Skarecrow

I came across "Dark Harvest 3" (a.k.a. "Skarecrow" apparently) in the supermarket bargain bin and got suckered due to the cool DVD cover art and cheap price (thankfully it only cost me $3.99). I hadn't seen the previous 2 "Dark Harvest" movies but I figured, how much back story could there be in a movie series about killer scarecrows anyway? Thankfully (or perhaps not) it turns out that this flick doesn't have any connection to the prior "D.H." films anyway, it was just a quickie, ultra-low-budget indie horror flick that Lions Gate snapped up and attached the "Dark Harvest" name to it. Whether you want to call it "Skarecrow" or "Dark Harvest 3," the fact remains that the "film" is completely, utterly, unwatchable.

The film's opening flashback takes place in "The Tennessee Backwoods" circa 1921, where a gang of moonshiners have just killed an old woman and stolen her land for use in their criminal enterprise. Unfortunately this particular old woman happened to be a witch, and before dying she placed a curse on her property, which causes her scarecrow to come to life and dispatch the sleeping moonshiners with a variety of farming implements. Sounds fine so far, but unfortunately this sequence is so dark and grainy that it's damn near impossible to tell what's going on. If the photography in "Blair Witch Project" gave you a headache, expect this bit to cause an Instant Migraine. As soon as this introduction ended and the opening credits rolled, I knew I was in for a rough ride.

Flash forward to 1981, and a group of annoying twenty somethings (none of whom appear to like each other very much) are headed off to the woods on an annual camping outing. They plan to stay at a remote cabin in the middle of the woods (shades of "Evil Dead," though this film wishes it were one tenth as good as that classic) owned by the family of one of the gang. Upon arrival the group takes part in the usual slasher film activities for a while, i.e. getting drunk, having sex, and getting on each other's nerves, until one of the gals gets her head lopped off in mid-coitus by the evil scarecrow. Turns out the cabin is on the witch's former property and her guardian is still hangin' around protecting the place. Predictable, poorly shot, badly acted mayhem ensues.

Honestly, I wish I had something good to say about "Dark Harvest 3" but there really isn't one redeeming quality about it. The film looks cheap (shot on video perhaps?), the script sucks, and the performances are uniformly awful. Not ONCE will you get the feeling that these "actors" are paying attention to anything other than the cue cards that were doubtlessly being held off camera. (Just listen to the way one guy drones "Oh, baby...that feels so good" during a sex scene. Come on, if you can't even fake THAT convincingly, then there's no hope for you!) The characters spend so much time screaming and yelling at each other that I couldn't wait for the scarecrow to wipe them all out just so they'd shut the hell up. There are one or two decent gore bits but even those weren't enough to save this turkey.

Remember folks, I watch movies like these so YOU don't have to. "Dark Harvest 3"/"Skarecrow" was 90 excruciating minutes of my life that I'll never get back. If you come across this puppy in the bargain bin, treat it as if it's an explosive device and leave it on the shelf. Don't say I didn't warn you!

I couldn't spoil this piece of crap if I wanted to. After watching Dark Harvest 1 I thought "this has got to be the worse movie ever made" then I watched Dark Harvest 2 and that made 1 seem a little better. Then I watched Dark Harvest 3 or tried too. The only thing I have to say is "when is this going to end?" Very bad acting and really bad special effects the only good thing about this movie was the boob shot. Don't waste your time of money on this piece of crap... And now I have to write 3 more lines to get this to submit. I was going to sing a song but I can't think of any right now. But the movie finally ended (though it had an ending that might mean they are going to make another one of these)

you'd be better off watching the Andy Griffith show than this piece of Podunk Tennessee trash. this movie may have had some comedic materials if it were filmed in 8mm but this movie is trying to be too serious. rent movies like demon child 666 and you'll see what i mean. Anyways pass this one up if possible and don't forget not to watch crap like this. i think after seeing this you'd probably rather jump of a cliff or something. good films to watch would be slaughter high, blue monkey, or even some other scarecrow movie. I also believe there is like 4 scarecrow movies already so WTF???? I also don't understand the whole deal with putting in the k in scarecrow, I guess it's trying to be hip with the new horror fans.

It used to be that video distributors like Sub Rosa and Brain Damage Films would release low-budget, shot-on-video horror films to a select market of gorehounds that ate them up with glee. That's acceptable to me, because you could see these movies from a mile away with their shoddy box art and cheesy titles.

Now we have Lions Gate getting into the mix, only they have decided that it'd be better to sucker in poor saps by putting a "professional" looking cover on it and charge the same price as one of their higher-budget, professionally made features. Do not be suckered in by this! Granted, if you've seen Dark Harvest 1 or 2 than you already know what to expect with 3 but there is a place for movies like this and it is not on a video store shelf beside professionally-made features.

I am a fan of independent cinema and have watched several low budget, shot-on-video productions that were still a worthy rental but this was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The "acting" (if you can call it that) was abysmal. It was amusing to laugh at the horrible line reading for a minute or two, but eventually it was too much to take and became unbearable. The story is bad, the dialogue is worse, the acting somehow manages to be even worse. The only possible saving grace to this would be one disemboweling scene that still manages to be awful but is an award winning effect when compared to the blood splatters after a girl is slapped or the mannequin decapitation.

It took me three tries to make it through this entire movie and I only did so because I paid good money to rent it and felt like I should at least finish it all the way through. Stay away - stay far, far away from this one.

(2005) Dark Harvest 3- Skarecrow HORROR

Great looking poster and that's not saying much for this straight-for-rental horror flick like it was made as a quick class project since it was filmed via cam corder with some second rate acting and body doubles were used, about teenage redneck along with his friends deciding to visit an isolated cabin for the weekend, unsuspecting that a curse was made years earlier! The last remaining relative wakes a planted scarecrow by accidentally splashing it with his girlfriends blood by smacking her for the first time- how convenient! And of course, this Scarecrow starts slashing everyone in plain view sight. There's also supposed to be a surprise near the end which some should be able to figure out at the beginning.