Movies
[INTERVIEW] Talking ‘Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire’ With Stuart Ortiz
There were many big premieres at Fantastic Fest this year, which continues to solidify the ‘Fantastic’ in their name. Of all the premieres, one stuck out to me more than any: Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Emire. Grave Encounters and Extraterrestrial are two exceptional pieces of horror, and when I learned that one-half of the Vicious Brothers was debuting his solo directorial debut, I was sold.
I was speechless as the credits rolled. Strange Harvest is one of the most frightening, bone-chilling, and all-around fascinating mockumentaries I’ve ever seen. Ortiz’s commitment to authenticity makes Strange Harvest stand out as the best mockumentary this side of Lake Mungo. I was granted the opportunity to sit down and talk with the writer/director about his astounding solo debut and a possible connection it has to one of his earlier films!
An Interview with Strange Harvest Director Stuart Ortiz.
There were many big premieres at Fantastic Fest this year, which continues to solidify the ‘Fantastic’ in their name. Of all the premieres, one stuck out to me more than any: Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Emire. Grave Encounters and Extraterrestrial are two exceptional pieces of horror, and when I learned that one-half of the Vicious Brothers was debuting his solo directorial debut, I was sold.
I was speechless as the credits rolled. Strange Harvest is one of the most frightening, bone-chilling, and all-around fascinating mockumentaries I’ve ever seen. Ortiz’s commitment to authenticity makes Strange Harvest stand out as the best mockumentary this side of Lake Mungo. I was granted the opportunity to sit down and talk with the writer/director about his astounding solo debut and a possible connection it has to one of his earlier films!
An Interview with Strange Harvest Director Stuart Ortiz
Brendan Jesus: I cannot tell you how excited I am to be talking with you right now! Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire absolutely blew my mind. It was everything I wanted it to be. When people think of alien-related horror movies, they think Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Whitley Strieber’s Communion. To me, Extraterrestrial is one of the greatest alien-related horror films of all time. The scene in the cop car gave me nightmares; it paralyzed me.
Stuart Ortiz: Nice, nice!
BJ: Toward the end of Extraterrestrial, we see Kyle (Freddie Stroma) get a symbol laser etched into his chest. It’s a very triangular-like symbol. Is there any connection between that and Mr. Shiny’s symbol? Mr. Shiny’s symbol is a more minimalistic version of it, but is there a connection between them?
Stuart Ortiz: That is a fascinating question, and my answer would be there is a connection, actually. Albeit a weird one, but yes there is.
BJ: In any of your later works, will that become apparent? Or will that be more of a context clue, like the more you dig, the more you find?
Stuart Ortiz: It’s more for future things. The whole thing with Strange Harvest that I would love to do is, well, I have a lot more ideas for these kinds of stories that can be told in a similar manner. I kind of have a notion for a cinematic universe where I’d love to bring in some of the other things I’ve worked on in the past. All could maybe have a place.
BJ: Strange Harvest is your, unless you count Far West, which is 60 minutes so I don’t know if you consider that a feature–
Stuart Ortiz: No, no, I do not.
BJ: Okay, so then Strange Harvest is your singular feature directorial debut. After you made one of the greatest found footage movies of all time, you guys (Vicious Brothers) took a step back and did more “traditional” filmmaking with Extraterrestrial and It Stains the Sand Red. What made you want to go back to found footage/mockumentary for Strange Harvest?
Stuart Ortiz: I just always thought it was a cool way to approach a story, in particular a horror story. Grave Encounters is a found footage movie but we have this quasi-documentary element about it with interviews in the beginning. I love that stuff and had fun writing it. The experience of working on that always stuck with me and was always in the back of my head. It was a cool approach that no one had done justice to in that way. It lived in my mind for the decade-plus since we made that movie. I knew I would like to do something but didn’t know quite what it was. I’d always been a true crime nerd but felt like I was the only weirdo who liked these weird stories about horror, mayhem, and murder and whatnot. During COVID, Tiger King came out, and it was a big phenomenon. It was basically a true crime story at its core. That’s when it occurred to me that true crime was huge and had gone mainstream. It seemed like maybe the timing was right, and that this could be something people would get. We were at a point where there was enough of this stuff in the culture that people had the media literacy to get. If I played it totally straight, like that was the whole thing. I didn’t want to play this as a farce or a parody, I wanted to play it totally straight. That was the part that worried me. I just felt that the timing was right and there would be an appetite for it.
BJ: You’ve crafted this killer from the ground up. You created his motives and crimes, then thrust him into this world. The majority of evidence we see from Mr. Shiny comes from crime scene photos and it’s incredibly effective. How did you go about crafting these crime scene photos?
