La noche del espantapájaros

"Dark Night of the Scarecrow" is an effective TV horror film. A Halloween viewing would be totally appropriate. Charles Durning plays a bigoted, evil character, who happens to be the local mailman. Obviously he loves his postal job, as he never seems to take off his uniform. Along with three local rednecks they set the story in motion by hunting and killing a mentally challenged man. After the lynch mob mentality has prevailed, they learn they have killed an innocent man, who happened to be hiding inside a scarecrow. The movie is extremely atmospheric, has good acting, and has become somewhat of a cult item. Recommended. - MERK

Everybody seems to generally love this film and I am no exception. I have not viewed it since it aired in 1981 but, like everyone else who is leaving comments here, it creeped me out. It is a pretty heavy-handed movie for being made for television. The themes are intense, as is the violence, although I don't remember much gore. What does stick in my mind is the slow crawl camera shot when Bubba is hiding in the Scarecrow, up to the eye hole in the scarecrow. We see a single, trembling eye before Charles Durning and co take justice into their own hands. Very creepy! The other thing that I remember is Larry Drake's brief performance. He was so convincing as a semi-retarded man that it wasn't until I saw him in Darkman years later, that I discovered that he wasn't retarded. I had only seen him in this movie and on LA Law where he played mentally challenged characters. Great film. Hopefully, it will be released on DVD one of these days.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) is a very good entry into the horror genre from the 1980's particularly given it is made for television - so many entries that made it to screen were outperformed by this film. It is also an example of horror that is not reliant on overdoing violence and gore while still making it a good thrill.

The movie is greatly supported by uniformly strong performances with Charles Durning displaying his talent well (as usual) and Larry Drake (Benny Stulwicz from L.A. Law) providing a believable and sympathetic character in the same vein as the one that would made him famous 6 years later. Jocelyn Brando and young Tonya Crowe round out the main characters and both were well done.

This is a movie which is clearly a bit derivative and follows a slightly standard path, particularly for the era, but is done well enough that you really don't care. It is engaging, entertaining and thrilling if not al that horrifying. The short and sweet twist at the end is an added bonus which adds to the thrill as well.

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

It's probably for the best that this was originally made for TV. That way, "Dark Night of the Scarecrow" doesn't have to rely on blood, disembowelings and gratuitous special FX for its shock value.

All you old-school horror fans check this out: here's a relatively recent movie that earns every shock and scare it gets with its eerie atmosphere, earnest performances and an especially villainous turn by Durning as tyrannical postman.

Everything is sweaty, nail-biting and almost unbearably tense from first frame to last. If you can bear the fright, watch very carefully at the end. I won't tell what happened, but it's intriguing how they combined such emotions as shock, fear and love in only two shots. Just watch it and see what I mean.

Ten stars. No wonder Larry Drake gets these kind of parts.