You'll have a hard time believing what happens in "The Harvest." Halfway through, you'll be getting skeptical. Ninety minutes in, you'll be rolling your eyes in disbelief. In the final act, you'll probably be slapping yourself. But I guarantee you'll keep watching anyway. Disconcertingly straightforward and unaffected, this aptly titled film inexorably builds tension without any of the usual cheap scares we see in horror movies. Actually, it's barely a horror movie. There's no gore, no ghosts or monsters, just a seemingly well meaning but rather suspicious mom who's played perfectly by Samantha Morton. And she's damn scary. She's Katherine, a doctor, married to Richard (Michael Shannon), a nurse. Richard is taking a leave from his job to keep an eye on their young son Andy (Charlie Tahan), who's confined to a wheelchair. His condition is never explained, but Richard believes that physical activity will get him better, while Katherine insists on keeping him confined to his bedroom. The kid is unhappy and lonely, but he gets a break when Maryann (Natahsa Calis) a neighbor girl living with her grandparents, spies him through his bedroom window. She climbs through the window and plays video games with him. This is clearly good for Andy, who needs a friend, but Katherine disapproves. Tension mounts as Maryann continues to sneak over whenever she can to visit Andy, until Katherine finally goes to see Maryann's grandparents (Peter Fonda and Leslie Lyles) and insists that she stay away. Maryann, of course, defies the order. Portentousness abounds. We feel viscerally that things are not going to go well. The tension is heightened by the visual presentation. The camera plays no tricks, as it typically does in scary films. Instead, it puts all of the action center screen, which is more of a television technique. It's like watching a rather creepy version of "Leave it to Beaver"--at least until the halfway point, when Maryann discovers something in the family's basement that kicks up the weirdness into a whole different realm. The performances, the direction (by veteran filmmaker John McNaughton), the screenplay (by Stephen Lancellotti), and the sure-handed cinematography (by Rachel Morrison) all work together in near-perfect harmony. "The Harvest" does exactly what it intends, in spite of several illogical moments. And forgive me for the minor spoiler, but I can't resist: It has a happy ending. A really good one.

One of the most intriguing things s out Rotten Tomatoes? Is the differenc between what the professionals rated a movie and the audience. Once again as usual? The Audience score is right at 42 pct. This movie is like a daytime horror on ABC. It's OK.

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Also known as Can’t Come Out To Play. Really tense thriller with some fantastic acting from Samantha Morton, Michael Shannon and the two main children. At times it felt a bit like the tension created in “Misery” between the mother and son

Good premise. The ending could have been developed a bit more and made it a much better movie overall.

Powerfully dark and twisted fairy tale. Samantha Morton is terrific here. This is real creepy stuff. ***1/2

The horror gradually unfolds in this well written and well acted film. Don't expect gore or cheap shocks; instead expect an increasingly chilling story that keeps you engaged until the end.

Not great but good and worth watching.

Exceptionally long for a film of this type, it's not a bad situational horror film, although there's nothing groundbreaking about it as well. The twist is easy to guess too.

Creepy and suspenseful but painstakingly slow paced. The Harvest suffers from a poor narrative and dull performance which is a terrible shame considering its intriguing plot.

One the best movies I've watched in a while. Great plot and a fantastic double twist that literary game me chills. Though I have no idea of the purpose of the opening scene.

This was a truly innovative film and one of the few times I have been genuinely shocked by the plot twist, or should I say double plot twist. However, there are HUGE plot holes that were impossible to forgive. I could not deal with the fact that she didn't call the police! I literally screamed "call the police!" for the entire 3rd part of the movie. Also, the young girl's grandfather was insufferable. How in the world could he dismiss her allegations without so much as checking it out or reporting it (again, "Call the POLICE!")? There is no way a young girl new to the town could have conjured up a story like that. I know they tried to give the grandfather a laid back/hippie parent vibe, but no responsible adult would ignore something like that. Just for those two reasons, I cannot give this film the 4.5 or 5 stars that it would otherwise deserve.

Although Michael Shannon is very good in this (what else is new), Samatha Morton steals the show. Solid thriller.

