trashy low budget films deemed so bad that they're good... however, under no circumstance can I even begin to describe how bad this film really is... for it was so bad that I now reside in the relatively safe practice of paint by numbers, all because I mentally could not bear to see another mistake like this. Please don't feel you must now go and watch this film simply for what is been said here, because I mean every word... if you feel you must, then consider this! You may want try eating raw putrefying entrails instead, simply because you will gain much more satisfaction from this, than enduring this utterly harrowing lethargy of motion pictures.It was my own fault! I felt I had to see it through to the end, thinking somehow that I was hardcore, It was a self-inflicted punishment, I believed I could handle it.... And now its too late, almost 90 minutes of my life is truly gone, and i'll never get it back.Save yourself from this, learn from my mistake.... do the ironing, or inflict paper cuts on the webs of your toes, JUST Don't DO IT....