Stuart Ortiz: It was such a weird, unconventional approach to a movie. Usually, when you shoot a movie, you spend all this time beforehand setting up the scene, doing art direction, props, get the actors and cameras, move lights around. It takes a lot of time to set up the scenes and shots. Then you go into the second part where you’re shooting and that takes up a lot of time as well. It takes hours and hours. For us, we just had to do one part of that and it was the first part. We spent all of our time, budget, and resources on creating these sets basically. We spent a lot of time focusing on attention to detail. We were able to work with this makeup artist Josh Russell who’s a genius. He’s worked on stuff like The Ritual, the new Hellraiser, he’s incredibly talented. I don’t know how we got him, we got lucky! He was able to craft amazing makeup effects and some dummies for us. What you see is what you get. He did amazing work and it wasn’t hard to make them look creepy.
BJ: With the exception of a few mockumentaries, most don’t do a good job of continuing throughout their air of authenticity. Strange Harvest is one of the most authentic feeling mockumentaries I’ve seen. If you just uploaded this to YouTube, I think you’d dupe a lot of people into thinking this was legitimate. Was there anything you did specifically to create and keep this level of authenticity?
Stuart Ortiz: That’s a good question. Attention to detail, across the board, on all the aspects–something like the news. We have archival news footage, little snippets of news programs, you know a lot of that blows my mind to this day. I’ll watch a hundred-million-dollar superhero movie and they’ll cut to the jankiest, shittiest news footage you’ve ever seen. It’s like you have all that money and it’s annoying. Everyone knows what news footage looks like. Everyone has seen it. You see it every day! Everyone has an understanding, so it never makes sense to me why that kind of stuff is missed. Sometimes it’s just because it’s an afterthought. With our shoot, those things weren’t an afterthought. Some days we would go shoot something somewhere, and then the other half of the day would be six or seven hours in a studio shooting newscasters. By most movie scheduling standards it was bonkers and ridiculous, but that’s just how we had to do it. I knew that’s what was necessary to get it right. It’s all in the details.
BJ: The mask design. It gave me nightmares for two nights. Could you talk about the design of the mask?
Stuart Ortiz: I like to hear that. That mask was designed by Jessee Clarkson, who was our production designer on the film. Brilliant guy. He also plays Mr. Shiny. He wanted to do that. He’s played killers before, like in The Vault. He had a real vision for it and was inspired by Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Really, the mask is very simple. It’s a creepy-looking face, but it’s the symbol. The sigil motif of these three dots–which is a thing that plays throughout the film.
I’m super thankful to Stuart for taking the time to talk with me, as well as KWPR for setting it all up. If you missed Strange Harvest at Fantastic Fest, you need to keep your eyes peeled for the next showing of this film.
Whether you’re a fan of true crime or not, Strange Harvest is a diamond in the rough–a terrifying true crime tour de force.
Make sure to keep your doors locked, lest you find yourself the next victim of Mr. Shiny.
Halloween season is over, and many streamers have forgotten about us horror kids. While they take their 11-month hiatus from the genre, we can be grateful that we still have an app that cares. We are so lucky that Shudder remains that girl year-round. Whether you’re finishing their new original show Guts & Glory, catching up on The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans, or running at some of their deep cuts like I am, Shudder has your best interests at heart. As usual, she has quite a few titles fighting for our attention. Which is why I am here with five titles I think should be at the top of all of our watch lists this November. So, cancel your holiday plans and pick up your remote because we have got horrifying things to watch.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
Habit (1995)
An alcoholic unwittingly enters into a relationship with a succubus in New York City. If you ever wondered what Larry Fessenden was getting up to in his youth, you need to see this ’90s gem. I lucked out and caught it at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival last year, and I lived my best life. While watching it on the small screen will not be the same, I plan to hit play anyway. Mostly because I love to see 1990s succubi leaving their mark on men…and also the horror genre. Shudder is also adding The Last Winter and Depraved, so we can spend a whole day with Uncle Larry’s work.
Sew Torn (2024)
A seamstress happens upon a failed drug deal and steals a briefcase. She soon finds herself caught in a deadly situation where all roads lead to death. I caught Sew Torn at SXSW last year and have been wondering what happened to it. So, I am very happy this odd little bird has found her way to Shudder. I cannot wait to make my friends who are looking for something cute and deadly watch. I knew nothing when I hit play on this, and I encourage you to know as little as possible, too. I fear I have already written too much in this blurb to be completely honest.
You can watch Sew Torn on November 1st.
The Retreat (2021)
A couple goes on a pre-wedding retreat and unwittingly becomes targets of a group of serial killers. We have seen too many movies about retreats, and I thought this one would be more of the same. This title does not completely reinvent the wheel, but it does set itself apart within this oversaturated subgenre. The Retreat is a surprisingly fun and tense little thriller that feels made for the winter watches. Come for the lesbian characters leading the film, and stay for the violence. I also encourage you to check it out while it is on Shudder, because it is usually on apps with ads.
You can watch The Retreat on November 1st.
The Creep Tapes (Season 2)
Peachfuzz returns with more tapes, chaos, kills, and WTF moments. Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice have reentered the TV arena and are making things weird again. If award shows were real, this duo would be leading the Emmys charge. I saw the first three episodes, and Josef/Peachfuzz is still the serial killer after our own hearts. Our Wolfie is still cutting up (literally and figuratively) in the most amazing ways. Guest stars in danger this season include David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil), Katie Aselton (The League), and Robert Longstreet (The Haunting of Hill House).
