Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

A group of bigoted locals wrongly blame gentle man-child Bubba (Larry Drake) for the death of a young girl and hunt the frightened dolt down, eventually finding him disguised as a scarecrow in his mother's field. Without giving poor Bubba a chance to explain what happened, the trigger-happy gang fill him full of holes. The ensuing murder trial is a farce and the men are acquitted, but one by one they are menaced by a creepy scarecrow before turning up dead.For my money, scarecrows are every bit as disturbing as clowns, but they don't seem to have captured film-makers' imaginations in quite the same way: there's tons of scary clown flicks (with more and more on the way following the success of this year's horror blockbuster It), but only a handful of scarecrow films. TV movie Dark Night of the Scarecrow, directed by novelist Frank De Felitta, attempts to prove to the boob tube masses that a creepy straw man can be just as terrifying as a grease-painted killer, but fails to do so: the limitations of the small screen format means that there is zero gore, and the film delivers very few genuine frights simply because the victims are all thoroughly deserving of their fates (it's hard to be scared when you're rooting for the scarecrow).It's a shame because the cast is good (Charles Durning is delightfully loathsome as mailman Otis, leader of the lynch mob, who, it is implied, is also a pedo) and De Felitta displays some not inconsiderable skill behind the camera.

When the film begins, Bubba (Larry Drake) is playing with a neighbor girl. She's young and he's a mentally challenged adult. Well, for some odd reason, several of the locals hate Bubba and Otis (Charles Durning) enjoys stirring up hatred against the man. Soon after this little scene, the girl is attacked by a vicious dog and Bubba saves her and brings her home to her mother. He's hysterical and soon all sorts of crazy rumors start that HE attacked the kid and killed her. But she's only slightly hurt and before long, folks are running about town looking for Bubba. Otis' little group is primed for a hanging...all due to Otis' drumming it into their dumb minds that Bubba is a danger to them all! As for Bubba, he hides in a most unusual fashion...pretending to be the scarecrow on his mother's farm! The evil quartet soon find him and don't give him a chance to surrender and shoot him 21 times!! Amazingly, the local judge refuses to indict them for murder!! So, it seems that the four scum-bags have gotten away with it.Soon after this incident, a scarecrow appears on one of the four men's land...and within a short time, he's dead...supposedly by accident. And, soon after that, the same thing happens again. At this point, Otis isn't about to take any chances and begins killing off anyone who could possibly be behind the two deaths. What's next? See this cool made for TV horror movie.Overall, this is a very well made and highly entertaining film...far better than the norm for such a picture. The acting, writing and scare factor are all there...and the film is well worth your time.Interestingly, a few years after this film was made, Larry Drake went on to become a regular on "LA Law" playing another mentally challenged man. I am pretty sure this film must have helped him land this role.

A quartet of backwoods vigilante buffoons chase a mentally disabled man, Bubba, through town after they believe him to have kidnapped a young girl. They find him disguised as a scarecrow in a field, and execute him, only to receive immediate news that the girl is alive and well, and that he actually saved her life. Oops. After being acquitted of the murder, all four men are plagued by a bullet-ridden scarecrow appearing on their property, and talk that Bubba is somehow stalking them beyond the grave.There is truly something special about the television horror films of the late 1970s and early 1980s— "Home for the Holidays," "Trilogy of Terror," "Race with the Devil," just to name a few— for whatever reasons, the horror films that made it to the small screen during this era were consistently well made and legitimately suspenseful. In fact, a lot of them have the production values and feel of a major studio picture, and "Dark Night of the Scarecrow" is no exception here. Directed by Frank De Felitta, who also brought us 1977's "Audrey Rose," the film boasts impressive cinematography and some playful and inventive terror sequences as the redneck geezers/wannabe vigilantes get their just desserts. Since it is a television film, the violence is obviously minimized, but the implications during each of these payback scenes are grim, and mostly revolve around farm machinery— ouch.Charles Durning's turn as the reprehensible small town postman and cold-blooded bigot is effective in that his character is truly reprehensible, and Jocelyn Brando (yep, Marlon's sister), is wonderful as the spiteful mother of Bubba. An understated and spooky synth score accentuates the eerier moments here, particularly the wide shots of the ominous scarecrow (or Bubba...?) hanging in the distant fields.While the overall premise may not be particularly original ("Les diaboliques" comes to mind), this is a remarkably well put-together thriller that is miles about standard television fare as we've come to know it. Sophisticated production values and De Felitta's attention to detail are impressive; in fact, had I not known it was a made-for-TV movie beforehand, I may have not guessed it at all. A truly worthy genre entry, and quite frankly much more elegant than half of what the eighties had to offer in terms of slasher films. 8/10.

