If you enjoy movies with repetitive shots of scarecrows, and the standard knife entering torso death scene, than this move is for you.
This movie contains absolutely zero character development, and while all of the characters die the same, you can't really find much of a reason to stay hooked to this move. Even the make-up effects were non-existent, I didn't expect too much, but be cautious while reading the other reviews, this movie isn't scary, funny, or even close to being so bad its good.
A heist nets 3.5 million dollars, but when one of the crew absconds with the money, the others give chase. No need, because the traitor reappears of his own accord, dead, reanimated and eviscerated. He doesn't die again easily however, so his comrades shoot him repeatedly and lop off his head. Full of wonderment over this, the crew cuts him open (a curious lot they are) and finds him stuffed full of cash. Ode to joy. So, there's the money! How did get there? No worries. His friends pull bloody cash out of every orifice, since he has more than any person should be rightfully entitled. Yep, this one's a real knee slapper. A Horrible flick. Bad dialogue. Worse acting. Was going to bring to a friends house for Halloween. I'm glad I previewed it first. Too bad too, because the premise is interesting and the scarecrows are cool looking.
However, you mostly see the scarecrows when they're hanging on their posts. Not much happens for a good 80 minutes. Clearly this was a straight to video release. I have seen tons of horror flicks from the 80's during the 80's and I don't remember ever seeing this one advertised. Heed the warning of the one star reviews unless you have really low standards for your horror flicks.
If SCARECROWS was cut down to the opening 3-minute credit sequence with the shot of the scarecrow and the foreboding piano score, this would be a really creepy film. Unfortunately, there's another 80 minutes to wade through after that and it feels more like 180. Take into account that the end credits are almost 10 minutes long and that about 20 minutes is devoted to close-ups of scarecrows hanging on crosses, a picture on a wall or just random shots of things,and what you're left with is about 50 minutes of awful dialogue, zero character development, bad acting, limp directing and unintelligible editing.
You don't even get to see the robbery at the beginning. You hear about it on a radio broadcast. In fact, most of the dialogue in this film isn't even said on screen. You hear it over a radio or what people are thinking or someone is talking just off screen. Since all the males sound alike you don't even know who's talking half the time...not that you care about these paper-thin but fully annoying characters.
Nothing really makes sense either. There's very little spatial coherence when the characters are outside. The explanation behind the scarecrows is hinted at but never fully explained. That's okay. Sometimes explanations in horror films are worse than just hinting. However, character motivations and actions are another thing. One minute someone says, "Screw the money!" but the next they're outside scarfing it up off the ground only to get gutted. One guy sees a team member get killed by a scarecrow and 5 minutes later he's screaming that the guy's coming back to the farmhouse for his gun. What? There's also a phone call that's supposed to be scary, but it was just dumb.
The only positive thing I can say about SCARECROWS is that the Scarecrow effects were good but that doesn't make SCARECROWS a good film. I wanted so badly to like this movie.
It's one of those films that I've read about in various movie review guides and assorted cinematic horror articles over the years and I put it on a personal list of films to see that "are not currently on DVD." Unfortunately, for all the talk, it had many more similarities than differences to the things we've grown to dislike bout the '80's horror film.
The scarecrows' (and their victims') actions and motives seem to change as needed to fit the story's progression. The characters' question fairly ordinary things yet completely accept some very bizarre supernatural events. Admittedly spooky and atmospheric setting (which is lessened by repeating footage of the scarecrows and the nocturnal surroundings shot in flood lights) but that alone can't carry the film. If you saw this years ago and have fond, scared memories, keep it that way and do not rent.
BOTTOM LINE: Make like a crow and fly as far away from these scarecrows as possible!
This movie contains absolutely zero character development, and while all of the characters die the same, you can't really find much of a reason to stay hooked to this move. Even the make-up effects were non-existent, I didn't expect too much, but be cautious while reading the other reviews, this movie isn't scary, funny, or even close to being so bad its good.
A heist nets 3.5 million dollars, but when one of the crew absconds with the money, the others give chase. No need, because the traitor reappears of his own accord, dead, reanimated and eviscerated. He doesn't die again easily however, so his comrades shoot him repeatedly and lop off his head. Full of wonderment over this, the crew cuts him open (a curious lot they are) and finds him stuffed full of cash. Ode to joy. So, there's the money! How did get there? No worries. His friends pull bloody cash out of every orifice, since he has more than any person should be rightfully entitled. Yep, this one's a real knee slapper. A Horrible flick. Bad dialogue. Worse acting. Was going to bring to a friends house for Halloween. I'm glad I previewed it first. Too bad too, because the premise is interesting and the scarecrows are cool looking.
However, you mostly see the scarecrows when they're hanging on their posts. Not much happens for a good 80 minutes. Clearly this was a straight to video release. I have seen tons of horror flicks from the 80's during the 80's and I don't remember ever seeing this one advertised. Heed the warning of the one star reviews unless you have really low standards for your horror flicks.
If SCARECROWS was cut down to the opening 3-minute credit sequence with the shot of the scarecrow and the foreboding piano score, this would be a really creepy film. Unfortunately, there's another 80 minutes to wade through after that and it feels more like 180. Take into account that the end credits are almost 10 minutes long and that about 20 minutes is devoted to close-ups of scarecrows hanging on crosses, a picture on a wall or just random shots of things,and what you're left with is about 50 minutes of awful dialogue, zero character development, bad acting, limp directing and unintelligible editing.
You don't even get to see the robbery at the beginning. You hear about it on a radio broadcast. In fact, most of the dialogue in this film isn't even said on screen. You hear it over a radio or what people are thinking or someone is talking just off screen. Since all the males sound alike you don't even know who's talking half the time...not that you care about these paper-thin but fully annoying characters.
Nothing really makes sense either. There's very little spatial coherence when the characters are outside. The explanation behind the scarecrows is hinted at but never fully explained. That's okay. Sometimes explanations in horror films are worse than just hinting. However, character motivations and actions are another thing. One minute someone says, "Screw the money!" but the next they're outside scarfing it up off the ground only to get gutted. One guy sees a team member get killed by a scarecrow and 5 minutes later he's screaming that the guy's coming back to the farmhouse for his gun. What? There's also a phone call that's supposed to be scary, but it was just dumb.
The only positive thing I can say about SCARECROWS is that the Scarecrow effects were good but that doesn't make SCARECROWS a good film. I wanted so badly to like this movie.
It's one of those films that I've read about in various movie review guides and assorted cinematic horror articles over the years and I put it on a personal list of films to see that "are not currently on DVD." Unfortunately, for all the talk, it had many more similarities than differences to the things we've grown to dislike bout the '80's horror film.
The scarecrows' (and their victims') actions and motives seem to change as needed to fit the story's progression. The characters' question fairly ordinary things yet completely accept some very bizarre supernatural events. Admittedly spooky and atmospheric setting (which is lessened by repeating footage of the scarecrows and the nocturnal surroundings shot in flood lights) but that alone can't carry the film. If you saw this years ago and have fond, scared memories, keep it that way and do not rent.
BOTTOM LINE: Make like a crow and fly as far away from these scarecrows as possible!