Elizabeth Harvest (2018) Reviews

• Unexpected and interesting combination of science fiction and horror

  abisio2018-12-12

  A very young woman marries an older doctor. In their honeymoon he shows his impressive house and explains that everything belongs to her but there is one room she should never get into. As it obvious she did to and things get very ugly. Explaining more will ruin the many unpredictable surprises after that event. The movie becomes more interesting and engaging even when its pace is it sometimes a bit slow. The cast is perfect with the calm tone of the movie. Abbey Lee is surprisingly good in a character that needs to generate empathy and sympathy in order for the movie to work. Ciarán Hinds and Matthew Beard are intriguing and mix of good and diabolic as they can be without much effort. The underrated Carla Gugino perfectly handles a mysterious character whose motivations are unclear until the very end. The only major critics could be; the pace that is sometimes a bit slow and those looking for pure horror will be disappointed; this is mix of science fiction and horror; but overall there are many interesting things to think about that will stay with you after the movie ends. In brief; far from shallow a movie that deserves to be seen

• Intriguing movie

  braddy42018-08-11

  This movie is definitely something different, it was interesting and entertaining and somewhat engaging. Having just watched the movie I'm not sure how I feel about it yet other than I'm glad that I stuck with it, having been interested at first and then puzzled for a little bit until it started unfolding. They went out on a limb with this one and I think they got most of what they wanted, it is a good movie.

• The core theme of "Elizabeth Harvest" is Narcissistic abuse

  batmanbatka2018-08-13

  The movie is a symbolical representation of Narcissist-Empath relationship. Sebastian Gutierrez describes a typical abuse dynamics between a Narcissist (the husband) and an Empath (the wife). The Narcissist is brilliant and cruel; the Empath is naive and sensitive. The names of the main characters are not randomly chosen - Henry 8th Tudor executed many of his wives, and Elizabeth is the name of his daughter, who survived his abuse and even thrived as a Queen. The abuse cycle has two phases - an idealization phase, represented as a honeymoon; and a devaluation phase - symbolized by the killing of Elizabeth. The typical Narcissistic abuse cycle repeats six or seven times, thus there are six copies (clones) of Elizabeth, all of them created by Henry. In the sick mind of the Narcissist he virtually "creates" and "destroys" his partner. By saying to Elizabeth not to enter the forbidden room, Henry set a trap for her. He knows that she will "disappoint" him at some point of the "relationship" by disobeying him. So he plans her devaluation and annihilation in advance. The Narcissist even creates his new false ego - Oliver. He has a lover (a secondary source of supply) - Claire and a friend - a tertiary source of narcissistic fuel. The Narcissist harvests energy (positive or negative) from the emotional reactions of other people. The drained emotional energy boosts his ego. He needs constant validation and attention. "You can either torture or be tortured." The most important thing for the Narcissist is to be in control because he feels superior this way. In order to break free from the abuse the Empath has to acquire new knowledge about herself - she has to face her childhood traumas which brought her to this kind of "relationship". Elizabeth educates herself - symbolically represented by the picture of the owl. This is the only thing that she takes when she finally escapes her prison. In the movie there are several references to Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece - "The Shining" - 1980: the road, the tunnel, the villa/Overlook hotel, the secret harvesting room/room 237, naked woman in a bathtub...etc. Brilliant movie! 10/10 Enjoy and educate yourselves!

• Talk About A Weird Honeymoon

  foutainoflife2018-08-12

  I enjoyed this film. It is different. I can't recall seeing another movie that is quite like it. Elizabeth is a newlywed who is honeymooning with her much older billionaire husband at his private mountain property. The only other people present are a female and blind male who are servants. The home is rather large and Elizabeth is free to enjoy all areas of the property with the only exception being a room that her husband, whom we learn to be a intelligent man of science, has specifically denied her access to. Elizabeth, who seems to come off as a bit ditsy, has a curious nature chooses to explore the room after her husband goes out of town on business. It is at this point she learns more than she bargained for and her life takes a turn for the worse. That is about all I can say about the plot without adding spoilers but I didn't see what was coming and I love that about this film. You are introduced to several different plot twists that pull you in different directions. I've seen that a few people weren't impressed by our lead actress and felt that her acting was off. I didn't feel that way. I felt that her acting was very much in line with her character and what may have initially seemed like bad acting is revealed to be a part of her character. I liked it and felt as though it was a good watch.

• Interesting Thriller

  kylepop2018-08-18

  "Elizabeth Harvest" is an intricate indie thriller which does a great job at building up suspense and unease throughout. We are introduced to Elizabeth (Abbey Lee) a beautiful new bride, being taken to her new high tech home by husband Henry (Ciaran Hinds). She meets the housekeeper, uptight Claire (Carla Gugino) and the blind, flower picker Oliver (Matthew Beard). As she tours the grand home, one room in particular catches her eye to which Henry forbids her from ever entering. Shocking discoveries and dark truths are what lies past the frosted glass door, but will Elizabeth enter? Abbey Lee has had small bit parts throughout the past few years and so I was surprised at how great she was in the movie, although the British accent falters somewhat (she's Australian), she maintains our interest as the lead character. The rest of the performers are all on fine form too. Quite a few twists and revaluations happen quick and fast, and these kick off pretty quickly actually (after the first 30 minutes). Overall, I'd recommend this indie thriller.