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overthinking entertainment
Movie: Strange Harvest
Detectives are thrust into a chilling hunt for "Mr. Shiny"--a sadistic serial killer from the past whose return marks the beginning of a new wave of grotesque, otherworldly crimes tied to a dark cosmic force.
There's a trailer but it makes this seem like the most nerve-jangling horror film ever and neither my partner nor I were scared by it (we still liked it, though).
Written and directed by Stuart Ortiz. Starring Peter Zizzo, Terri Apple, Andy Lauer, Matthew Peschio, and Jessee J. Clarkson.
92% / 65% on Rotten Tomatoes. 3.1 on Letterboxd.
Plot description from IMDb.
posted by johnofjack on Nov 30, 2025 at 4:25 PM
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Oh, and I forgot to mention the JustWatch listing if you want to see what services it's on locally.
For me, the suspense died once I realized (early on) that this was not only a pseudo-documentary "true crime" film but also cosmic horror. I still liked it, though; I thought it was well-made, nailed most of the tropes of true crime, and had better acting than you usually get in pseudo-documentaries (I hesitate to call it a mockumentary; this wasn't played for laughs).
That said, if you're looking for scares, well ... I don't know what to say. Prime example of how horror is deeply subjective? Fears are deeply personal? Not sure.
posted by johnofjack at 4:31 PM
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That's not Albert Shiny, is it?
posted by SPrintF at 5:25 PM
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The killer does use that pseudonym a couple times but it's not the same character. Still, it seems like an authorial choice I wouldn't want to make, using a distinctive name from another work in the same subgenre (I couldn't imagine writing a book about a haunted non-house building and using the name "Jack Torrance," for instance).
posted by johnofjack at 2:18 PM
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