0
THE DARK SECRET OF HARVEST HOME
1978
3 hour and 45 minute cut
(avoid the 2 hour cut, as it is missing almost half the movie, and considered a disgrace to the full length mini-series)
Director:
Leo Penn
Writer:
Tom Tryon (book "Harvest Home") aka (Thomas Tryon)
Jack Guss (teleplay)
Players:
Bette Davis ... Widow Fortune
David Ackroyd ... Nick Constantine
Rosanna Arquette ... Kate Constantine
Rene Auberjonois ... Jack Stump
John Calvin ... Justin Hooke
Norman Lloyd ... Amys Penrose
Linda Marsh ... Maggie Dodd
Joanna Miles ... Beth Constantine
Laurie Prange ... Sophie Hooke
Donald Pleasence ... poet on recording (voice)
Lina Raymond ... Tamar Penrose
Tracey Gold ... Missy Penrose
Synopsis:
A family, consisting of a father (who is a writer), a mother (who is recovering from a nervous breakdown), and a teenage girl (who suffers from crippling asthma), move out of the city to start their lives again....in a small isolated farming community known as Cornwall Combe, Connecticut. The locals are extremely different, being almost Amish in some aspects, but pagan in others.
However, they seem very friendly, until errie, and unexplained events begin to occur....all which seem to surround the strange village leader, Widow Fortune. At first, Nick Constantine (our father figure and leading man) is fascinated by the area, and thinks it will make a fine book. However, his family seems to be getting into it a little too much, and after witnessing some borderline supernatural activity, and finding information about some unexplained deaths....he is concerned about the people of Cornwall Combe...and intent on knowing their secrets!
Review:
How the hell is this amazing horror movie not known as well as The Omen, The Exorcist, or The Shining? It is just as good! This is an amazing, lost piece of cinema perfection.
Not available on dvd commercially...but available through some traders sites, and unofficial dvd sites (I got mine from Asylum of Oblivion - the longest cut) the quality is like something recorded off of tv that has aged so the sound gets muddy in some parts...but still so amazing and entertaining.....it must be seen!
Pros:
The story is a formula that has been done many times....but NEVER so well. The viewer really gets to know the characters, and care about them. We see the doom surrounding this village, and want to shout out at the characters to get the hell out!
The directing is top notch, and captures real elements of drama, as we see a family struggle with REAL pressures. Leo Penn, through excellent choice of imagery (haunting, surreal, dream-like moments) to the proper use of music and lighting, presents a film with such seriousness that the horror element is lifted to new heights! All Supernatural elements are very subtle...yet so errie that they leave a lasting effect for the run of the entire film.
Haunting music accompanies this material, and supports such a wonderful, visual treat. Basic melodies, done to perfection, support the film's use of drama and basic effects, done to perfection.
The story always has something new to offer, so much that one may feel compelled to read the Tom Tryon book (Harvest Home) on which this film is based.
We begin with simple, moving, drama, and end up with twists and turns of irony. Truely a MASTERPIECE!
The acting is also well done, featuring the late, great Bette Davis in one of her last roles. Davis blows this film out of the water, with her creepy, sinister personality, and is the driving force behind this masterpiece.
Had this film been something that went to theaters, she should have been nominated for an oscar! WOW!
The other key players, David Ackroyd, and a very young Rosanna Arquette, truly are AMAZING in this movie. Rosanna is beautiful, and walks the line between innocence, and sexual personification. Ackroyd is the perfect lead man, with characteristics stereotypical of the 70's father, still cheesed from the 60's, but filled with the brim to do something important, while still holding his family together. You truly BELIEVE his character's feelings, and his protrayal seems to become more and more interesting as the movie continues.
The supporting cast is also damn good. Lina Raymond is drop, dead, SEXY...but her sexuality also leaves an ora of decadence and corruption....like a beauty who cannot be trusted. John Calvin, Rene Auberjonois, Norman Lloyd, and Linda Marsh are all the locals who befriend (and make enemies) with the newcomers....and exhibit their own oddities and practices...from a blind man who listens to poetry all day (read by the great Donald Pleasence) to a hobo running through haunted woods for the thrill of it, to an insane, but psychic little girl (Tracey Gold) who kills animals and screams bloody murder....the mezmerizing characters do not stop.
MINOR Cons:
The production value seems made for TV in the 70's. An unavoidable effect....and Joanna Miles can be a little cheesy at times.....
however....
CONCLUSION:
THis is a movie that should be hailed as a classic, and everyone should know it. It is incredible, and a film for those who like the feelings in the OLD horror films from yesteryear.
How it truly amazes me that I have never heard of this until now.
This is what a horror film SHOULD be.
If you like movies like THE OMEN, and THE EXORCIST.....then this brilliant film is for you!
THE DARK SECRET OF HARVEST HOME (3 hr. 45 min)
Overall Grade:
A