Strange Harvest isn’t the first mockumentary to assume a true-crime format; Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, and Lake Mungo pioneered that approach years ago. Nor is it the most insightful look into that particular mode of storytelling; the forthcoming Zodiac Killer Project is a far more intricate and illuminating investigation of the genre’s structure, stratagems, and allure.
Nonetheless, 14 years after he made a splash with the found-footage thriller Grave Encounters, writer/director Stuart Ortiz reconfirms his fondness for faux-verisimilitude with his latest, in theaters Aug. 8, whose tale about a California serial killer with supernatural intentions is filtered through a persuasive verité lens that, however skin-deep, underscores the enduring effectiveness of its non-fiction devices.
<video id="HcUQ3n4T" poster="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HcUQ3n4T/poster.jpg"><source src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/videos/HcUQ3n4T.mp4" type="video/mp4"></source></video>The post This True-Crime Thriller About a Supernatural Serial Killer Has a Twist appeared first on The Daily Beast