Checking the shelves of a local DVD shop,I spotted a recent looking Horror flick on sale for £1! Finding the movie to surprisingly be selling for a good price on Ebay,I decide to jump into the combine harvester.
The plot:
Wanting to get away from their reliance on digital tech and hoping to repair fracturing family issues, Dinah, Jake and their two kids Steven and Michaela decide to spend time in an Amish community. Unpacking their bags,Dinah begins to hear whispers from some in the community about a grisly event which took place years ago,the after effects of which are still strong enough for Dinah to be quietly told that her and the family should leave the place right now.Pushing the whispers aside,Dinah and Jake start to get stuck into rural life. Whilst their parents dig in the garden,the children begin to see an axe-welding Amish ghost (!) who wants to grow the kids into something special.
View on the film:
Crop-dusting in wide crane shots over the real "Amish Country" Lancaster, PA, editor/director Ivan Kraljevic & cinematographer Cody Cuellar weave a Folk Horror atmosphere pulled by Joel Douek ice-pic score. Limiting bursts of gore to the raw opening and the odd, mythical final crop, debuting (after working on blockbusters like Gangster Squad and the show Agent Carter) director Kraljevic slides on the Folk Horror canvas with ultra-stylised tracking shots following Dinah round the house,and making everything that (unaware to Dinah) moves in the background feel eerily close.
Sending the gang off for some family bonding in an isolated location,the screenplay by Ben Everhart is unable to completely escape from the shadow of The Shining,but Everhart does find room to give the family Drama a sharp turn by making the children the most knowledgeable about what is taking place,and also cleverly twisting the start for a tight fit ending that puts the family in the middle of the harvest. Trying to live the life of the Amish, Everhart wonderfully makes the already unique life style take a strange route by the Folk Horror mood making the lingering looks and restrained dialogue from the locals be mysteriously "off" as Dinah, Jake,Steven and Michaela become part of the harvest.