Strange Harvest review lurid horror expertly disguised as true crime

"For its first few minutes, this comes on like a standard true crime documentary: establishing shots of the Greater Los Angeles area, talking heads introduce themselves as police officers and friends of the victims, and we zoom in on a handwritten list of names until one particular name fills the screen. All the tricks of the trade are here, and director Stuart Ortiz plays things more or less straight."

"The story, about a masked killer called Mr Shiny (if you think this name strains credibility, don't forget there are real serial killers nicknamed the Happy Face Killer, the Dating Game Killer and the Doodler), is functional enough. There are lurid details of the killings, and police officers talking about how the crimes were beyond belief; there are taunting notes from the murderer; passages where the trail goes cold; moments when the police nearly catch Mr Shiny, only for him to slip through their fingers."

"The only area in which Strange Harvest is a little disappointing is in its practical effects the prosthetics and gore work. Everything else looks exactly as it should, but the footage and photographs of the bodies lack the same precise verisimilitude. This wouldn't matter in a straightforward goofy horror movie, but here it leaps out as clunky and fake. Indeed, if you didn't know that you were watching fiction, it would be your first real clue."

For its first minutes the film adopts familiar true-crime documentary markers: establishing shots of Greater Los Angeles, talking-head police interviews, and a focus on a handwritten list of names. The film is a mockumentary horror about a masked killer called Mr Shiny, featuring lurid killing details, taunting notes, cold trails, and moments when police nearly catch the murderer. The fictional status reduces moral complications that arise with real true-crime portrayals. Practical effects—particularly prosthetics and gore—feel artificial and undermine verisimilitude. Other re-creation elements and casting feel highly convincing, with performers fitting their character types authentically.

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