Harvest Lake

Four friends go to a cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway, but if you think you know what happens next you are SO fucking wrong.

Harvest Lake has come at a strange time for movies where there's a notable lack of originality and a huge emphasis on the creators giving people what they think they want. From the get-go, Harvest Lake is obviously its own thing; you've never seen a movie like this before, not ever. I highly recommend going in blind, with a bare minimum idea of what is going to happen.

A scene early on leaves us with the impression that there's something not quite right about the lake, but as we get to know the characters, we are eased into a sense of safety. When something finally happens, it's not only totally unexpected but possibly one of the biggest W-T-F moments of all time, and yet it somehow manages to be beautiful.

Speaking of characters, the characters are brilliant. Tristan Risk was so much fun as Cat,  who played sexually confident and downright intense perfectly. A great scene early on where she asks her boyfriend to wear clothes she finds attractive, since she always does the same for him, set her character in stone from the beginning.

In fact, there's a lot of arguably feminist tones within the movie. The girls are more sexual than the guys, and it's never once looked upon negatively. The same can be said about the treatment of LGBT characters. By all means, this isn't the first movie to have gay characters, but it may be the first I've seen where it doesn't feel the need to point out that it has gay characters every time they're on screen. The gender roles are divided, and by the end, they're even blurred.

It's hard for me to call this a horror movie however, as it is definitely more Sci-fi/drama, maybe slightly body horror, but it's never explicitly scary. It reminded me a lot of "Under the Skin", the beautiful cinematography, the subtle intense score and the presence of something that may or may not have been sinister at all. This is the kind of movie that changes depending on how you view it. What may be a disturbing, tentacle-fueled orgy for one viewer will be a commentary on open sexuality and freedom for another.

Harvest Lake pushes the limits on essentially everything, without forcing it down your throat (If you've seen the movie, you're laughing at the pun). Harvest Lake fills the hole in your heart that only movies like Alien and Videodrome could fill. It's absolutely worth your time and is easily the most original movie of it's kind.