After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

"Savage Harvest" is pretty similar to another 80s horror/adventure movie called "In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro". In fact, the two would be almost identical if it weren't for the fact that they feature different types of ferocious animal species. Both films are sadly and inexplicably underrated, taking place in black African countries during a long period of drought and tell the absorbing tales of how the animals' regular food sources become unavailable so that they become incredibly aggressive and attack every human in their sight. "In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro" features a rather unusual type of animals, namely baboons, whereas "Savage Harvest" goes straight for the leaders of the animal kingdom: mighty lions! The intro states that this film is based on true events, but I guess the fact were dramatized a little bit. In rural Kenya, Derek leaves his wife and stepchildren in their luxurious country mansion whilst he's away on business. Pretty soon a whole troop of famished and agitated lions enter the estate and trap the family inside. The servants are the first to get devoured, but luckily for them ex-husband/real father Casey comes to the rescue. "Savage Harvest" isn't magnificent cinema, but at least most of the film is suspenseful and there are multiple deeply impressive sequences with professionally trained lions (courtesy of the awesome Joe Camp and Ralph Helfer). Okay, admittedly some parts of "Savage Harvest" are quite bizarre and goofy, including the sight of a lion entering a house via the chimney or witnessing how a besieged family collectively sings a Beatles medley, but what the heck! In exchange for that are the animal attack sequences raw and they can be interpreted as quite shocking, and since the production crew took the costs and efforts to actually film in Kenya, the film is also full of beautiful exterior locations. Tom Skerritt is a fairly convincing hero, but the gorgeous Michelle Philips has very little to do except for looking way too young to depict the mother of a 20-year-old son. Last but not least: fantastic film poster but I sadly never spotted the voluptuous girl with her shirt half open

I saw the film around 1984/5 on video and had to keep rewinding.As an African I am sensitive to the subaltern roles played by African people in the cast and found some scenes not very convincing.What I found disheartening was the fact that the lions bar one only ate Africans!It was set in that big game safari framework that has long since disappeared and seems to have been made for Western consumption.I worked in the tourist industry in Kenya for some time and there is a sense in which the locals are part of the props!Two scenes that to me were not authentic: the young girl explaining how she got an American accent, and the widow merrily making eggs for breakfast the day after her unsuspecting husband comes out of his Mercedes and the lion pounces on him.Most white farmers rattled along the stony tracks on tinny Landrovers before the chunky 4wheelers came onto the scene and they wore shorts and bush jackets.The Merc would most probably be parked in the city where they'd have a townhouse in a more genteel setting!

Well cheers........ I saw this movie about 14 years back when I was six or seven years old........ So I just remember the outline of the story and a few scenes here and there......... Though What I do remember for sure is that It scared the hell outta me even though there was about six more people watching with me........... It was quite some time thereafter that I was able to get it outta my mind...........About when I entered my teens........It gets scarier towards the end........It was haunting ........ Maybe I wuz a sissy, but I'm sure I ain't the only one around...... Lions comin from chimney... encroaching upon your house... breaking through the doors.... Now thats scary... But I guess it definitely must have been too good and too real to scare me like that.... And sure must be as difficult as hell to train those lions like that...... Cheers ... Enjoy.... Hallelujah...

I taped this movie years ago and wondered at the time how the lion scenes were produced. I watched it again today and am still perplexed. Was this filmed in Africa or in the US with circus lions? There was another film, "The Gods Must Be Crazy II" in which lions played a significant role. I'd like explanations.