Dark Night of the Scarecrow

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 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

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

Frank DeFelitta, who also happened to write the novel Audrey Rose, turned to directing for this 1981 horror fantasy. The film opens with an eerie credit roll set on a pastel-colored windmill backdrop, and this is when we first hear the film's unforgettabley chilling score. Twenty years after seeing this film for the first time, I can still play it over in my head. The film soon progresses to its undeniably clever storyline, which I won't bother describing in detail as that has been done for me by previous reviewers. The atmosphere of this film is almost unbearably suspenseful at times, and the fact that we never see even a far-off image of the murderous culprit during the film adds to the creepiness. Charles Durning gives one of his best performances as the selfish, provincial mailman who is stalked by a vengeful killer. This film is best viewed alone late at night!

Mindless and acceptable film is packed with thrills , chills , intrigue , suspense , horror and lots of interminable screams with no much sense . Decent chiller about a gentle developmentally-disabled man, Bubba Ritter (lane Smith) , befriends young 10-year-old Marylee Williams living at an isolated location in the Deep South. After happening an unfortunate distress , four nasty friends : postman Otis (Charñes Durning) , gas station attendant Skeeter Norris (Robert F. Lyons) and farmer-cousins Philby (Claude Earl Jones) and Harliss Hocker (Lane Smith) form a lynch mob. As Bubba is mercillesly pursued and then is disguised as a scarecrow, and , after that , he hides in. It results in a deadly revenge , causing creepy goings-on the murderers . The Original Classic . What has this girl done that is driving the town mad? . What is the terrible act people are about to commit? And who is the only person who can save her?. An All-New Chiller for Halloween! . There IS other justice besides the law!

An intriguing tale of suspense , horror and survival , as the film contains restless terror and great loads of screams , blood and usual weird phenomena caused by the creepy appearance of a surprising scarecrow at a cornfield and ordinary ghastly shenanigans with weird threats that manifest themselves with violent attacks , grisly murders and anything else . It deals with the typical plot of a supernatural revenge when prejudiced townspeople attack a retarded man who was innocently befriended by a young girl . It is produced in limited budget but well recreated with special effects enough and eerie deeds that are frightening and horrifying to spectator . It packs lots of screams and strange events with the allegedly death of a little girl unusual things start to happen and in which some ominous vigilantes fall into a supernatural terror . The story starts little by little , but when there takes place a merciless vendetta , the nasty killers find only devilish horror , carrying out an implacable vengeance on each person one by one with full of nightmarish scenes and extreme terror . Moderated budget makes for big scary scream-feast . Main and support cast are pretty good. . Charles Durning gives a nice acting as the brooding, mean-spirited postman Otis , Robert F. Lyons as a gas attendant Skeeter Norris , Claude Earl Jones as the fatty Philby , Lane Smith as farmer Harliss, and special mention for Larry Drake as an intellectually-disabled man who is unjustly accused of attacking a young girl and Jocelyn Brando as his mother Mrs. Ritter.

This thriller with a moral was professionality directed by Frank De Felitta with intensity , tension and suspenseful . Frank De Felitta was a good a craftsman who wrote/produced /directed various films in all kind of genres with penchant for the supernatural and terror . He wrote or shot as Cinema as telefims or TV episodes , such as : Scissors , Two worlds of Jennie Logan , Clan of the doberman , The Stately Ghosts of England , The DuPont Show of the Week , Z. P. G. , Assignment: Underwater and many others . Rating : 6.5/10 . Better than average horror movie .