Espantalho Assassino

Scarecrow (2013)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Better than average SyFy flick about three adults and six teens who travel to an abandoned farmhouse to tear down a scarecrow so that it can be used in a town event. Before long there's a scarecrow killing them off one by one. You know, scarecrows can be rather creepy and we've gotten several horror films about them but most have been rather unsuccessful with the exception being DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW. I really wasn't expecting too much from this film but it actually delivered as long as you don't take it too serious and don't expect any scares. I thought the story itself from writer Rick Suvalle was pretty good as it seems he has a knowledge of the genre and knows how to milk certain scenes. One fine example of this is the opening sequence with a couple teens sneaking into a barn for some sex but you know what happens. I really liked how the story took place at this farmhouse and barn and I think the film only really started to suffer when they moved off these locations. The performances were actually better than you'd expect for this type of film with Lacey Chabert, Julia Maxwell, Nicole Munoz and Richard Harmon all doing fine work. The scarecrow itself is a CGI creation and it's certainly not as horrid as I was expecting. If you watch these SyFy movies then you know the monsters are usually horrid looking but I thought for the most part that this one looked okay. The scarecrow in the field that we see early on is much more effective though. The blood/violence level isn't all that high but we get a couple nice scenes. SCARECROW eventually runs out of gas around the hour mark and gets slowed down but fans of the sub-genre should find enough here to enjoy.

I didn't expect much of this movie and I was right about it. There is not much to say about this movie. I thought the actors were mediocre at best. The story could have been good if the movie wasn't so predictable. You have the typical high school bad students on detention. They are all like 25 years old and you wonder why they can not find younger actors to play them. Then you get the typical scenes like the car that doesn't start anymore, the girl that falls over all the time trying to escape, the girl that wants to offer another girl as sacrifice so she can escape herself etc... The only good thing about the movie was the scarecrow itself. I thought he looked pretty good. It would have been better if they had given us some background story. I will forget everything about this movie in a week.

This was typical fare of something evil lurks and teenagers are on the menu. But with realistic gore and terror scenes, frightened actors and creepy settings, it's at least an enjoyable seasonal movie for Halloween, (it was aired on the Sy-Fy channel in October) and for TV movie horror fans alike. Mild enough to air on TV, it is fairly safe for younger teens and pre-teens, but engaging enough for the adults to watch, too. The monster was interesting yet vaguely familiar (think Jeepers Creepers) and yet kept me intrigued for the entirety of the story. Some twists and turns helped move the story along, despite the predictable characters and storyline. Overall, not bad. Not wonderful, but not bad.

I find it kind of odd that people are overly negative about this movie. Sure, it is a SyFy Channel original movie, so you shouldn't get your hopes up in the likes of major blockbuster multi-million dollar glamorous Hollywood productions. But every now and again SyFy Channel does manage to hit a Homerus - and they did so with "Scarecrow".

The story is about a town that celebrates the 100th annual scarecrow festival, and apparently there is a grim tale about an animated scarecrow on a local farm. This turns out to be true, as a group of people come face to face with a grotesque and murderous entity.

Storywise, then "Scarecrow" was actually enjoyable, it had just the right amount of fun and thrills, though it wasn't a particular scary movie, unless you are easily scared, of course. But still, the story proved to be entertaining and well enough thought through.

As for the acting, well people were doing good jobs with their given roles and it was fun to see Lacey Chabert in a movie such as this. She did carry the movie well.

The effects in "Scarecrow" were actually quite good. Sure, this wasn't a CGI galore such as those over the top Hollywood productions, but the effects proved effective to what they were supposed to do. The scarecrow was nicely animated and had some great details, and it didn't actually look fake at any one point throughout the movie.

If you enjoy a good monster flick, that doesn't necessarily require much thinking from the audience side, then "Scarecrow" is a good choice. "Scarecrow" managed to squeeze a 6 out of 10 stars rating out of me.

While Scarecrow is left wanting somewhat, for SyFy it really isn't so bad. There are some good things. Scarecrow is one of SyFy's better-looking recent movies, the scenery is good and atmosphere and it is slickly shot. The quality of the scarecrow design is not bad at all, in fact apart from some too-smooth movements, which for SyFy is saying a good deal. The score does have some eeriness, and the beginning sets things up nicely. The acting is better than average also, Lacey Chabert and Robin Dunne fare the best and they are good. The direction is of the kind is that is never inept or adept, competent is the best word though it could have been with more crispness and character in the latter part of the movie. There are failings in Scarecrow though. The biggest failing is that it doesn't convey its horror elements very well. There are some moments in the first half, but much of it suffers from being too been-there-done-that quality, from not knowing when to end, from having a lack of build-up or suspense and that the fear and danger levels are quite low. The story is refreshingly simple to begin with and starts promisingly, sadly it is also the kind of story that later on becomes too simple and runs out of ideas too early. There is also too much down-time and exposition, coupled with the lack of scares there are too many of tediousness. The dialogue could have done with being tighter, and with less of an over-serious and simplistic approach. The exposition scenes are particularly bad in this regard. And while the scarecrow is good in look, it also doesn't have much of a personality and is severely under-utilised. In conclusion, not bad, could have been worse but it's nothing particularly great either. 5/10 Bethany Cox