‘Strange Harvest’ Movie Review: Effective Mockumentary Makes True-Crime Case Feel Chillingly Real
Photo from Saban Films
From Jeremy Kibler
Thanks to streamers, true-crime documentaries are everywhere, making it hard to find one that’s actually well-made and worthwhile. So what about a fictional true-crime story in that same format? Billed as a true-crime documentary covering one of the most unreported cases in Southern California history, Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire breaks new ground in the arena of found-footage horror films. It’s so damn effective you’ll be racking your brain why you don’t remember hearing about this case before.
Making a splash with spooky 2011 found-footage film Grave Encounters as The Vicious Brothers with Colin Minihan, director Stuart Ortiz makes Strange Harvest his auspicious solo effort. This is gripping, tautly edited work that rarely ever missteps in selling itself as non-fiction recounting two-decades-long case. Starting in the ‘90s and resurfacing in 2007, a serial killer known as “Mr. Shiny” remained elusive, committing ritualistic murders in San Bernardino. His methods were always methodical, and a strange occult symbol, along with Zodiac-like letters, were his calling cards. Homicide Detective Joe Kirby (Peter Zizzo) and Detective Alexis ‘Lexi’ Taylor (Terri Apple) were on the case, but Mr. Shiny (later identified as Leslie Sykes) was always three steps ahead of them.
Typically, a specific seam in the found-footage aesthetic is when footage comes out of nowhere without any rhyme or reason to where the source originated. That’s not the case here. Besides talking-head interviews and interrogation footage, we also get footage from the cops’ body cams, a victim’s laptop, and security cameras in a convenience store, and it all feels seamlessly interwoven. Another major asset in pulling off this reality-, fiction-blurring illusion is the acting. The performances, particularly by actors Peter Zizzo and Terri Apple as the detectives, feel authentic across the board; they’re noticeably hard-nosed but rattled by this case and make engaging storytellers, while still feeling like human beings and not actors.
One particular crime scene involving a family of three seated at their dining room table is grisly and sickening, but Ortiz never wallows in the misery and gore in a gratuitous or exploitative way. Same goes with the aftermath of a man in a pool with leeches. The tension is also unbearable as we’re privy to the footage caught on a teenage girl’s laptop before she’s attacked in her bedroom (what follows this is even more surprising and shocking). In the end, the film doesn’t disclose every answer to Mr. Shiny’s motivation behind his unthinkable crimes—not even the possible astrology connection—but a little ambiguity makes it all the more frightening. Quite poignantly, a testimony with a victim’s parents leaves a mark, where the grieving mother restates, “It’s said you really die the last time your name is spoken.” Unfortunately, with that said, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and now Mr. Shiny will live forever while the victims’ names are forgotten.
Who’s to say that Strange Harvest will be the same cultural phenomenon that The Blair Witch Project managed during its release, but the experience nevertheless puts a chilling spell over the viewer. Grim and disturbing in how close it to gets to the depraved capabilities of human nature, Strange Harvest puts a pit in your stomach and makes you watch your back while watching. For true-crime and horror fans, that’s the highest compliment.
Rating: 4/5
Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire hits theaters on August 8, 2025.
