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Review of Savage Harvest 2: October Blood
October, 2007
The Plot (from the DVD box):
When Tyge Murdock (Benjamin Gaa), a successful director of low-budget horror films, returns to his hometown to reassess his life after a gruesome accident on the set of his latest film, all new nightmares await him. He crosses paths with former high school sweetheart Ashley Lomack (Emily Haack), who 10 years earlier vanished from his life after a gruesome mass murder. Consumed by rumors of demonic possession surrounding the murders, Tyge finds himself trapped in a deadly chain of events that lead to another night of terror and carnage.
Review:
This one completely slipped in under my radar and knocked my socks off (pardon the terrible saying) - I'd never heard of Wicked Pixel Cinema, I'd never heard of either SAVAGE HARVEST or this sequel, and I didn't know anything about Elite releasing the film until it arrived in my mailbox for review. The surprises continued when I looked at the back of the DVD case and saw the 2 hour running length (wow!) and opened up the case to find not 1, but 2 DVDs (including an entire second disc for all of the extras!)
Surely I was not in for the usual self-made, indie b-fare here, so I grabbed my bowl of popcorn and settled in for some savage entertainment...
...and I was not disappointed. Despite the fact that it is literally a 2 hour movie, it flowed along quite smoothly and I hardly found myself looking at the clock (and when I did it was more for curiosity as opposed to the usual reason - boredom). The first half of the film really sets the tone, characters, back-story, and current plot devices... but soon enough the axe starts flying, blood starts a-spurtin' and the carnage ensues.
I was really impressed with this film, and its overall presentation. It's an ambitious film by any stretch of the imagination, but it delivers on all fronts: story, blood & guts, production values, and dollar value (2 discs? 2 hours? come ON!) Elite done good by picking this one up for distribution and I look forward to checking out more Wicked Pixel Cinema productions in the future.
Video
Presented in its original 4x3 full screen aspect ratio, the visual presentation of this disc is quite strong; especially considering it was originally shot on video. Nice detail, wide array of colors, and no obvious artifacting or video noise - very nice job.
Audio
The included Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo mix is also surprisingly good, delivering a well-mixed and nicely-balanced stereo soundtrack for this li’l gem.
Extras
3 separate audio commentaries:
1 – director
2 - FX artist, exec. producer, director
3 – actors
Behind-the-scenes documentary
Deleted scenes
Blooper reel
Still photo gallery
Trailers
3 short films:
"Vision"
"Blurred"
"The Quiet Place"
Closing Thoughts:
Very well done indie fare, + 2nd disc of extras (!!) = definitely recommended (well worth your time & money!)
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