BLOOD HARVEST (1987)
Cult maestro Bill Rebane concocted such salient schlocktails as The Giant Spider Invasion and Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake. Towards the end of his career, he tried his hand at the latest trend scaring up big bucks at the box office - slashers. Maybe it's because I haven't indulged in a frowzy 80's "body count" flick in a month of Sundays, but I got a mild kick out of Blood Harvest. Yes, that's Tiny Tim. And yes, he plays a deranged clown by the name of The Marvelous Mervo. It goes without saying that he outcreeps most greasepainted goons. Strangely enough, Mervo doesn't do any killing in this agrarian shocker. I won't spoil the (sluggish, drawn out) ending, but suffice to say, Blood Harvest isn't the "evil clown" epic it purports to be.
Rebane poisons the script with hackneyed characters and obvious twists. In all fairness, those flubs are cushioned in between moments of austere trepidation. The plot? Insignificant. Tighter pacing and a higher death toll would have nudged Blood Harvest into "must see" territory. As it stands, it's mannerly b-movie sediment. Tiny's quaking falsetto is the stuff of nightmares.
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