Written by: Michael Den Boer on December 10th, 2007
Theatrical Release Date: USA, 2006
Director: Jason Christ
Writer: Jason Christ
Cast: Emily Haack, Lisa Morrison, Julie Farrar, Eric Spudic, Eric Stanze, Benjamin Gaa, David Propst
DVD released: August 14th, 2007
Approximate running time: 119 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Full Frame
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English
Subtitles: N/A
DVD Release: Elite Entertainment
Region Coding: Region 1 NTSC
Retail Price: $14.98
Synopsis: The death of crew member while making his latest low budget horror film forces filmmaker Tyge Murdock (Benjamin Gaa) to step back and re-evaluate his troubled life. Shortly after his return home Tyge runs into several of his olds friends many who he hasn’t seen or heard from in over ten years. Old things like the massacre that happened tens years ago return to the surface as Tyge, his ex-girlfriend, Deke and his roommate Zack decided to visit the site of the carnage and retrace everyone’s last steps. Will they find the truth that they so desperately seek or will they unleash something more sinister then they ever hoped to encounter?
Savage Harvest 2: October Blood, marks the feature film debut of filmmaker Jason Christ who previously had directed several short films and documentaries for Wicked Pixel Cinema. Years before having seen its predecessor Savage Harvest I had a general idea of what I was in for and what to expect with its sequel Savage Harvest 2: October Blood. Visually director Jason Christ shows that he is the real deal with his fluid camera work and stylized compositions which add to the films overall atmosphere.
The plot which is also written by Jason Christ does a solid job balancing what made the first film work and coming back this time around with more fleshed out characters. Reportedly nearly sixty hours of footage were shot and I can believe it because the film runs a tad too long at nearly two hours. Horror films especially indie ones are most effective when they are around eighty to ninety minutes in length.
Anyone familiar with Wicked Pixel and their films will notice many familiar faces in the film like Emily Haack (Scarpbook) Benjamin Gaa (Deadwood Park), Eric Stanze (director of Savage Harvest) and Lisa Morrison (Savage Harvest) who all give their best performances to date. Despite its slow buildup Savage Harvest 2: October Blood does deliver in the blood and guts department with most of the meat happening near the end of the film. Ultimately Savage Harvest 2: October Blood is a solid sequel that in many ways surpasses the original film.
The DVD:
This shot on digital video production is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio. Outside of some mild edge enhancement and compression the image looks crisp, colorful and free of any major defects.
This release comes with only one audio choice a Dolby Digital stereo mix in English. Music, effects and dialog sound evenly balanced. There are no problems with hiss or any other audio defects.
This DVD really excels in the extras department and there are plenty of them spread over this 2 disc set. Extras include 6 Deleted Scenes with optional audio commentary with director/writer Jason Christ, outtakes (10 minutes), a stills montage (3 minutes), medical video (3 minutes), two preview trailers and trailers for other Wicked Pixel productions and three short films, “The Quiet Place” (15 minutes) with optional audio commentary with director/writer Jason Christ, “Vision” (4 1/2 minutes) and “Blurred. Rounding out the extras are three audio commentaries found on disc 1 and a sixty nine minute documentary about the making of Savage Harvest 2: October Blood found on disc 2. In this day and age it is rare that a film gets a definitive release out of the gate and that is what you get when you purchase Elite Entertainments superb 2 DVD set for Savage Harvest 2: October Blood.