When genre fans are starting out on their path to, as Troma's Lloyd Kaufman might say, "Make your own damn movie!" they're apt to emulate some of their favourites. In that case, Savage Harvest writer-director Eric Stanze must really love The Evil Dead as he's taken that 1982 classic's basic premise of people being killed in the woods by demonic forces and thrown in some Native-American mysticism for good measure. This makes for a pretty breezy 71 minutes of entertainment that may get be a little hindered by the amateurish cast and jumpy script but more than makes up for it with possession hijinks that has some impressive effects work by Tony Bridges including a screwdriver to the head, a nicely done "head blown off by shotgun" scene, and a little bit of gut-munching for good measure.

Things open up with a scene that Stanze and company tacked on at the distributor's request (a fact mentioned on one of the DVD commentary tracks) that has a Native medicine man summoning a demon before being pinned down by members of his tribe and having a wooden stake hammered through his head. Then it's on to present day where Mikki (Lisa Morrison) is being offered a job as head counsellor at a local summer camp. Unsure if she wants to take the position, she decides to join up with her friend Karen (Ramona Midgett) who's gathering together a group of people to head-off to her Uncle's cabin for the weekend in order to clean up the barn.

It's here that Stanze tries to put in some mild, but ultimately pointless, character development by having Mikki's estranged boyfriend Jeff (David Berliner) show up for the ride and he also throws in your standard "I'm telling you the history of the area around a camp site" scene where Karen's Uncle talks about a medicine man who was killed when his tribes crops died after he performed a ritual and how some ancient rocks with various symbols on them can allow demons to possess the living.

And from there things start to happen, and right quick, as people begin getting possessed, victims are attacked seemingly out of nowhere at all times, and there's a few sequences where negative exposure shots and chaos rules when people try to get by a protective barrier that's keeping them all trapped there. Everything is just tossed at the screen with little regard for story, which isn't a hugely bad thing because there's enough bloodshed on hand to keep things rolling. Plus, where else are you going to see a demonic creature with a barbed tongue?

This is just so over-the-top and in your face that it's not that hard to ignore the fact that most of the cast are making their acting debuts (and it shows with all the stiff line delivery on hand) with Rick Fischer faring fine as Uncle Gary and Morrison not that bad in the heroine roll. But most of them would get a chance to hone their craft, as they'd all appear in subsequent Wicked Pixel productions.

In the world of mid-90's shoestring budget horror flicks, Savage Harvest isn't that bad at all. It doesn't have the experimental vibe that later Stanze efforts like Ice From The Sun would but it's a good enough starting point that he'd proceed to build-on. Not a lot of do-it-yourself filmmakers from that time are still going strong but he's managed to gather together a good group of collaborators and continues to make some of the more interesting indie horror around.

Followed, twelve years later, by a sequel. (Chris Hartley, 4/16/09)

Directed By: Eric Stanze.
Written By: Eric Stanze.

Starring: Lisa Morrison, Ramona Midgett, William Clifton, David Berliner.

Picture Ratio: Full Frame.

Picture Quality: Shot-on-video for next to no money, Savage Harvest doesn't look great on DVD as it's a little soft and suffers from some pixelation and digital noise. That being said, once you consider those factors, it's about what you'd expect.

Extras: Previously released on DVD by Sub Rosa, this "Special Collector's Edition" contains not a bad batch of extras as we get two trailers (plus trailers for other Wicked Pixel films), a photo gallery, the Stanze directed music video for Hotel Faux Pas' "Put Your Feet in the Wedding Cake", some behind-the-scenes footage that gives a glimpse into the world of DIY filmmaking, and three commentary tracks.

Of the three commentaries the best one seems to be ported over from Sub Rosa's DVD as Stanze and co-star/producer D.J. Vivona give an informative chat about the making of the film. The track featuring actors Midgett, Rebecca Kennebeck, and producer Jessica Wyman doesn't offer up much of interest and is low-sounding to boot. The last commentary features Stanze, co-star William Clifton, and special guest Jason Christ (who directed the sequel) talking about the film and it proves to be a generally unserious time where you can tell everyone in the room is friends and enjoying themselves.

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