Prepare to come face-to-face with the diabolical Mr Shiny in the eerie and gruesome true crime mockumentary horror, Strange Harvest. It’s the latest film from director Stuart Ortiz, whose 2011 found footage chiller Grave Encounters remains a cult favourite.
Strange Harvest is arguably even more accomplished, taking on the appearance of a COPS-style reality crime show as it unspools a series of horrific and seemingly impossible killings. Two detectives find themselves on the verge of losing their souls as they circle a dangerous individual who may or may not be in communion with a higher spectral power.
The matter-of-factness of the film’s presentation serves to heighten its explosive moments of shock as Ortiz weaves a cult of mythology around the elusive Mr Shiny. We caught up with the director for a behind-the-scenes interview in which we discussed the making of the film, the importance of masks in horror and the wider appeal of horror cinema overall.
Synopsis:
A routine welfare check in the San Bernardino suburbs leads to a gruesome
discovery – a family of three has been bound, bled and posed below a strange symbol written in blood on the ceiling. Detective Joe Kirby and Lexi Taylor recognize the symbol as the calling card of a killer from 15 years earlier who has seemingly returned to continue his murder spree.
It’s not long before “Mr.Shiny” begins leaving horrifying new crime scenes in his wake; one victim is trapped in a swimming pool with live leeches while another is ritualistically flayed and displayed in a public park. It soon becomes evident the case is anything but routine and that the murders, and their perpetrator, may be part of some sinister, otherworldly agenda involving cosmic phenonomena and evil forces from beyond.
Check out the full interview:
Strange Harvest comes to digital download in the UK on October 27th.
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