Night of the Scarecrow

Night of the Scarecrow (1995)

** (out of 4)

A young woman (Elizabeth Barondes) returns home to learn that her family is about to sell their corn fields so that a mall can take its place. The woman is against this idea and especially after an evil warlock takes control of a scarecrow and starts to kill her family. NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW has a pretty good idea for a movie but the screenplay ends up not doing too much with it and in the end we've pretty much just got your standard slasher film with a few memorable death scenes but nothing else. All of the characters are pretty much bland and that includes the leads who simply never bring much energy to their roles. Most of the supporting players are forgettable as well with the exception of Bruce Glover who plays a preacher with a big mouth. The make up effects for the most part are pretty good and we do get a couple fairly interesting death scenes. A few people are pretty much stitched up or turned into scarecrows and these scenes look very good as does another one where a woman gives birth to one. The look of the scarecrow was quite good so it's a shame more wasn't done for him. The entire subplot about the warlock never really added anything to the picture so a straight revenge tale probably would have been better. Still, horror fans into the scarecrow sub-genre will find the monsters good enough to give it a view but there are certainly better films out there.

This is a very typical and predictable film.I could guess out,practically each and every scene of it.BUT:I had a good a time with it.The murders are original,gruesome and they are supported by way above the average special effects.This film is to be seen with other horror buffs in order to have a good time.

Claire Goodman (Elizabeth Barondes) returns to her hometown Hanford to visit her estranged father, Major Frank Goodman (Stephen Root), and her family. She befriends the constructor Dillon (John Mese) that works for her father, and invites him to have dinner with her family. Dillon has fired the rebel Danny (John Hawkes) along the day, and during the night, the completely drunken Danny decides to seek revenge and drive a tractor with a friend through the cornfield. However, he stumbles upon a stone and breaks it, unleashing a force that uses the nearby scarecrow as a body. Soon, the scarecrow looks for members of the Goodman family to kill them. Claire and Danny are dating and they lean that one hundred years ago, a warlock promised to turn the useless land into a fertile and productive land. However, he was betrayed by an ancestor of the Goodman family and buried in the cornfield. Now his spirit is seeking revenge and looking for his book of spells to return to the human form.

"Night of the Scarecrow" is a slasher with the storyline of the curse of a family that is hunted down by a scarecrow. The plot is very reasonable, with good performances and special effects. The unknown Elizabeth Barondes performs a strong and great character. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Noite do Espantalho" ("The Night of the Scarecrow")

Wasn't expecting anything great, but it was better than I thought. Good rural atmosphere, ok acting & decent script. Some of the murder scenes are pretty innovative & gory. Direction could have been better, sometime scenes end abruptly. Overall, good movie for a rainy evening.

A group of drunken teenagers accidently release the spirit of an evil warlock who was imprisoned for hundreds of years who takes the form of a scarecrow. He then goes about the town killing the descendants of those who imprisoned him. Well made horror flick with good special effects, is still just a routine slasher flick with an unoriginal premise.

Rated R; Nudity, Violence, Sexual Situations, and Profanity.