Strange Harvest review – lurid horror expertly disguised as true crime

Stuart Ortiz’s convincingly faked crime documentary details the hunt for a Los Angeles serial killer dubbed Mr ShinyFor 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. In fact it’s a mockumentary: not a parody but instead a horror movie that happens to be told using the format of a true crime documentary.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. Continue reading...

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