Night Of The Harvest

A major pillar in the Halloween holiday movie genre has risen from the mists in the masterful modern indie slasher Night Of The Harvest, written and directed by Christopher M. Carter and Jessica Morgan. John (Dustin Rieffer) shows up in costume for a first date with Hanna (Michaela Ivey), with her place all ready for Halloween. Hanna offers John a drink of the good stuff while she gets ready. However, a menacing scarecrow (Jesse Pickering) sneaks into the house and cuts everyone up. Meanwhile, across town, Dane (Jim Carter) is letting his roommate William (Aeric Azana) know that tonight he is going to tell his girlfriend, Audrey (Jessica Morgan), that he loves her.

“…John shows up in costume for a first date with Hanna…a menacing scarecrow sneaks into the house and cuts everyone up.”

Meanwhile, Jacob (Ashton Jordan Ruiz) and Riley (Taylor Noelle Falshaw) hope the group of friends’ Halloween shenanigans stay fairly low-key. That is not what Joyce (Autumn Gubersky) is planning, as she is a cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs over Halloween, as she is dressed like a giant pumpkin in the middle of the day. Audrey is able to talk Joyce into a small get-together at Joyce’s parent’s house in the woods, as she wants to bring her skittish sister, Madison (Brittany Isabell). Madison is still recovering from the incident she survived last Halloween, where she and her date David (John Noble) were attacked in the middle of a cornfield by a murdering scarecrow.

While there is a famous franchise named after the holiday, there is not a huge selection of movies devoted to the appreciation of Halloween. Where are all the Halloween rom-coms, all with endless costume possibilities? There is, however, a triptych of truly great horror movies that are slavish in their devotion to the October holiday. The first is Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, which confirms the difference between movies set on Halloween versus movies that are about Halloween. The second is Trick ‘R Treat, which is the Pulp Fiction of Halloween movies. The third is Night Of The Harvest because there used to be only two, and now there are three. Why? Because it is that f*****g good. We now have three of these movies that go deep into the spirit of Halloween, including all the lights and décor.