Blood Harvest (1987)

Director:

Bill Rebane

Writers:

Ben Benson (writer)
Emil Joseph (writer)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

In a small town, people are being murdered by having their throats cut.

Plot Keywords:

Clown | Barn | Brother | Slasher | Paintball

Cast

Tiny Tim	...	Marvelous Mervo
Itonia Salchek	...	Jill (as Cari Salochek)
Dean West	...	Gary (as Ed Bevin)
Lori Minnetti	...	Sarah
Peter Krause	...	Boyfriend
Frank Benson	...	Sheriff
Albert Jaggard	...	Priest
William Dexter	...	Man in Cafe
Ariene Dexter	...	1st Bank Teller
Jeanette Belant	...	2nd Bank Teller
Pete Van Ryan	...	Auctioneer
H. Woodward	...	Asst. Auctioneer
Randy Scott	...	Game Player
Chris Jahnke	...	Game Player
Jim Zabella	...	Game Player

Also Known As:

The Marvelous Mervo (USA) (video title)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Gleason, Wisconsin, USA

Trivia:

Tiny Tim was making a personal appearance at a beer carnival in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, in 1985, and local filmmaker Bill Rebane was in the audience. He had an idea for a horror film and decided to see if Tiny Tim was interested in appearing in it. He was. This is the result.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater: (1994-09-17)" (1994)

Very underrated 80's slasher flick

A young woman (Itona Salochek) comes back from college to find her parents missing and their home vandalized. She suspects the worst since her dad was in charge of foreclosing on local farms for the bank. The local sheriff is less than helpful though (he's much more interested in his softball league). Meanwhile, she finds herself the object of rather obsessive attention from her former childhood boyfriend and his oddball, mentally challenged brother (Tiny Tim) who sings creepy songs and dresses up like clown (the "Marvelous Mervo").

For some reason, slasher fans don't seem to care for this movie, perhaps because the first murder doesn't occur until some forty minutes in. They're certainly suitably bloody though with victims being tied up upside-down and their throats slit so they can be bled like pigs. There's also a lot of time for character development, which in the case of Ms. Salochek fortunately means many long, completely gratuitous, full-frontal nude scenes (She's actually not that attractive with her clothes on, but wait until she takes them off. Wow!) This is also kind of an unusual setting for a slasher movie. If John Cougar Mellencamp ever made a horror movie it might look something like this. The director, Bill Rebane, is one of these guys who can't really be called "good" or "talented", but his movies are always interesting. He once dressed a VW Bug up as a giant spider in "The Giant Spider Invasion". "The Capture of Bigfoot" was one of the most wacko of many wacko 70's bigfoot movies. "The Demons of Ludlow" was the touching story of a small Midwestern town and their demonically-possessed grand piano. This movie is pretty much the same way, especially considering the main stars were a never-to-be-seen-again Eastern European actress who can't keep her clothes on for five minutes, and Tiny Tim, a VERY odd folk singer from the late 1960's. (He's surprisingly good though).

It does have its flaws. It's pretty slow in places, and the identity of the killer is pretty obvious as there are only two or three possible suspects (and one them is the reddest herring imaginable). Still, I saw this movie back-to-back with "Nail Gun Massacre", a movie slasher-movie fans really rave about, but I liked this one far better. Recommended, no matter what anyone else says.