Elizabeth Harvest (2018) Review

Elizabeth Harvest (2018) Review

Newlywed Elizabeth (Abbey Lee – Mad Max: Fury Road, The Neon Demon) joins her brilliant scientist husband Henry (Ciaran Hinds) at his magnificent estate, where he spoils her with lavish dinners. Yet despite her new life of luxury, including the attentive treatment offered by the house staff, Elizabeth can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t quite right. As Henry leads Elizabeth on a dazzling tour of the high-tech property, he explains that everything in his world now belongs to her, everything except for a locked-off room he forbids her from entering. Wracked by curiosity, Elizabeth seizes her chance to investigate while Henry is away, only to be changed in ways she can’t hide. Newlywed Elizabeth joins her scientist husband Henry at his high-tech estate, where all she sees is her own – all but one uncanny, locked-off room.

Elizabeth Harvest is well acted, well mounted and incredibly well shot (kudos to cinematography Cale Finot). However the story is a slight variation on a story strand oft told in the medium (most recently in director Alex Garland’s Ex Machina) so there’s little new here to get too excited about. It’s rather ponderous, despite the odd plot twist, taking far too long to tell a tale that would have gripped more had the pace been tighter. There was really no need to stretch such an uncomplicated affair to quite the over-indulgent lengths that the film’s writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez Beard does here as he repeatedly explains again what we already know. The occasional use of split-screen and single-colour palettes is inspired but aside from the visual flourishes there’s little else to get excited about here.

Release Date: 1st April

Platforms: iTunes, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Netflix

Price: £7.99 SD/ £9.99 HD

Rating: 15

Runtime: 108 mins