Synopsis
A New York commercial artist and his wife and daughter move to a quiet, rustic New England village they visited during their travels, only to find themselves mixed up in ritualistic lifestyle full of foreboding secrets.
The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
Cast
Bette Davis David Ackroyd Joanna Miles Rosanna Arquette René Auberjonois John Calvin Norman Lloyd Linda Marsh Michael O'Keefe Laurie Prange Donald Pleasence Lina Raymond Tracey Gold Stephen Joyce Michael Durrell Martin Shakar Grayce Grant Stephen Gustafson Rich Geary Bill Balhatchet Kathleen Howland Phoebe Alexander John Daheim Dick Durock James Kall Richard Venture
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Alternative Titles
Kuoleman sato, Тёмный секрет праздника урожая
Popular reviews
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Leaving to join a Bette Davis women's cult in, I'm guessing, Pennsylvania (also willing to check upstate New York)
Please do not look for me.
(note left on kitchen table six months before the utter collapse of the United States as we know it, er, sort of - well, u know what I mean. The point is: Marna Larsen was never seen or heard from again.)
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Midsommar meets Children of the Corn meets Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, with Bette Davis and a 4 hour runtime. Goodness this was long but it was so good, the best 70s horror aesthetics.
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Well, I finally attacked this 4-hour behemoth of folk horror which I've been meaning to see for years. I've been hoping against hope for a disc release but there must be rights issues with it. In fact, the awful, fifth-generation VHS rip on YouTube of a TNT broadcast, which is about the only way to see it, even had a moment where they are singing a song in a church and the audio drops out only for the song. So, perhaps the rights issue is one damn song that somebody wants payment for? Anyway...
It was worth the wait. Sure, the story doesn't play out in any surprising way whatsoever, but you can hardly blame old movies for being the…
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I probably would have enjoyed The Dark Secret of Harvest Home more if I hadn't read Thomas Tryon's novel last year, this was a fairly faithful TV movie adaptation although the casting was bizarre, as much as I love Bette Davis she wasn't at all right for the Widow Fortune making the movie version of the character (not just the phoned in performance from Davis) a blight to the whole damn adaptation.
Although I learned something new from this adaptation, apparently Sean and Chris Penn's dad was a director/actor too, he directed The Dark Secret of Harvest Home!!
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This isn’t necessarily a story that warrants a four-hour mini series, but it does pretty good with that runtime to keep you engaged with the mystery at the core of this little New England town. It’s like the American answer to The Wicker Man, with Bette Davis assuming a Lord Summerisle-type character and overseeing everything that goes on in town. In fact, this has a lot in common with the Wicker Man remake as well, minus the Nicholas Cage overacting. Trim this back a little to maybe three hours, and this is a solid bit of made-for-TV horror.
Added to:
• 1978 Horror — D Edward Ranks (11 / 24) -
I got some 24 hour virus yesterday (fun fact: you can usually tell when I'm sick on Letterboxd because I watch a ton of films and can't be bothered to review them) and decided to end my day of sinuses with a long TV movie. I was never going to make it the whole way through, but I had to try!
I made it through the first half and freakin' loved it. It was like Midsommar, told from Jack Reynor's character's perspective. Throw in a little Hardy and LaBute's Wicker Man (actually a heaping helping of LaBute's) and that comforting TV movie atmosphere that hides the horrors going on in the background, and this could be a real winner!
Watched the second half today. It only got better.
And I couldn't have been the only person watching who kept waiting for Dan Ackroyd to show up.
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Ever since I saw Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, I've been trying to track down the book this is based on. However, I got beyond impatient and decided to watch the movie (or rather, the mini series) first, because the book isn't turning up in any of the bookstores I visit.
Having finished it and having read some other reviews, I really wish that I waited because apparently, this is underwhelming compared to its source material.
Bette David GILF tho.
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"A place frozen in time, no fast food joints, no neon signs..."
Watching this, it occurred to me how strange it is that they aren't more folk horror miniseries around. It's the ideal format for the slow-burn pacing and character-focused narrative most use, and I'd be lying if I said that this doesn’t hugely benefit from allowing its story room to breathe, filler aside. It's not outstanding or anything, but you could do far worse if you’re in the mood for some quaint cottagecore horror.
I’d certainly be interested in seeing what a reimagining of this same story now might look like, especially with how this already explores how dangerous the fetishization of a "simpler" way of life can become.
Light 3/5 stars
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I read the book earlier this week and really REALLY loved it. Instantly knew it to be one of my favorites. And this is a pretty faithful adaptation, most of what is changed are characterizations that alternately make Nick a more obviously disagreeable piece of shit, and take away a lot of the gut-punch feeling from the ending. Tryon does a fantastic job writing from the POV of Nick, where you’re never quite sure just how accurate his perspective is, and your the grasp on the mystery is at his speed.
I really love made-for-TV horror, especially those of the past, but watching The Dark Secret of Harvest Home gave me an even greater appreciation for Salem’s Lot and Dark Night of…
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This tv miniseries was later combined into a whopping 3 hours plus change movie that was shown on NBC first then on cable later down the line.
A rare find that I discovered on YouTube with VHS grade feeling to it. The movie itself was broken into two parts.
Part one: Things get slow going here but you get to know the characters and small town that have some folk horror and dark secrets holding there for it. Nothing scary here but you can feel the dark feeling surfacing as you near the end of part one.
Part two: This will be the bigger watch of the two part since more drama and mystery solving will be involved. It took…
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Harvest Home out corns Children of the Corn. The corn is practically a character in this made for tv classic.
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