By Geno McGahee
A lot of Native Americans are either responsible for troubles within a horror movie or are there to help the people fighting an evil force. If you have problems with natural problems like the Sasquatch or some other beast of the woods, you will often find one of the characters contacting a mysterious Native American for advice. If you have a ghost problem, it is highly likely that your house was built on an ancient Indian burial ground. You never find a normal Native American in a horror movie…I guess that is my point. It is sort of like fat girls in horror movies. They are always stuffing their faces excessively, just enforcing the idea that they are obese. Horror movies are known for stereotyping people.
So in the 1994 horror indie “SAVAGE HARVEST” we have the legend of a Cherokee tribe that accidentally released some demonic spirits into the world. Flashbacks of the Cherokee chief crying and sitting next to a fire accompany the story. So we are dealing with demons here and a group of young adults that are camping near a lake. Of course, the Cherokee curse comes forth and the campers begin to turn into killer demons, much like the movie EVIL DEAD.
I mention EVIL DEAD because this movie is so heavily inspired by it. What SAVAGE HARVEST did well was to have very good gore for this level of film, but that is where the positive elements end. The acting is beyond dreadful. I can deal with bad acting, but the director should also be called into question. When the friends are becoming possessed and are getting ripped apart and the threat of the demons is eminent, the survivors seem oblivious to everything. There is zero emotion and it takes away from the little that this movie has going for it.
On top of the camper demons, the Cherokee Chief has returned in demon form with horns and all that, coming for the survivors. Once again, the makeup and special effects are very good for this level, but everything else is very poor. It is an empty story with a lot of loose ends and inconsistent characters. The focus just seemed to be to make a movie like EVIL DEAD, make it gory, and don’t focus on stupid little things like plot, character development, and dialogue.
SAVAGE HARVEST is a terrible movie. If you just want to watch a bad micro budget film with good gore, then this is for you. Other than that, this film really doesn’t have any redeemable qualities. I had a hard time getting through it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 2/10. Good gore, bad movie.
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