SCARECROWS (1988)
Director: William Wesley
MGM

After Stuart Gordon’s RE-ANIMATOR sent shock waves through the horror community in 1985, the genre itself seems to have taken a vacation, resulting in the latter half of the 1980s offering some truly abysmal films. Some films have developed cult followings almost 20 years after their initial release, however, thanks to home video and cable TV. One of these is SCARECROWS, a low-budget shocker shot in Florida with a no-name cast and using a simple concept to deliver its scares that has finally hit DVD, sure to please its many fans. However, for a film with a reputation praising it as an underrated horror classic, SCARECROWS is just not deserving of such a label.

A gang of renegade military personnel pull off a major heist of $3.2 million and flee in a small plane, taking the pilot and his teenage daughter hostage in the process (all conveniently and affordably taking place off-screen). When one of the thieves parachutes off the plane with the loot in an unexpected double-cross, the plane crash-lands in a field close to an abandoned farmhouse surrounded by ominous scarecrows. As the group searches for the traitor and, more importantly, the cash, they are dispatched one by one by the scarecrows.

Despite a promising premise and effective atmosphere, SCARECROWS is ultimately too flawed to be considered a success, let alone a good film. Of the many problems inherent in the finished product, the most obvious are the complete lack of likable characters and lapses in logic that even flashy gore and backwoods atmosphere can’t save. How is the audience supposed to care what happens to a bunch of reckless criminals with hostages? Attempts to develop a brotherly fellowship between two of them and sympathy for muscular bald Corbin (played by larger than life prizefighter Ted Vernon) are ill-conceived and hastily-written. Even the heroine is a whiny idiot, obnoxious from the get-go and stupid enough to chase after her barking dog while the survivors are trying to high-tail it back to the plane for take-off. The film’s writing once again fails in trying to explain who or what the scarecrows are. Hints are dropped that they’re possessed by the spirit of the three dead devil-worshipping brothers who previously occupied the farmhouse, but if that’s so, why do they kill? What do they gain from brutally murdering fresh prey? Why and how do they acquire the voices of the people they’ve killed? Why does one of their victims, Bert, become a straw-filled indestructible zombie with superpowers? As a final nail in the coffin, and showing the influence of Freddy Kreuger, the Scarecrows even throw out some wisecracks when speaking in the voices of their victims (not a wise move).

SCARECROWS does have its moments, however rare or infrequent. Devotees of the red stuff will be rewarded with several stand-out gruesome death scenes (though the use of slow-mo is disconcerting and ineffective). The big showstopper finds the reanimated corpse of Bert springing to life and attacking his former partners-in-crime, getting his fingers sliced off and disemboweled (revealing a stomach filled with straw and money) before someone wisely decapitates him. The use of radio news broadcasts to bookend the film is a smart idea, and the frequent cutaways to close-ups of the perched scarecrows waiting for new victims are memorable. But it’s too little to save the film from utter mediocrity. Those who fell in love with the film in 1988 will enjoy seeing a favorite appear on DVD (almost in time for its 20th anniversary), but as a viewer seeing the film for the first time, one can’t help but be disappointed.

Additional note: While SCARECROWS is largely a missed opportunity, it seems to have had a big influence on filmmakers of the new millennium. Browsing the shelves of contemporary video stores reveals two series spotlighting killer scarecrows, the DARK HARVEST and SCARECROW SLAYER films. Sadly, these films are just as forgettable as their 1980s predecessor (though the first DARK HARVEST film has a disturbing backstory illustrated quite well in a pre-credits sequence).

Presented on this DVD is the completely uncut unrated version, as opposed to the decidedly less violent R-rated cut that also hit video shelves in the 1980s, and it looks quite good! While the video versions were generally quite dark (for a film shot completely at night, this is to be expected), the image is bright and clear on the digital format, looks to be correctly letterboxed at 1.85:1, and there are no signs of any print damage whatsoever. The film looks brand-spanking-new! Too bad the quality of the film itself doesn’t reflect this gorgeous transfer. The stereo audio option sounds great, too. There are no extras on the disc, not even a trailer.
(Casey Scott)

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