You can watch The Creep Tapes (Season 2) on November 14th.
Krampus (2015)
A kid accidentally summons demons during the holidays in this horror comedy. Krampus remains one of the top-tier Christmas horror titles for me. It is also my favorite Michael Dougherty film. Not only because it has the star power of Adam Scott and Toni Collette, either. This movie is wicked, and even the kids are in danger. I do not have many holiday horror movies I revisit every year, but Krampus is one of the very few. It still holds up, and I cannot wait to rewatch it with a festively boozy beverage.
You can watch Krampus on November 15th.
Those are a few reasons I am grateful for Shudder this holiday season. While the rest of you are fighting with your family and friends, I will be parked in front of my TV. You can have your turkey because I would rather gorge myself on episodes of The Creep Tapes anyway.
Let me know what Shudder shenanigans you have got your little eye on. I am nosy and want to make sure I am not missing anything on my favorite streamer.
The year is winding down, and I don’t know about you, but I am trying to pack in as many 2025 horror movies as I can. Is this because I love making end-of-the-year lists? Yes. Is it because I am an unhealed overachiever? Also, yes. So, I am assuming some of you are also cruising the streamers to see what you may have missed. While Netflix has had my favorite new slasher Heart Eyes for a bit, and I have mentioned that in previous streaming guides, they also have other new horror titles to show you.
I do not talk about them as much because I did not have a good time with them. However, that does not mean you won’t enjoy some of these titles. That’s why I am taking the high road and finding something to be grateful for about each of them. That way, you will know there is a silver lining if you do watch them. Allow me to help you figure out what to prioritize this month and what to skip. Check out this chaotic Netflix hitlist below!
The Best Movies to Stream on Netflix This Month
28 Years Later (2025)
A group of survivors on a small island has built a fortress to protect them from the rage virus. However, a young boy discovers what is really outside the walls of their community and sets off to find a cure for his sick mother. We all loved 28 Days Later, and some of us liked 28 Weeks Later. So, 28 Years Later was never going to live up to the hype with almost thirty years of anticipation. While I didn’t love it, I did enjoy seeing Danny Boyle helm another zombie installment. What he does in the subgenre is top-tier, and we are welcome (even if the script left me wanting more). That might have gotten buried in all the talk about the dicks seen in the movie, though.
Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025)
A group of girls competing for prom queen starts disappearing, leaving the underdog to figure out what is happening to her competition. I had a lot of thoughts about this lackluster installment in Netflix’s Fear Street adaptations. As someone who grew up reading Fear Street books and wanting to adapt them myself, I do not understand how this movie came out so badly. Which made it hard to find something nice to say about this title. However, the soundtrack slaps, and it is not the soundtrack’s fault that it was wasted on a low-energy bottom-tier slasher. So, if you hit play on this, you can at least look forward to hearing some retro bangers selected by music supervisor Nora Felder. If you are familiar with her work on Yellowjackets and Stranger Things, you know Felder does not miss.
Maa (2025)
To battle a demon’s curse, a mother transforms into the legendary goddess Kali. As usual, Netflix did not advertise an international horror movie that seemed to have some potential. If they had told us Maa was an Indian Hindi-language mythological horror movie, most people who yell for intersectionality and originality would have run at it. Instead, we had to find out about it months later while looking for something we hadn’t already seen on the app. This movie is too long, and I cannot say it is good by any stretch of the imagination. However, it also made me realize how little I know about the goddess of destruction. If you are a nerd like me, this might lead you down a cool rabbit hole. You can also say you gave a view to a horror movie starring Brown people. Who knows, maybe you could be one of the few who enjoy this chaotic film.
Until Dawn (2025)
A group of friends find themselves trapped in a time loop where they keep getting killed in gruesome ways. I love the video game and was so bummed this adaptation was so bad. However, the practical effects are very cool and should be celebrated more. I think the stuff that the SFX team pulled off might be the only reason to watch the movie personally. I’m happy the actors whose work I enjoy got paid, and that’s another positive thing I can say. However, if we want to see young people in deadly time loops, we have so many movies that do it better. Excuse me as I look right at Happy Death Day and all of the movies that have tried to copy her.
Ziam (2025)
A Muay Thai fighter battles through a zombie apocalypse to save the woman he loves. Netflix fumbled the advertising for this one too, because who doesn’t want to see a Thai zombie film? So, I was excited to watch it, but then sad I did not like it. However, I think this one is on me. It is an action-horror with a lot of heartfelt moments, and that’s not my bag. I wanted more violence and zombie action because I am a broken and heartless ghoul. So, Ziam might be the only movie on this list that does not deserve my bombastic side eye. I am waiting for other people to watch it and let me know if they have a better time with it, though.
While I was not the audience for these movies, I am assuming some of you will dig them. Worst-case scenario, you cross off a few more 2025 horror movies and have something to talk about at Friendsgiving. Happy Horrordays! I will see myself out now…
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