Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer director reaps a Harvest with Michael Shannon

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Ah, now here’s a name we don’t see often enough: John McNaughton. The man behind one of the grungiest, nastiest horror films ever, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, is returning behind the camera after a very long hiatus with the thriller THE HARVEST.

Not only that, the film seems to have lined up an impressive cast already, including Michael Shannon (TAKE SHELTER, pictured; ‘Boardwalk Empire”), Samantha Morton (MINORITY REPORT) and Natasha Calis (THE POSSESSION).

Word of this project first hit in 2010, but it looks like all of the stars have finally aligned. Living Out Loud Films is financing for under $10 million, with shooting currently underway in New York.

Written by Stephen Lancellotti, THE HARVEST will see Shannon and Morton playing a married couple with medical backgrounds and a sick son (Charlie Tahan) who lives secluded in a controlled environment until a young girl (Calis) moves in next door and gives him hope of a better life. As the teens grow closer, the tight-knit world his over-protective mother has created begins to unravel.

While McNaughton has continued to work in television (he directed an episode of “Masters of Horror”), he’s still best known for HENRY, which remains to this day a brutal, creepily engaging low-budget horror drama. People may also know him as the man who brought Neve Campbell and Denise Richards together, with titillating results, in WILD THINGS. His last full-length movie was the Made-for-TV effort EXPERT WITNESS.