Director – Thomas J. Churchill (Check Point, Lazarus: Apocalypse)
Starring – Yan Birch (The People Under the Stairs, Death House), Keavy Bradley (Xenophobia, The Shadow Behind You), and Ashley Cacho (Mystic Being, Go Faith Yourself)
Release Date – 2020
Rating – 1/5
October is for cheap horror movies and even cheaper beer for many genre fans. I, somewhat, feel that way. I love cheap, no-budget horror flicks but I watch those all year round. When October hits I really want to dive into films centered around Halloween. Sadly, this year doesn’t look like that’s going to be a thing.
Instead, with production companies taking time off for Covid we find some indie productions hitting store shelves. Smaller crews, most of which are close friends and family, are still working during this time and distribution companies are snagging these flicks up to put on store shelves. I recently received The Amityville Harvest in for review. I knew nothing about it but I’m always open to new horror flick. I want to thank Lionsgate for sending this one over.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a small film crew who travels to an old family owned funeral home that had been in the family for decades. This straight forward shoot starts out weird when one of the crew goes missing and then they struggle with getting the owner Vincent (Kyle Lowder) on camera or mic. His family’s dark history soon reveals itself and everyone discovers what he really is. **Spoiler Alert**
I’ll be completely honest here. I wanted to like this movie. I really did. There was so many things in the story that I liked that was pretty clever and unique but these little nuggets were spread over a a shitty movie. These aspects were literally the peanuts in the turd. I wanted to like it but I can’t, in good conscience, write a positive review for this film. It was bad.
The acting in this one is so uneven that I thought it was a joke at first. Kyle Lowder delivers one of the most impressive performances I’ve seen in an indie production. His portrayal of Vincent, the centuries old vampire and mortician, literally made my skin crawl. It is a true travesty that this character and performance was in this film and not something of better quality. I also enjoyed Sadie Katz performance. She wasn’t on Lowder’s level but she still delivered a well grounded and genuine performance. Sadly, the remainder of the cast was a little awkward at times and not as fun to watch.
The story for this one had a lot of ups…and a lot of downs. I really loved the funeral home angle with the elaborate back story that tied it in nicely as a vampire tale. Sadly, there was several moments scattered throughout that just didn’t work. The civil war zombie/ghosts angle was brief but slightly confusing. Also, some of the scenes have absolutely nothing to do with the story. Characters just walk into a room to talk and then we move on. It’s clear they are there to fluff the film’s running time but they drag the pacing of the film down greatly.
Finally, the film has some bloody moments. Some of the scenes rely heavily on visual effects but we do get a few practical gags along with some solid practical make-up effects. Overall, The Amityville Harvest feels like a rushed and chaotic mess that, honestly, had a solid story if it was to be fully explored. This is a movie that the team really needs to take another crack at later. Sadly, this one needs to be skipped.
