A Disappointing Continuation

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Been quite a while since I've watched this one. Watching it again I must say it's a good old school horror film - and it was made for TV.The movie has a pretty basic story line to follow for a "slasher" TV movie without being "silly" - it is enough to keep me interested. The "monster scare factor" is pretty decent. There is not an over abundance of scarecrow horror films out on the market so this movie gets bonus points for being a scarecrow "monster" film.It's always nice to see Charles Durning on the screen - he's a good actor. He plays a "bad cop" role in this movie. Without giving the film away, Otis P. Hazelrigg (Durning) and his fellows did something they really should have not done - covering up their act - which leads to the "scarecrow".Good film for the Halloween season and a late night flick. A worth while horror movie in my opinion.7.5/10

A quartet of backwoods vigilante buffoons chase a mentally disabled man, Bubba, through town after they believe him to have kidnapped a young girl. They find him disguised as a scarecrow in a field, and execute him, only to receive immediate news that the girl is alive and well, and that he actually saved her life. Oops. After being acquitted of the murder, all four men are plagued by a bullet-ridden scarecrow appearing on their property, and talk that Bubba is somehow stalking them beyond the grave.There is truly something special about the television horror films of the late 1970s and early 1980s— "Home for the Holidays," "Trilogy of Terror," "Race with the Devil," just to name a few— for whatever reasons, the horror films that made it to the small screen during this era were consistently well made and legitimately suspenseful. In fact, a lot of them have the production values and feel of a major studio picture, and "Dark Night of the Scarecrow" is no exception here. Directed by Frank De Felitta, who also brought us 1977's "Audrey Rose," the film boasts impressive cinematography and some playful and inventive terror sequences as the redneck geezers/wannabe vigilantes get their just desserts. Since it is a television film, the violence is obviously minimized, but the implications during each of these payback scenes are grim, and mostly revolve around farm machinery— ouch.Charles Durning's turn as the reprehensible small town postman and cold-blooded bigot is effective in that his character is truly reprehensible, and Jocelyn Brando (yep, Marlon's sister), is wonderful as the spiteful mother of Bubba. An understated and spooky synth score accentuates the eerier moments here, particularly the wide shots of the ominous scarecrow (or Bubba...?) hanging in the distant fields.While the overall premise may not be particularly original ("Les diaboliques" comes to mind), this is a remarkably well put-together thriller that is miles about standard television fare as we've come to know it. Sophisticated production values and De Felitta's attention to detail are impressive; in fact, had I not known it was a made-for-TV movie beforehand, I may have not guessed it at all. A truly worthy genre entry, and quite frankly much more elegant than half of what the eighties had to offer in terms of slasher films. 8/10.

