Halloween Horror Film 'Dark Harvest' Release Date Set For Fall 2021

Hey, let's move beyond this obliterated movie year and onto 2021, shall we? Here's something to look forward to: Dark Harvest, a Halloween-themed horror flick from David Slade. Based on the novel by Norman Partridge, the story concerns a Halloween tradition in a small town where young men are tasked with stopping a supernatural being known as the October Boy.

I love Halloween, and I love Halloween-themed movies, so I'm all over Dark Harvest, an upcoming film from David Slade, director of Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night. Word of the film first surfaced last September, and now Deadline says a release date is in place: September 24, 2021. Movie theaters should be open by then, right? Right...?

Anyway, here's the book's synopsis:

Halloween, 1963. They call him the October Boy, or Ol' Hacksaw Face, or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, everybody in this small Midwestern town knows who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.

Pete McCormick knows that killing the October Boy is his one chance to escape a dead-end future in this one-horse town. He's willing to risk everything, including his life, to be a winner for once. But before the night is over, Pete will look into the saw-toothed face of horror–and discover the terrifying true secret of the October Boy . .

This is exactly my kind of story, and I really hope Slade is able to deliver on the promise here. I'm not the biggest fan of his stuff, but I do think 30 Days of Night had plenty of ominous style, so I'm hopeful about this project. The film is coming from MGM and producers Matt Tolmach and David Manpearl, whose credits include Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Venom, and more.

The best news about this release date is that it's so close to Halloween. I don't know when Hollywood collectively decided to release less horror movies in the fall, but it's a trend I've noticed more and more in recent years.