Deadly Harvest is a 1977 Canadian science-fiction[1] "eco-thriller" film[3][4] directed by Timothy Bond, about a farmer (Clint Walker) who struggles to keep food on the table and regain his son from a gang of marauding city-folk during a terrible worldwide famine,[5] brought on by global cooling due to, among other named causes in a voice-over, overpopulation, urban sprawl, the energy crisis, pollution, and the high cost of transporting grain.

The climate changes... the energy crisis, the shortages, the high costs of growing and transporting grain, the lack of government support for research programs.

When his eldest daughter Susan (Kim Cattrall) loses their only cow to marauders from the city, he takes this, too, in his stride, though it would have fed the family for a long time.

Ennis shows Franklin data on his computer indicating that there are only 27 days of food reserves remaining for urban life support in North America.

In addition, the cast includes Rebecca Lager, Hoah Cowan, Brad Spurgeon, Stan Lesk, Richard Ayres, John-Peter Linton, Marcel Bérubé, and Terry Martin.

[10] Kim Newman places Deadly Harvest alongside other 1970s end of the world films frequently drawn from 1950s or 1960s science fiction novels,[11] typically pitting ecology-conscious characters ("hippie communes") against "contaminated violence freaks".

[12] In an interview with Natalie Edwards shortly after principal photography was complete, producer Tony Kramreither played down the catastrophic aspect of Deadly Harvest, insisting the story was kept on "a human scale; little people, a small community".

"[14] Tim Bond had previously only directed stage plays, while scriptwriter Martin Lager was similarly first a playwright when they took on Deadly Harvest,[4] titled Doomsday prior to the beginning of production.

[17][18] Principal photography took place at locations in Toronto and Pickering, Ontario over four weeks beginning in November 1976[18] and ending in early December,[13] adapting the day for night technique to a "December-for-August approach" for the purposes of depicting a world having undergone global cooling.

[4] John Mills-Cockell's score consists of "largely synthesized drones", which Andrew Burke compares to the "electronic pulses and bleeps" of Michael Snow's La Région Centrale.

[2] In a letter to the editor in response to this interview, Allan Eastman refers to a lawsuit over Deadly Harvest but reveals no details as to who sued whom nor over what aspect of the film.

[28]In a 2007 review, Dave Sindelar concedes that there are "plenty of flaws" (variable acting, an uneven score, and "on the obvious side") but its "premise is interesting" and the story "sturdy enough".

[7] The script holds up well, with a particularly successful melancholy atmosphere created by the dull yellow and orange colours - almost sepia tone - and by the somewhat dated score, full of "half-detuned" synthesizers, comparing the film's pessimistic outlook to Philip Wylie's The End of the Dream: the film depicts the disintegration of social bonds, increasing levels of violence in human relations, and attempts at mutual aid as all doomed to bitter failure.

[7] Peter Kenter calls the film's approach to the famine "almost quaintly Canadian"; a food riot consists of about "two dozen disappointed citizens scuffl[ing] weakly with each other in front of the local government food distribution centre," followed by "driving action--long, drawn-out travel sequences as characters ply the roads ... in monster Cadillacs and big ass pick-ups, despite repeated references to a critical fuel shortage," which Kenter attributes to Bond's and Lager's backgrounds in the theatre, "treating long commutes like scene changes on stage.

"[3] He agrees with Kenter that the artificial sound of the synthesizer is perceived as "unnatural" by some, and appreciates its use in the film "to give tonal form to the catastrophic consequences of humanity's alienation from the natural environment.