I never judge a film by its budget, but nevertheless, the overall effect that Frank De Felitta managed to achieve with so little is something that I find very impressive. It is a bit of a sad story, ignorant bullies rushing to some very harsh conclusions and murdering a helpless mentally backward man and not even really feeling any remorse about it, only thinking of their own skins and fearing justice - and that they should indeed in this spooky country tale of just desserts from beyond the grave! It's quite straightforward and is really just a simple yet strongly focused story of supernatural revenge that they were trying to tell, and it's one of the rare flicks where you're actually rooting for the restless spirit and not the people who brought about its curse in the first place. What I most enjoy about this film is its chillingly effective foreboding atmosphere of dread and tension that builds as each of the condemned men are picked off one by one by a dark force that remains unseen... That's also something that I love a lot about this, how you don't even need to see a rampaging undead scarecrow running around slaughtering people in order to feel the fear, if they had chosen to go that route I believe the film would have turned out very hokey and wouldn't be anywhere near as well-made as it is. And to me anyone who hates the picture because of the fact that you don't really see that much just isn't getting the point, I think it's an excellent example of that which you don't see being much more eerie and unsettling, and when you finally do see just a little something at the very end it's a lot more meaningful and is like the icing on the cake! It's all done in a nice subtle way with all the gruesome horror gags being practically stripped down to nothing, which while I'm aware was very likely due to the budget, is still something that in the case of this movie I could really appreciate because I thought it made the spartan plot a lot more impactful. I liked the windblown rural setting, all of the plain and dull country visuals do a lot for the tone of the story. It's slow but to me felt like it took its time, and once again I liked how its horror was very minimalistic, as opposed to the typical everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to many other slasher movies of the time. Something else that works in its favour is how the actors who played the four vigilantes really made their small roles into pretty well-rounded characters instead of just generic faceless bad guys. The fat squeaky-voiced fella's death is the most suspenseful sequence for me, and I find it hilarious when the scared rabbit of the group has a mental breakdown in the graveyard! But I think the overall best performance goes to Charles Durning who truly is the real monster of the movie and actually kills more people than the scarecrow! He may be a mailman, but he's such a relentless evil-spirited toad that you really grow to hate him and can't wait for him to get what he deserves. When it's subtly suggested what his real reason for wanting Bubba out of the picture is, I liked that because it added an extra depth to his creepiness. And the sequence that leads up to the demented Hazelrigg ironically impaling himself on the very pitchfork that he originally placed in the scarecrow's hands I love because the scene is so hectic and the pumpkins give things a surreal, almost fable-like quality for a moment, and especially with what follows and the poignant closing image of an ending that is both touching yet also a little bit 'off' and chilling somewhere. Bubba the scarecrow gives her the flower holding it by the stem, like she taught him to do in the opening scene. Sweet. There was something enigmatic and sometimes a little sinister about the girl's attitude regarding the ghostly nature of her friend and how she didn't seem to grasp or care about what death was, and how she just continued to play with him even after he was dead. She was cute as corn-on-the-cob but at times creepy as Children of the Corn.. Sweet little Marylee had a hit-list! Unlike many of its fans, I never saw this as a child, so it doesn't have that special nostalgic place in my heart, but the first time I watched it, I did really like and get into it right away and found it to be a compelling and satisfying viewing experience, one that deserves its praises as a mini classic that was once forgotten and rediscovered by word of mouth. Good old movie.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow is directed by Frank De Felitta and written by J.D. Feigelson and Butler Handcock. It stars Charles Durning, Larry Drake, Tonya Crowe, Jocelyn Brando, Lane Smith and Claude Earl Jones. Music is by Glenn Paxton and cinematography by Vincent Martinelli.Small town Americana and Bubba Ritter (Drake), a friendly but mentally challenged man, is falsely accused of attacking and severely injuring young Marylee Williams (Crowe). Four of the town residents, with hate and ignorance driving them on, hunt down Bubba and find him hiding as a scarecrow in a field. Murdering him, they claim self defence and walk free from court. It's not long afterwards, though, that the men start to see a scarecrow in their midst…Some things from movies just stay with you from when you were a wee youngster, I still remember the first time I heard the anguished cry of Bubba Ritter stating that he didn't do the crime he was being hunted for. Dark Night of the Scarecrow stood out by some considerable mile as one of the best TV horror movies I saw as a youth, not for things that I would later appreciate in film making as I got older, but just for sheer terror of a scarecrow stalking his prey for divine retribution. How wonderful to revisit the movie three decades later and find that it is still one of the best TV horror movies out there.Oh it doesn't terrify now, though it still packs a sense of unease and keeps scarecrows firmly in the realm of creepyville, but it has a style so sorely lacking in many of today's horrors. There is no need to bludgeon us with slash and stalk, showing us gore front and centre, the makers here are subtle, refusing even to put the scarecrow in the limelight like Michael or Jason. There's a smart ambiguity about the supernatural elements, keeping the mystery element strong as the guilty men begin to crack and head towards their real judgement.Simmering away nicely in the narrative is of course the vile stench of bigotry, and the pain inflicted by such narrow minds. There is also a dark thread left dangling that suggests one of the guilty men is impure of thoughts towards little Marylee, one of the very things he whipped up as reason to hound Bubba for. Some thought went into the screenplay, and it's credit to the writers that it never becomes a moral crusade, while the crafting of the lovely innocent friendship between Bubba and Marylee is beautifully born out by actors and technicians alike.Durning and Drake dominate the movie with classy shows, impressive in Drake's case as he is only in it for a short amount of time, but the work of young Tonya Crowe puts her in the club that houses best child performances of the 80s. Her reactions to Bubba and Otis (Durning) naturally call for different human emotions, and she in turn nails the aspects of youthful innocence and mature awareness of who the monster actually is. The photography is textured, the music equally so, and there's even some shards of humour and irony along the way.I can imagine many of today's horror fans going into Dark Night of the Scarecrow and being very disappointed not to get a Voorhees type movie, while some more sensitive viewers may find the portrayals of backwater folk as being ignorantly stereotyped by the makers. It isn't for every horror fan, without a doubt, and clearly it's not perfect, but to those who loved it back when it first showed, those who are jaded by how this type of sub-genre of horror has evolved into bloody overkill and remake/sequel hell, then Dark Night of the Scarecrow is in fact a minor classic. 8/10