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Review of Savage Harvest 2: October Blood
January, 2008
Synopsis: The death of crew member while making his latest low budget horror film forces filmmaker Tyge Murdock (Benjamin Gaa) to step back and re-evaluate his troubled life. Shortly after his return home, Tyge runs into several of his old friends, many of whom he hasn’t seen or heard from in over ten years. Old events like the massacre that happened ten years ago return to the surface as Tyge, his ex-girlfriend, Deke, and his roommate Zack decide to visit the site of the carnage and retrace everyone’s last steps. Will they find the truth that they so desperately seek or will they unleash something more sinister then they ever hoped to encounter?
SAVAGE HARVEST 2: OCTOBER BLOOD marks the feature film debut of filmmaker Jason Christ, who previously had directed several short films and documentaries for Wicked Pixel Cinema. Having seen its predecessor, SAVAGE HARVEST, I had a general idea of what I was in for and what to expect with its sequel, SAVAGE HARVEST 2: OCTOBER BLOOD. Visually, director Jason Christ shows that he is the real deal with his fluid camera work and stylized compositions, which add to the film's overall atmosphere.
The plot, which is also written by Jason Christ, does a solid job balancing what made the first film work, and coming back this time around with more fleshed-out characters. Reportedly nearly sixty hours of footage were shot and I can believe it because the film runs a tad too long at nearly two hours. Horror films, especially indie ones, are most effective when they are around eighty to ninety minutes in length.
Anyone familiar with Wicked Pixel and their films will notice many familiar faces in the film like Emily Haack (SCRAPBOOK), Benjamin Gaa (DEADWOOD PARK), Eric Stanze (director of SAVAGE HARVEST) and Lisa Morrison (SAVAGE HARVEST) who all give their best performances to date. Despite its slow buildup, SAVAGE HARVEST 2: OCTOBER BLOOD does deliver in the blood and guts department with most of the meat happening near the end of the film. Ultimately, SAVAGE HARVEST 2: OCTOBER BLOOD is a solid sequel that in many ways surpasses the original film.
Overall: This shot on digital video production is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio. Outside of some mild edge enhancement and compression the image looks crisp, colorful and free of any major defects. This release comes with only one audio choice, a Dolby Digital stereo mix in English. Music, effects and dialog sound evenly balanced. There are no problems with hiss or any other audio defects. This DVD really excels in the extras department and there are plenty of them spread out over this 2 disc set.
The main extras are three audio commentaries found on disc 1, and a sixty-nine minute documentary about the making of SAVAGE HARVEST 2: OCTOBER BLOOD found on disc 2. In this day and age, it is rare that a film gets a definitive release out of the gate and that is what you get when you purchase Elite Entertainment's superb 2 DVD set for SAVAGE HARVEST 2: OCTOBER BLOOD.
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