When a drought hits in Africa, the animals that live there end up starving and this picture, based in part on a true story about just such a case, finds a pride of lions finding something to eat in the form of a human family.

Sometimes a movie will appear out of the blue, completely unexpected and turn out to be better than it had any right to be. Savage Harvest is just such a film, a little-known gem of a movie that was released in 1981 that finds Tom Skerritt and Michelle Phillips looking to save their family after they are besieged by lions that have one thing and one thing only on their minds. As such, not everyone in this film makes it out alive and while sad, one has to feel bad for the animals as they have been driven by hunger to find whatever they can to continue their life on the earth. Because of this, the horror in this movie rings true and is quite frightening as one can see themselves in this situation quite easily. The only difference between the family in the movie and those who are watching would be how they would choose to deal with it and more than likely it would be dying at the hands of the lions. Again, scary.

One has to really give praise to the animal trainers who made this all possible as it all looked quite real and whether staged or not, whether the animals were friendly or not, it had to have given some of the actors pause when the lions were coming at them. Watching it, it seemed exceedingly real at times and the little bit of blood and gore that they showed really helped to drive home the horror of it. Even worse were those moments when the big cats would catch their prey and start dragging them off, a truly frightening prospect and position that nobody would want to be in. This of course leads to the cast which did a solid job of working with their feline co-stars and their fright at times was quite believable. Skerritt was as good as he always is, the perfect leading man always exuding confidence while trying to hold his family together in the worst of crises. The rest which included Phillips, Shawn Stevens, Tana Helfer, Ann-Marie Martin and Derek Partridge were credible in their roles as well, the lot of them making this tale of captivity a riveting one.

Horror can come in all forms and when nature tends to get out of hand as it is wont to do, it can be the scariest kind of all. Much like Jaws or The Pack or any of the numerous films that chronicle those moments when mankind comes into contact with the wild, Savage Harvest is a compelling piece of celluloid that deserves wider recognition and for fans of this particular sub-genre, it will not disappoint.

4 out of 5