Strange Harvest – Movie Review (4/5)

STRANGE HARVEST is a new horror thriller with a serial killer plot. It’s essentially a mockumentary as the story is presented as a true crime documentary. It comes from one of the filmmakers behind Grave Encounters, a found footage horror movie. Read our full Strange Harvest movie review here!

STRANGE HARVEST is a serial killer horror thriller made as a mockumentary. As with any actual documentary covering a true crime case, it can be a hit or miss with a mockumentary. If it feels fake, then the story will never be able to get under the skin of the viewer.

Fortunately, this horror mockumentary comes from one of the filmmakers behind the found footage horror movie hit Grave Encounters (2011). In other words, we’re dealing with a filmmaker who knows how to make these alternative storytelling methods work.

Continue reading our Strange Harvest movie review below. Find it in US theaters from August 8, 2025, and on VOD from September 9, 2025.

Harvesting what exactly?!

As we’re dealing with a serial killer in Strange Harvest, the question quickly becomes: What kind of harvest is the title alluding to? Well, it won’t take long for this to be revealed as it isn’t a spoiler as much as it’s the actual plot.

We’re talking organ harvesting. But not in the sense that the killer wants to sell the organs. Oh no, we’re dealing with a more ritualistic, possibly religious, motive.

It all begins with a routine welfare check. When a woman can’t get hold of her friend and realizes her friend’s daughter hasn’t been seen for days either, she contacts the police. As police officers arrive in the calm and safe neighborhood of the San Bernardino suburbs, the explanation becomes clear.

The entire family of three has been bound, bled, and strangely posed around their dinner table. Above them, on the ceiling, is a strange symbol written in blood. A symbol that Detectives Joe Kirby and Lexi Taylor recognize: It was the calling card of a serial killer from 15 years earlier.

This serial killer disappeared very suddenly more than a decade ago, but has now seemingly returned to continue his murder spree.

The poetic Mr. Shiny

In the vein of the Zodiac killer, he starts contacting the police by sending them letters and signing them “Mr. Shiny”. The letters are almost poetic in their shaming and taunting, as Mr. Shiny promises more kills.

Actually, not just “more” but a specific number of victims. He’s counting down in his letters, and so the detectives try to figure out what his end goal is: What happens when he’s killed all the people he plans on murdering and harvesting?

Slowly, but surely, the clues start pointing towards a sinister, possibly even otherworldly agenda that could involve a cosmic phenomenon. Then again, this could also simply be the delusion of the killer.

Fair warning: The murders in Strange Harvest are often quite creative and brutal. In fact, several of them could have been featured in Se7en. We’re talking leeches bleeding someone until they die, or ancient methods of torture infamously used by the Vikings.

Watch Strange Harvest in theaters – later on digital

Strange Harvest was written and directed by Stuart Ortiz. At the beginning of his career, he was better known under the name The Vicious Brothers. The other “brother” was Colin Minihan (What Keeps You Alive), and the two have gone on to make some amazing genre productions.

In fact, Stuart Ortiz’s first movie was the found footage horror movie Grave Encounters from 2011. In an era where it seemed everyone was trying their hand at found footage (after the success of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project and 2007’s Paranormal Activity), few were as well-made as theirs.

That’s why I wasn’t even surprised that the mockumentary angle used for Strange Harvest was as efficient as it is. Had this been an actual true crime documentary, I would also have hailed it as very well-made.

DO YOU ENJOY A GOOD MOCKUMENTARY?

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Of course, you also need a cast that can make your mockumentary come across as a believable documentary. Fortunately, with the two detectives portrayed by Peter Zizzo and Terri Apple, we’re off to a great start. Those two alone made it all come together perfectly.

Okay, admittedly, the actual serial killer also made quite an impact.

The runtime is just 94 minutes, but do stay seated for an end-credit scene at the very end of the credits. Could we be getting a sequel? I sure hope so!

STRANGE HARVEST is out in US Theaters on August 8, 2025, and on VOD from September 9, 2025.

Details

Directed & Written by: Stuart Ortiz
Cast: Peter Zizzo, Terri Apple, Andy Lauer, Matthew Peschio, Janna Cardia, Travis Wolfe Sr., Christina Helene Braa