A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

RISE OF THE SCARECROWS is an indescribably bad slice of rural horror, shot on video without wit, merit, or style. The story is about unseen killer scarecrows that go around and murder random strangers in the woods. The whole running time follows uninteresting and unimportant characters and a big and needless cast who add nothing to anything but are cheap to film and merely take up screen time. Add in an exploitative shower scene and you have the sum total of this film's ingredients.

This is not an actual movie; it's a bunch of people goofing off with a 200 dollar Sony Handycam. It's also the kind of talentless garbage that somehow manages to get distributed and goes on to discourage anyone who stumbles upon it from checking out other independent horror films in the future. Trust me, I've viewed a lot of low (or no) budget films and the majority of them deserve better than to be lumped together in the same category with this crap. The worst thing about it is that you're left with the general impression that the people who made it didn't even try to make a good film. How else can you explain the ridiculous choreography of the fight and attack scenes? When people are fighting, they don't even bother adding sound effects. When someone is stabbed, the weapon never makes contact with the body. When someone is hit with a stick, it looks like a gentle tap and then the person falls over. If someone actually cared, they'd do sound looping during post production. If someone actually cared, they'd watch the film back and realize machetes and knives aren't even coming close to the victim. Then they would take an hour of their time to shoot some close-ups of the weapon entering a body using a cheap prop dummy or something. These people apparently just didn't care.The plot is basically about zombie scarecrows. But the majority of the movie is actually people aimlessly walking around in the woods throwing out profanities left and right like it's high comedy. Unfortunately, the dialogue isn't the least bit amusing. Aside from the corrupt sheriff and his new deputy, the main characters are three male campers. One of them is sad because his wife left him. Another is basically around just to die. And the third is an obnoxious fat guy you'll want to punch in the face every time he recites a line. Others include a psychic artist, a redneck mechanic and some guy who beats his wife and wants to start running a whorehouse in his home. The performances from most of the above are laughably awful and many of the subplots and side characters serve no purpose other than filling time.The scarecrow design is limited to flannel shirts and guys with sack cloths over their heads. There is almost no gore to speak of. The best they could come up with were off-screen kills or a couple of people spitting up fake blood. The only possible redeeming factor is when the mechanic's wife takes her clothes off and hops in the shower. Other than that, it's virtually unwatchable. God forbid you actually pay 20 dollars to buy something like this. I saw it for free and still feel ripped off.The people who made it also did a film last year called EVIL AWAKENING (which I haven't seen) and are currently shooting their third movie. Hopefully they'll manage to improve. Hell, there's nowhere to go but up from here!

For any young directors who may be shy of making a video (or anyone on YouTube for that matter) this film will cure your apathy. Trust me.Here, let me sum the whole thing up: Some guy got a new video camera and decided to make an amateur movie. THAT'S IT! There is nothing else to this film. The dialog is funny at certain points. There is no sound stage. No make-up or wardrobe. There is a constant humming in the background. All the characters are laughable and...how this so-called film was able to get distributed on DVD is beyond me. Yet, I give it a 5 out of 10 for their boldness. Oh... and displaying the power of Windows Movie Maker.

Wow would be the first word to come to mind after watching this disaster of a movie. I have seen so many b grade films over the years and have really enjoyed them. I'm a huge supporter to the b genre and love to see young directors trying to make it in the film industry, but this one's just too much. There is not one thing positive to say about Rise of the Scarecrows no matter how hard you rack your brain. Prior to this I considered Full Moon to put out the worst movies ever but have been proved very wrong. At least Full Moon films have some entertaining qualities which could earn a few stars. This one deserves nothing above a zero.The story follows a few of the world's worst actors as they try to uncover the mystery behind a small towns zombie scarecrows. Somehow these scarecrows arise to take the lives of the remaining townspeople, but you'd never know it because they show nothing. The best you'll get is a view from the scarecrows eyes as he hunts someone down while they let out an amazingly fake scream. It's just awful. All you get is a group of terrible actors, a script that must have been written by a chimp, and home video camera quality. At all costs please avoid this film unless you are looking to waste time and money.