Strange Harvest(2025)(Review)

Earlier this year, I found myself getting really into true crime documentaries. I don’t entirely know what happened, but I ended up watching “Don’t Fuck With Cats” on Netflix, and next thing you know, I’m down the rabbit hole watching more and more of them. So when I heard of a new horror film coming out that fits the mold, I rubbed my hands in anticipation.

‘Strange Harvest’ is a mockumentary from director Stuart Ortiz (‘Grave Encounters 1 & 2’, ‘Extraterrestrial’) who is part of a collective known as The Vicious Brothers. This film follows the long-running legacy of an enigmatic serial murderer whose referred to as “Mr. Shiny”. His spree spans over decades, seems to be meticulously planned out, and leaves the detectives in a consistent state of shock and awe. They have very little evidence to ever go off of except for whatever Mr. Shiny purposely leaves for them. While the film begins by basically saying the case is closed, but the more we watch it the more we realize how much bigger this case is beyond the victims.

This film basically feels like ‘The Poughkeepsie Tapes’ meets ‘Zodiac’. Whereas ‘Poughkeepsie Tapes’ showed us home-made found footage from the killer, this one really just lets us see detective tapes as they investigate the crime scenes, and then there’s a few very creepy and effective recordings that did take place during the crimes. A majority of the film is just talking-heads stuff with the detectives and relatives/acquaintances of the many victims, but it’s done in a way that’s so realistic and somber that it weighs heavy on the viewers.

The story itself is very creepy, we get some strange clues along the way that suggest that this may be bigger than one person picking off victims, and the methods in which these people are killed are both chilling and very detailed. It’s quite a ride up to the very strange ending that makes you wonder if this case is actually solved afterall.

In the realism department, this film works well. In the creepy, production, and writing departments it also works very well. The only parts that perhaps could be stronger is just some of the talking heads – while they all serve their purposes and feel true, some of the things they say or the way in which they say them sometimes feel.. stiff. The best way I can describe it is there’s just some small parts where the way the detectives are building up the “you won’t believe what happened next”, sometimes feels so tropey and over-the-top that it does hinder the immersion in small bursts. But overall the acting is rather good, so this is just a minor thing really.

If you’re a fan of true crime documentaries, mockumentaries, or slasher stories that go into weirder territories, then this is a film for you. I personally went in thinking it would be more found footage than it was, but that’s not a bad thing at all. It really feels like a more commercial, less-sleazy version of ‘The Poughkeepsie Tapes’.

4/5

“Strange Harvest” is available to rent or buy on VOD services such as Vudu & Prime Video.

‘Til Next Time,
Mike Cleopatra