Elizabeth Harvest is a high-tech, twist-packed take on the Bluebeard fairy tale
Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review was originally published from the 2018 SXSW Interactive Festival. It has been updated for the film’s wide release.
Anybody who knows their folklore is going to be pretty clear on what’s going on in the first act of Sebastian Gutierrez’s Elizabeth Harvest. Henry (Ciarán Hinds), a wealthy, successful Nobel-winner, has just married wide-eyed, naïve young Elizabeth (Abbey Lee). Taking her on a tour of his luxurious home, he tells her there’s just one room she must never enter. Shortly thereafter, while he’s away on a business trip, her curiosity gets the better of her, she unlocks the taboo room, and she’s...