Elizabeth Harvest Review (Film, 2018)

content warning: violence against women, child abuse/sexual abuse (discussed, not shown), gore, medical/surgical footage, nudity

Elizabeth marries Harry, an incredibly intelligent and successful man. She moves into his beautiful, state of the art mansion with everything she could ever want. There is only one rule: Elizabeth can never go into the one room in the basement. That is only for Harry. Everything else she could ever want or need is provided for her without question.

Elizabeth Harvest is an ultra-modern sci-fi/horror about what’s hidden in a state of the art house. This has been an emerging genre in recent years with films like Ex Machina, I Am Mother, Her, Tau, and many others. There are times when I have quite simple tastes in film. Give me some beautiful yet ominous production design and you’ll have me eating out of the palm of your hand. This genre always delivers on that.

The driving force is a fear of the unknown. We are all taught through advertising and even the study of literature and history that we want to achieve this level of success. It’s almost programmed into us. We want the rags to riches story. We want the newest and the greatest. We want the rewards of great success as easily as we can acquire them.

This doesn’t come without risk and uncertainty. Anything new is going to be met with skepticism. I’m old enough to remember the--for lack of better word--fear of the Internet, or fear of cellphones, or fear of computers in the classroom. I could go on. While the real risks tend to be nothing more than an unexpected break in service, we tend to fear the worst. The internet will destroy communication and privacy. Cellphones will fill us with disease. Computers in the classroom will breed illiteracy and laziness. Eventually, we relax as more and more people adopt the new technology, but the fear tends to shift to then next new advancement.

In film, we can explore those worst case scenarios with safety. Technological horror exists as a playground for the mind. The creators of the story spin a wild tale of evil geniuses toying with the nature of humanity itself through innovation. Someone unrelated to the production of the new technology is invited to try it out first; some are forced, while others are invited. How you get there doesn’t matter in the end. You are the earliest adopter and have to abide by the specific rules or else.

In Elizabeth Harvest, it’s more complicated than that. I don’t play with spoilers unless I fear there is something incredibly damaging about how a story is structured or presented. Elizabeth Harvest is not that kind of film. It is a deeply philosophical exploration of the relationship between inventor and invention, the adaptation of new technology, and the consequences of not following the rules.

The quality of the production is excellent across the board. From set decoration (Juliana Barreto, Tatiana Dulcey) to art direction (Francisco Arbalaez) to costume design (Camila Olarte), every detail is considered and planned to perfection. The film looks as beautiful and perfect as it needs to in order to support a story about temptation in a world where everything you could ever need is provided for you.

Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez finds a unique angle and voice in this ever-growing genre. The story of Elizabeth and Henry is not quite the same as what’s come before. Sure, you can draw parallels with dozens of stories told before, but none are quite the same. It is a well-researched story, but not a derivative one. It is quite refreshing to see a story like this take so many unexpected twists so early on. Gutierrez plays into your expectations by establishing patterns and then throws it all away.

Elizabeth Harvest is a challenging film to watch. It does hinge on a certain level of violence, specifically violence against women, but it does twist those expectations in a very different direction. The glamorous household and luxury fixtures are meant to contrast the brutality of what’s happening in the story. The violence is not glorified, only the lifestyle it’s used to maintain.

Elizabeth Harvest is currently streaming on Netflix.