Stuart Ortiz is a film director, writer, producer and one of the founding members of The Vicious Brothers, the filmmaking duo behind Grave Encounters 1 and 2.

Stuart’s most recent feature is Strange Harvest, a true-crime–styled, found footage film he wrote and directed.

Strange harvest is a serial-killer faux documentary that effectively weaponizes the aesthetics of Netflix true-crime docs by luring you into a false reality with a familiar documentary style then turning up the horror with deeply unsettling imagery that looks and most importantly, feels very real.

It’s certainly one of the most unflinching and innovative found footage movies in recent years and has earned plenty of special praise for its naturalistic performances, grisly practical effects and overall dread.

In this conversation, Stuart and I get into his career history, the making of Strange Harvest and how to execute modern found footage with high impact and a low budget, on today’s episode of The Nick Taylor Horror Show.

Without further ado, here is Strange Harvest Director, Stuart Ortiz.

Key Takeaways

Embrace CGI strategically as a problem solver. A lot of purist horror cinephiles grumble at the use of CGI, and I agree that it shouldn’t be overused—but it also shouldn’t be avoided, because it can solve colossal problems. The pool scene is a perfect case study: filling an Olympic-sized pool would have required roughly 35,000 gallons of water, which was both budget-killing and ethically questionable during a drought. Instead, Stuart used VFX to build the water and environment, and it wasn’t even all that expensive. Use CGI where it’s the cleanest solution to a real-world constraint, and save practical effects for what sells the tactile reality.

Indie budgeting is often about where you don’t spend. Stuart minimized spending on a large crew, expensive cameras, and elaborate lighting because the format called for rough, archival-style imagery and on-the-fly filmmaking. Instead, he spent heavily where failure would be fatal: special FX makeup, which made up about 15–20% of the budget. He knew horror audiences would be especially scrutinizing when it came to effects (and he was right), so he spent disproportionately in that area—and it clearly paid off. Budgeting a movie can be complicated, but Strange Harvest proves that it’s important to spend where you’ll get the highest return on your investment.

Wear more hats than you’re used to. Stuart states that it’s unrealistic for directors to “just” direct nowadays, especially on micro-budgets. Strange Harvest exists largely because Stuart didn’t just direct—he also wrote, edited, and produced the film. On top of that, much of the crew wore multiple hats across the board, which is ultimately how the movie was able to get made. It may not be glamorous, but it’s how movies actually get finished.

Show Notes

Movies and Shows Mentioned

1. Strange Harvest
2. Grave Encounters
3. Lake Mungo
4. The Poughkeepsie Tapes
5. Tiger King
6. The Blair Witch Project
7. Ghostbusters
8. Ghostbusters 2
9. True Detective Season 1
10. The Wall (Pink Floyd film)
11. The Ritual
12. Hellraiser (newer entry referenced via makeup artist credits)
13. The Dark Knight (referenced via production design work)
14. The Vault
15. The Black Phone (mask design reference)
16. Heart Eyes (mask design reference)

Podcasts

1. My Favorite Murder

Follow Stuart Ortiz at:

1. IMBd: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3425513/
2. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stuart_ortiz
3. X (Twitter): https://x.com/StuartLOrtiz
4. Website: https://stuartortiz.com/