Espantapájaros

Man, what a horror movie! The idea about killer scarecrows may turn a lot of people off by sounding cheezy, but this is talented filmmaking by people who knew what to do, and, best of all, what NOT to do. The dark, quiet, breezy cornfields of a deserted-looking rural area, with no one around for who knows how many miles, is served with some great creepy atmosphere. The music helps, with a lot of the soundtrack's more sedated moments being the creepiest of all. The gore and visual shocks are very detailed and well-done, but they are kept to a minimum for a lot of the running time. Still, as they say, when it rains, it pours! The acting is great, and the writers did the right thing when they knew NOT to try to give any explanation for how the killer scarecrows came to be other than as much as the characters can figure out (a cleverly vague theory about a family that had been living on the farm who were probably in league with Satan). A lot of great powers are wielded by the scarecrows, including the exact imitation of victims' voices and the ability to reanimate their victims for use to their own fiendish means. There is some humor, but it's character-to-character banter rather than any type of comedy. This is no goofy movie by any means. It really also creeped me out about how the scarecrows move with a sort of stealth, and silently run right up behind a character and off them in seconds, without warning. I had some serious trouble sleeping after this one, but that is a compliment. Not many movies have been able to do that with me, and even fewer are ones I still found enjoyable enough to search down in a used video store and shell out ten bucks to buy. I would only recommend the unrated version, but this is one of those movies that is hard to find in its rated version, so if you come across it, it will probably be unrated. Creepy, creepy stuff, the best way to describe this sadly overlooked masterpiece of horror cinema.

Scarecrows (1988)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fairly entertaining horror film has a group of robbers forcing a father and his daughter to fly them to Mexico but along the way the gang leader jumps out of the plane with the money. Soon his "co-workers" go after him and they all find themselves in a strange field with countless scarecrows that come to life. SCARECROWS isn't exactly going to win any major awards but I think horror fans who enjoy some gore should find it of interest. In its uncut form the picture actually offers up some very memorable death scenes ranging from decapitations to bodies being sliced in half and there are some even more memorable ones where the gore factor is pretty over-the-top. It's certainly easy to see why two versions of this was released as the uncut one features enough red stuff where there was no way the studio could have gotten it past the MPAA. These effects certainly help the film move along as do the great looking villains. The scarecrows are pretty much what you'd expect them to look like but I really loved them. I thought each of them in their own way looked terrific and really gave the film some much needed atmosphere. The performances were also above average for this type of picture and there's no question that director William Wesley managed to build up some good atmosphere. The biggest problem is that between the fifty and sixty minute marks there's really nothing going on and the film grows a little boring before finally picking up in the final act. The various shots of the airplane flying was also annoying and especially when they just used the same shot over and over again. Still, with the memorable death scenes and great looking monsters, SCARECROWS offers up enough to make it worth watching.

A lot of horror fans seem to love Scarecrows, so I won't be very popular in saying that I found it to be rather boring. The idea behind it was interesting, but it seems to drag so much. I think the main problem is that it is all set in darkness. Sometimes horror films set in darkness can work (such as Humongous), but Scarecrows is in darkness for the whole film. A lot of the time it's hard to figure out what's actually happening, and although some shots of the scarecrows were creepy, most were hard to even see. If a little more lighting had been used, perhaps it could've been better.

There's not many films involving killer scarecrows to my knowledge, apart from Dark Night Of The Scarecrow, which is much better. I would recommend that over Scarecrows any day.

Scarecrows shows what you can do with a very flimsy plot line and a low budget. Rather than concentrate on characters or story, the film leans more towards aesthetics; as the tale is portrayed within a very creepy atmosphere, and the central monsters of the title capitalise well on their natural scare factor. Like clowns, scarecrows are eerie creations and it's clear that director William Wesley knows that, as their dark and foreboding image makes up the backbone of this tale of terror. The only real theme that is put on display in this film comes from the idea of greed, as it is that very thing that gets all the central protagonists into life-threatening danger. The film follows a bunch of soldiers that have stolen a lot of money. They take a pilot and his daughter hostage and force the pair to take them to Mexico; but the ride has a hitch when one of the crooks decides that he doesn't want to share the money, and parachutes out of the plane with the loot. His partners in crime are soon on his tail, but the story has another twist when it turns out that the field they've jumped into is infested with scarecrows that want to do more than keep the birds off the crops!

This film isn't very well known and it's not hard to see why. Scarecrows is very short, running at about seventy minutes when you don't include the credit sequences. The film also feels very low-key, as the focus is more on the atmosphere than anything else, which can leave the film lacking at several intervals. Scarecrows is basically a glorified zombie movie, and pretty much plays out like one as the characters are picked off by their unworldly adversaries. The fact that the entire film takes place in what appears to be real time and in only one location ensures that it benefits from a claustrophobic tension, which benefits a film like this greatly. There isn't a lot of gore here, as the killings don't tend to be very bloodthirsty, and most of the violence takes place off-screen. The killings aren't bad, however, and I was impressed with the way that the film handled the scarecrows' victims after they had been savaged. Overall, this film certainly won't win any awards, and you won't really be missing much by not seeing it; but any horror fan that gets the chance to see Scarecrows probably won't be disappointed.

Mindless and acceptable horror thriller packed with chills , intrigue , terror and lots od interminable screams with no much sense . Including a large number of sinister scenes that usually are frightening and terrifying to spectator. Decent chiller about a gang of delinquents who hijack a plane to go to Mexico . One the the robbers flees and parachutes to a cornfield , then the others land on the location to find him . But there they are mercilessly pursued and massacred by various scarecrows . As they carry out a relentless criminal spree , an implacable slaughter on each person, one by one , with plenty of nighmarish scenes and extreme terror .

An intriguing and gory tale of terror and survival , the picture displays restless horror and great loads of screams , blood , guts and usual weird appearances by surprising scarecrows at a corrnfield , manifesting themselves with creepy threats , violent attacks , grisly murders and anything else . It is produced in limited but well used budget , including nicely recreated special effects , make-up enough and disturbing , shocking gore . The story begins little by little , but when the appearance of the eerie scarecrows takes place the films gets its adequate developing. The cast , though unknown , provides appropiate interpretations fitting to their funcional roles , such as : Ted Vernon, Michael Simms , David Campbell, Victoria Christian , BJ Turner . This Terror subgenre about Scarecrows has the best film titled "Dark night of the scarecrow" 1981 by Frank de Felitta with Charles Durning , Ernest Borgnine , Robert F Lyons , and others as "Scarecrow" 2013 by Sheldon Wilson with Lacey Charbet , Robin Dunne , " Children of corn" by Fritz Kiersch with Peter Horton , Linda Hamilton and its several sequels .

It contains a nice cinematography by Peter Deming, this cameraman has expanded a long and succesful cinematic career over thirty years . This Scarecrows 1988 is a passable terror movie being professionally written and directed by William Wesley . This director has made a few but acceptable short budget movies as Cinema as TV such as : Apolo Z , Monsters , Rout 666 and this Scarecrows at his best.