The Harvest

2013

1h 44m

Mystery & Thriller

List

71%

24 Reviews

Tomatometer

41%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A physician (Samantha Morton) who keeps her dying son completely secluded becomes unhinged when she learns that her new neighbor (Natasha Calis) has secretly befriended the boy.

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Critics Consensus

The Harvest sows enough well-acted, slow-burning tension to satisfy, even if viewers expecting to reap all-out horror may come away wanting more.

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ronald h

You'll have a hard time believing what happens in "The Harvest." Halfway through, you'll be getting skeptical. Ninety minutes in, you'll be rolling your eyes in disbelief. In the final act, you'll probably be slapping yourself. But I guarantee you'll keep watching anyway. Disconcertingly straightforward and unaffected, this aptly titled film inexorably builds tension without any of the usual cheap scares we see in horror movies. Actually, it's barely a horror movie. There's no gore, no ghosts or monsters, just a seemingly well meaning but rather suspicious mom who's played perfectly by Samantha Morton. And she's damn scary. She's Katherine, a doctor, married to Richard (Michael Shannon), a nurse. Richard is taking a leave from his job to keep an eye on their young son Andy (Charlie Tahan), who's confined to a wheelchair. His condition is never explained, but Richard believes that physical activity will get him better, while Katherine insists on keeping him confined to his bedroom. The kid is unhappy and lonely, but he gets a break when Maryann (Natahsa Calis) a neighbor girl living with her grandparents, spies him through his bedroom window. She climbs through the window and plays video games with him. This is clearly good for Andy, who needs a friend, but Katherine disapproves. Tension mounts as Maryann continues to sneak over whenever she can to visit Andy, until Katherine finally goes to see Maryann's grandparents (Peter Fonda and Leslie Lyles) and insists that she stay away. Maryann, of course, defies the order. Portentousness abounds. We feel viscerally that things are not going to go well. The tension is heightened by the visual presentation. The camera plays no tricks, as it typically does in scary films. Instead, it puts all of the action center screen, which is more of a television technique. It's like watching a rather creepy version of "Leave it to Beaver"--at least until the halfway point, when Maryann discovers something in the family's basement that kicks up the weirdness into a whole different realm. The performances, the direction (by veteran filmmaker John McNaughton), the screenplay (by Stephen Lancellotti), and the sure-handed cinematography (by Rachel Morrison) all work together in near-perfect harmony. "The Harvest" does exactly what it intends, in spite of several illogical moments. And forgive me for the minor spoiler, but I can't resist: It has a happy ending. A really good one.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One of the most intriguing things s out Rotten Tomatoes? Is the differenc between what the professionals rated a movie and the audience. Once again as usual? The Audience score is right at 42 pct. This movie is like a daytime horror on ABC. It's OK.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Audience Member

how to delete review lol

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Audience Member

Also known as Can’t Come Out To Play. Really tense thriller with some fantastic acting from Samantha Morton, Michael Shannon and the two main children. At times it felt a bit like the tension created in “Misery” between the mother and son

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/19/19

Full Review

Audience Member

Good premise. The ending could have been developed a bit more and made it a much better movie overall.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/07/18

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Audience Member

Powerfully dark and twisted fairy tale. Samantha Morton is terrific here. This is real creepy stuff. ***1/2

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

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John McNaughton

Director

Samantha Morton

Katherine

Michael Shannon

Richard

Natasha Calis

Maryann

Charlie Tahan

Andy

Peter Fonda

Grandfather

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Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

At its creepiest, "The Harvest" plays like something ripped from the section of a community newspaper devoted to all things rural and weird.

Apr 23, 2015

Full Review

Peter Sobczynski

RogerEbert.com

A smart and strong genre work that makes up for a relative lack of gore and viscera with plenty of tension and suspense and a number of impressive performances.

Rated: 3.5/4

Apr 10, 2015

Full Review

Jeannette Catsoulis

New York Times

There may be little to give you the collywobbles, but there's quite a lot to enjoy, with Ms. Morton heading the list.

Apr 9, 2015

Full Review

Michelle Swope

HorrorNews.net

This film has some great plot twists and a surprise ending and was overall very well done.

Rated: 5/5

Jun 22, 2019

Full Review

Abbie Bernstein

Assignment X

The Harvest is more tense and disturbing than out and out scary, but it's done well enough for us to take it seriously and reflect on the fact that there is nothing more deadly than a human being who is sure that worthy ends justify any means.

Rated: B

Dec 19, 2018

Full Review

Caroline Madden

Screen Queens

The Harvest is a chilling domestic horror with no frills, just a small town terror that dissects the coldness of human relationships.

Dec 7, 2018

Full Review

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Synopsis

A physician (Samantha Morton) who keeps her dying son completely secluded becomes unhinged when she learns that her new neighbor (Natasha Calis) has secretly befriended the boy.

Director: John McNaughton
Producer: Gerald Kessler, Stephen Hays, Peter Graham, Sean Davis
Screenwriter: Stephen Lancellotti
Production Co: Elephant Eye Films
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 5, 2016
Runtime: 1h 44m

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