Harvester

Harvester is a 2010 thriller film directed by Michael de Liveri and starting Tom DeVit and Lawrence Hawe. The film is set in a small Midwest village where the locals live in fear of a Jack the Ripper-esque murderer who lives in the nearby forrest. A struggling author (DeVit) moves to the village to document it's history, but when killings begin the newcomer soon learns the village and it's leader (Hawe) are hiding something.

The film was released on November 26th 2010 in North America, December 4th in Europe, and December 10th elsewhere. The film grossed $140,0000 in it's opening week and received moderate reviews compared to de Liveri's previous films.

Plot
William Flannery (Tom DeVit) is a struggling crime novelist based in New York City, whose latest book "The Block" has flopped. Flannery's publisher Lewis Montgomery (Alfred Neuman) offers him a new project, to move to the Midwestern village of Redwood, Illinois, and document the village's history.

Flannery reluctantly agrees to the job and leaves New York City. En route to Redwood he encounters a stranded traveller, Lily (Maria Vera), who he offers a ride. They arrive in Redwood, where they are greeted by the leader of the village, Felix Habrough (Lawrence Hawe). William is taken to his new house and given copious amounts of the village's history. As he is reading he stumbles across the gruesome account of a murderer active in the village from 1937-1940, and learns further that this murderer was an outsider.

Redwood's inhabitants become notably suspicious of William's presence, and when he begins to dig around for information on the murderer he is confronted by Jebediah Low (Paul Kristoff), a suspiciously on edge local. Low threatens Flannery and warns him to stop digging.

Cast

 * Tom DeVit as William Flannery: A struggling New York author who is hired to document the history of Redwood, Illinois. DeVit was the first to be cast in the film, after impressing de Liveri.


 * Lawrence Hawe as Felix Habrough: The seemingly friendly leader of Redwood who is really covering up for the murders of his half-brother Joseph "Harvester" LaFayette II.


 * Maria Vera as Lily: A young woman who encounters William en route to Redwood and begins to become infatuated by him. She is murdered by "Harvester" towards the end of the film.


 * Paul Kristoff as Jebediah Low: A local to Redwood who seems initially aggressive but later tries to help William and Lily escape Redwood, before he is killed by Harvester.


 * Fred Louis as Joseph "Harvester" LaFayette II: The son of the original Redwood killer, Joseph LaFayette I; after his father's death in 1954 he takes on his role by annually murdering villagers. His killings are kept quiet by his half-brother Felix Habrough.