Eradicating its South African origins, pretending that the open plains of the country are those of America's Midwest, this is an imitation of an American slasher movie with ageing character actor Steve Railsback imported to lend minor star power. His image and performance are eerily similar to that of Anthony Perkins in the latter Psycho sequels.
Slasher formula dictates that we have a killer, a group of youths and an isolated location in which to kill them one by one. The killer is a combination of both the Creeper, first seen in Jeepers Creepers (2001), in his scarecrow-like clothes, and Leatherface, wearing a crudely constructed mask. His weapon of choice is a scythe, giving him an additional reaper quality.
The youths themselves, here twenty-somethings, are members of a band called Slash whose lead vocalist is the protagonist. He's a typically sculpted, Whalberg-esque type whose aesthetic potential is exploited in one especially gratuitous woodcutting scene.
His uncharacteristically feisty girlfriend is the bass player, played by British Zuleikha Robinson, familiar from the short-lived "Lone Gunmen" series (2002). The group is rounded out with a guitarist, drummer, keyboardist (!), groupie and manager. Circumstance brings all these characters together to play 'unravel the mysterious past and discover the identity of the killer' on a farm, eliminating requirements for extras and exploitation of a selection of buildings and cornfields.
It is clear that this is not some cheap wannabe, but a genuine attempt to create a respectable genre entry. This is a straight but tongue-in-cheek movie, there's even a farm owner called MacDonald and the characters joke about this just as we would. Sex and gore are present but in keeping with the more subdued nature of the recent American films, as evidenced by its 15 certificate, which it shares with the likes of Jason X (2001) and Halloween Resurrection (2001). While the content may be cliché, it is in the striking cinematography that the film truly shines. Cinematographer Mark Lennard shoots the rural locations with the same eye as Daniel Pearl, including a striking use of low angle shots and a sharp focus on the clouds in the sky.
The patented mix of postmodern slasher conventions, including pop culture dialogue, unfolds over just under 90 minutes. The hero returns home, uncovers his family's dark past and puts a stop to the dastardly "Harvest of Blood." Setting the tone with a stylishly shot 'couple get killed' scene, director Neal Sunderstrom delivers everything we want from a film like this and caps it off with chase through a corn field by a threshing machine and typical twist ending.
At times Sunderstrom seems to be blatantly breaking the rules of the genre, with the only two sexually active members of the group surviving the carnage, but this is nowhere near the standards of the best in the genre. There is an attempt to take emphasis from gore and lean toward performance, but unfortunately the cast are unable to compliment the standard set by Railsback and the film disappoints as a result. While the idea of making the protagonists a band is an interesting one it ultimately weakens the clichéd narrative; the beginning and ending of the film are drawn out with insufferably dire ballads.
Slasher formula dictates that we have a killer, a group of youths and an isolated location in which to kill them one by one. The killer is a combination of both the Creeper, first seen in Jeepers Creepers (2001), in his scarecrow-like clothes, and Leatherface, wearing a crudely constructed mask. His weapon of choice is a scythe, giving him an additional reaper quality.
The youths themselves, here twenty-somethings, are members of a band called Slash whose lead vocalist is the protagonist. He's a typically sculpted, Whalberg-esque type whose aesthetic potential is exploited in one especially gratuitous woodcutting scene.
His uncharacteristically feisty girlfriend is the bass player, played by British Zuleikha Robinson, familiar from the short-lived "Lone Gunmen" series (2002). The group is rounded out with a guitarist, drummer, keyboardist (!), groupie and manager. Circumstance brings all these characters together to play 'unravel the mysterious past and discover the identity of the killer' on a farm, eliminating requirements for extras and exploitation of a selection of buildings and cornfields.
It is clear that this is not some cheap wannabe, but a genuine attempt to create a respectable genre entry. This is a straight but tongue-in-cheek movie, there's even a farm owner called MacDonald and the characters joke about this just as we would. Sex and gore are present but in keeping with the more subdued nature of the recent American films, as evidenced by its 15 certificate, which it shares with the likes of Jason X (2001) and Halloween Resurrection (2001). While the content may be cliché, it is in the striking cinematography that the film truly shines. Cinematographer Mark Lennard shoots the rural locations with the same eye as Daniel Pearl, including a striking use of low angle shots and a sharp focus on the clouds in the sky.
The patented mix of postmodern slasher conventions, including pop culture dialogue, unfolds over just under 90 minutes. The hero returns home, uncovers his family's dark past and puts a stop to the dastardly "Harvest of Blood." Setting the tone with a stylishly shot 'couple get killed' scene, director Neal Sunderstrom delivers everything we want from a film like this and caps it off with chase through a corn field by a threshing machine and typical twist ending.
At times Sunderstrom seems to be blatantly breaking the rules of the genre, with the only two sexually active members of the group surviving the carnage, but this is nowhere near the standards of the best in the genre. There is an attempt to take emphasis from gore and lean toward performance, but unfortunately the cast are unable to compliment the standard set by Railsback and the film disappoints as a result. While the idea of making the protagonists a band is an interesting one it ultimately weakens the clichéd narrative; the beginning and ending of the film are drawn out with insufferably dire ballads.