Netflix Needs To Remake This Cult Horror Novel Adaptation
In 1973, Thomas Tryon delivered a folk-horror novel that was as riveting as terrifying. Harvest Home quickly climbed up on the New York Times bestseller list and was adapted into a miniseries by NBC five years later under the name The Dark Secret of Harvest Home. With the smashing successes of horror novels being adapted into miniseries by Netflix, now is the perfect time for the streaming giant to produce Tryon’s novel into a visual representation worthy of modern horror audiences.
The Dark Secret Of Harvest Home
Harvest Home follows the Constantine family as they leave the craziness of New York City for a calmer life for themselves and their teenage daughter. Ned and his wife Bethany, along with daughter Kate, find themselves drawn to a remote Connecticut village named Cornwall Coombe, a place that seems to have been frozen in time centuries before.
The townsfolk are in many ways separated from the modern world, leading their agriculture-based community with old-world methods of farming and celebrating.
Folk Horror
The village is led by a widow named Mary Fortune, who seems to be worshiped by the townsfolk. Over time, Ned becomes distrustful of his new environment. Harvest Home finds his skepticism turn into absolute fear as the pagan ways of the community are finally revealed to him, and he fights to avoid the same fate that has been inflicted on male outsiders who came to Cornwall Coombe before him.
The Original Series Doesn’t Hold Up
The 1978 mini-series was a two-part ordeal that starred Bette Davis as the Widow Fortune, David Ackroyd as the renamed Nick Constantine, Joanna Miles as his wife Betty, and Rosanna Arquette as their daughter Kate. The adaptation successfully captured the themes of Harvest Home, though the special effects were mediocre even for TV standards of the day, and the acting was lukewarm at best.
Netflix Has The Perfect Team
In today’s world horror fans are fortunate enough to have the talents of Mike Flanagan, who would be the perfect choice for adapting Harvest Home for a modernized version on the small screen. The successes of The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher showing that the writer/director has the chops to tackle small screen adaptations from literature, imagine what he would be capable of doing for Harvest Home.
A six-part series that begins by covering the family’s troubled background, followed by episodes that dig into each odd character they meet in their new community would be the perfect outline for success. Harvest Home would also benefit from Flanagan’s sense of atmosphere as he demonstrated in his previous endeavors with Netflix.
We’re Allowed To Dream
A new Harvest Home adaptation would also be elevated by bringing in the typical cast of characters in the Flanagan cinematic universe. Familiar faces that gave audiences chills with his past projects, like Henry Thomas (who would be the perfect Nick/Ned Constantine), Carla Gugino, Kate Siegel, and Mary McDonnell, could be cast in roles that bring Tryon’s fictional characters to life in a way that would far surpass what NBC accomplished nearly 50 years ago.
A pipe dream? Perhaps. But if there is any piece of horror literature that Netflix should tackle next, Harvest Home should be at the top of its list.