I never recall myself getting so wild with the 'Scarecrow' tales. 'Dark Night of the Scarecrow' is one such masterpiece that has no budget to boast but simply a great attitude that brings a win-win situation to both director and the audience. Frank de Felitta is a miraculous man and has proved that the scarecrows don't just scare the crap out of birds! The background music adds tension to the plot and is one of the most haunting soundtracks I can ever think of. The artistry lies in the way scarecrow has been pictured and this solely makes the story alive. J.D. Fiegelsen (The godfather of scarecrow sub-genre and also the author of 'Audrey Rose') has penned down the script with a meticulous and fervent mind that itself is a terrific combination. What impresses me most is that DNOTS was a TV movie! They don't make like this anymore nowadays. The plot revolves around few townsfolk who kill a mentally-challenged and nitwit Bubba for no apparent reason, but someone who lives in the sky and writes our fates decides to wreak havoc on the culprits and settles the scores in bizarre and supernatural ways.Buba Ritter (Larry Drake) is a retarded but fully-grown up man, who lives with his mother Mrs. Ritter (Jocelyn Brando) in a small town. He befriends a little girl Marylee (Tonya Crowe) and it seems that they both are on the same note and love each other's company. Marylee and Bubba spend their time playing near a windmill in the lemon-yellow fields. Their friendship is despised by the town's mean mailman Otis (Charles Durning), farmer-cousins Philby (Claude E Jones) and Harliss (Lane Smith) and gas station attendant Skeeter (Robert Lyons) and they are only looking for a good time to punish Bubba. One day while playing with Bubba, Marylee is mauled by a ferocious dog and falls unconscious. Bubba is attacked by the dog but he somehow manages to save a fainted Marylee and takes Mary to her mother. The news spreads like a fire and Otis quickly assumes that Bubba might have raped and murdered the girl. Otis, Skeeter, Philby and Harliss promptly form a lynch mob and go after Bubba with a pack of hunting dogs. Mrs. Ritter realizes that her son is in danger and she disguises Bubba as a scarecrow and plants him at a field. The lynch mob arrives and the dogs sniff Bubba out in no time. Otis and his friends empty their revolvers on poor Bubba. Minutes later, Otis is informed that Marylee had only fainted and is alright after medical care. In order to make the murder look like a self-defense assault, Otis puts a pitchfork in dead Bubba's hands to make appear as if he were about to attack them and was therefore killed in response.The murder is prosecuted in court where on the grounds of zero proof, the culprits are somehow able to save their necks. The district attorney Sam Willock (Tom Taylor) doesn't believe on Otis and his friends, and promises to send them to the death row, if he ever finds a clue. Otis and his friends want to keep their misdeed a secret but its not very long when Harliss mysteriously falls into a chipper and is shredded to pieces. Philby notices a scarecrow in his fields and is horrified. On Philby's tip, Otis decides to take the matter in his hands and burns Mrs. Ritter's house. A few days later Philby, under mysterious circumstances perishes inside a grain silo and Skeeter goes insane with fear and is ultimately killed by Otis. Otis appears to be a pedophile and is after Marylee. He also accuses Marylee of orchestrating the scarecrow murders, which she denies. A game of cat and mouse begins where Marylee is chased by Otis and they finally land on a pumpkin patch. A plowing machine in the patch animates all by itself and begins to follow a running Otis. Otis soon finds the Bubba scarecrow before him and realizes that he is impaled by the same pitchfork he ever put in Bubba's hands as alibi.DNOTS is one of the best Halloween films that follows a simple plot, has a weird atmosphere and crazy soundtrack. I never get satisfied watching it once and can watch it all day long. It has some magic that keeps you tied to your seat. Unlike splatter films, the film has very little gore and takes inspiration from evergreen horror milestones like Halloween and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is noteworthy that Halloween and TCM also have very little gore, but they boast on the effect they cast on the viewers. DNOTS certainly is a great combination of fear, anxiety, insanity and trauma all seasoned in the curry of devilish Halloween atmosphere. The portrayal of rural culture adds great taste to the movie, where empty fields, chippers, plowing machines, grain silos and pumpkin patches have been used as horror intensifiers. DNOTS simply rules!