Despite its occasional cleverness and two great performances from Shannon and Morton, The Harvest can't help but feel poorly executed, filled with plot holes and general illogical behavior from its questionably written characters

What a twist crazy bitch

THE HARVEST takes its sweet time getting to the unsettling elements, but once they arrive, they're truly upsetting. Those expecting graphic horror or unparalleled terror should look elsewhere, for even as the film is absolutely effective in its chills (and even more for the implications of its ideas), the bulk of the story revolves around the relationship between two lonely kids. It is this relationship that is the movie's backbone, and it is completely charming and (for lack of a better word) sweet, and it is well-etched by Tahan and Calis. In some ways, the movie is like the most grounded and grim installment of the GOOSEBUMPS series never written, and while the darker edges don't immediately reveal themselves, they're worth the wait. The story employs a twist that I suspect many will see coming (I certainly did, not to pat myself on the back), but that fact doesn't lessen the impact of it when it plays out. Morton and Shannon do excellent work in their parts; Shannon has a great, sad-hangdog thing going on here as he plays a character who so clearly doesn't want to be in the situation he's caught in but is constantly beaten down and over-ridden by Morton's character. Morton, for her part, manages to be be both sympathetic and totally unhinged; she 100% commits to her character's increasing derangement in ways that might remind some of elements of MISERY or CARRIE. THE HARVEST is a small film - though one that looks considerably slicker than you might expect (complete with some nice autumn atmosphere) - but the strength of its unsettling premise and its four central performances are enough to push it over the top.

It's one of those movies where the low budget production is obvious in a bad way, but the performances and the original(ish) plot and twist were pretty awesome.

This movie is quite simply awful. Multiple plot holes, bad acting, and horrible cinematography. Don't waste your time, or trust the other inexplicably positive reviews. You've been warned.

The movie starts out slow. VERY slow but be patient and all is revealed & the truth is surprisingly interesting. I'd recommend this to a friend, but probably wouldn't take the time to watch it again and again.

The truth always finds its way out. The Majority of us don't even this movie is exist. Because they never promoted it and it never theatrically released. But I came across and accidentally found it, then I decided to give it a try like my usual support for the unnoticed flicks. In fact, the movie surprised me, the story was so much better than I thought, I mean awesome. But the movie had its own defects which lets it down. From the director of 'Wild Things', another decent suspense-thriller after almost 15 years. Facially I recognised some of the actors, but did not know their names, except Michael Shannon. This story is set in a rural town, and most of the scenes were shot in an isolated house and its surroundings. A young girl Maryann, who moved to live with her grandparents after her parents' death, befriends a lonely, very sick boy Andy who has always been in the bed all his life. After a while it becomes a secret relationship once the boy's mother forbids seeing each other due to the severeness of the ill. But only until the secret comes out which leads the boy in jeopardy. So what follows is the double twist, one after another and a fitting conclusion. "What's the difference between god and a doctor? God doesn't think he's a doctor." Felt like I got a very good thriller here, but I extremely disappointed with the performances. To me the actings were the worst part in the entire film, along with a few scenes that I didn't like. Like I said, no doubt about the storyline, one of the best in the recent times, but the screenplay was utterly stupid in a few parts. Those should have been improvised for a better outcome. Especially I can't take it the way the girl for the first time meets the boy. The situation, the development, all were so silly, but somehow they had to come together where the rest of the story builds. I know I'm kind of criticising it and I'm not intensely doing that. If it was a television movie, hundreds of excuses can be given, but it was not. Initially I expected it to be a creepy flick with haunting stuffs, but soon after I realised it was another kind of horror which I call them a terror-horror (uninvolvement of ghost, spirit, zombie, et cetera, but the human who creates a terrifying atmosphere). The opening was very unusual, but comes to the point very quickly. From introducing the characters to developing the story, it took time as it is not a short movie. I never got bored, it kept me awake till the end credit. Storywise, I enjoyed it. If it was corrected all the flawed areas as I mentioned, would have been eased to accept the film by everyone. I feel it is worth suggesting, but not to everybody. If you are looking for a mystery film, then you could try it. Despite whatever I said negatively about it, I still can't able to hate it completely. Obviously it is underrated, it deserves to be praised from the one angle. In another I can't pretend like I don't see the flaws. If somebody is going to remake it in 20-30 years later from now, I'll be old and I expect them to emend the mistakes this one made. 7/10