I saw this round about 1989 at my sisters house and the one thing i can always remember about this movie was the fact that it was too dark. Yeah that's right, i'm moaning about the really poor lighting. I got the chance to view it again after all these years and my memory is totally correct. It's too dark even with the brightness turned up a notch. This movie is shot entirely at night but that's no excuse because other films have been but they've been OK. It's sometimes hard to see what is going on.
*SPOILERS*
I am a big fan of 'Dark Night Of The Scarecrow' which is an excellent movie so when i originally saw 'Scarecrows' i thought it would be kick ass. Unfortunately it wasn't. It has a crap story with crap actors and takes an eternity for it to get going which is pretty stupid for a movie which is on for only 79 minutes. When things do liven up there's not that much to see as there are only about 4 killings and one of them is off screen. The killings are over all too fast with little build up to most of them. The characters are pretty stupid too. When Jack is on the roof of that house and he see's through his night-vision a snarling scarecrow in the distance he panics for a few seconds then is OK and proceeds to go outside to search for the lost money. Er i wouldn't have stepped foot outside till day break! What a dumbass! Also, when the robbers know that something is severely wrong do they barricade themselves in the house? Nope, they leave the front door wide open. When Curry realises that bullets don't work against the scarecrows do they think of using fire against them? Nope, they obviously go with the simple solution of using exploding shells, duh! If you can't tell, i'm being sarcastic.
But the scene with the night-vision that i just mentioned is extremely cool and scary. That scarecrow really looked nasty and evil. The few gore effects were good as well. The idea of the scarecrows gutting a human and stuffing their insides full of straw is pretty twisted. The trouble is...why? We learn next to nothing about who the scarecrows are (we're supposed to assume they are the three guys in the picture, i think) and why they are doing what they are doing. One of the robbers comes up with an half arsed assumption which we the viewer are supposed to accept as gospel. The background story is sketchy at best. And why did that guy Bert decide to turn on his comrades at the beginning? He didn't seem to have too much of a plan and the guy is a stupid wimp so why did he fancy his chances on the run?
All in all a scaryish film which relies more on its twisted nature than its scare factor. That scarecrow in the night-vision shot was excellent though and the zombie/scarecrow Jack at the end wasn't too bad either. Yeah, watch this even if the character who is going to survive this is painfully obvious straight from the beginning. An averagely bland horror movie with a couple of cool scenes. Way too dark though. 6/10
*SPOILERS*
I am a big fan of 'Dark Night Of The Scarecrow' which is an excellent movie so when i originally saw 'Scarecrows' i thought it would be kick ass. Unfortunately it wasn't. It has a crap story with crap actors and takes an eternity for it to get going which is pretty stupid for a movie which is on for only 79 minutes. When things do liven up there's not that much to see as there are only about 4 killings and one of them is off screen. The killings are over all too fast with little build up to most of them. The characters are pretty stupid too. When Jack is on the roof of that house and he see's through his night-vision a snarling scarecrow in the distance he panics for a few seconds then is OK and proceeds to go outside to search for the lost money. Er i wouldn't have stepped foot outside till day break! What a dumbass! Also, when the robbers know that something is severely wrong do they barricade themselves in the house? Nope, they leave the front door wide open. When Curry realises that bullets don't work against the scarecrows do they think of using fire against them? Nope, they obviously go with the simple solution of using exploding shells, duh! If you can't tell, i'm being sarcastic.
But the scene with the night-vision that i just mentioned is extremely cool and scary. That scarecrow really looked nasty and evil. The few gore effects were good as well. The idea of the scarecrows gutting a human and stuffing their insides full of straw is pretty twisted. The trouble is...why? We learn next to nothing about who the scarecrows are (we're supposed to assume they are the three guys in the picture, i think) and why they are doing what they are doing. One of the robbers comes up with an half arsed assumption which we the viewer are supposed to accept as gospel. The background story is sketchy at best. And why did that guy Bert decide to turn on his comrades at the beginning? He didn't seem to have too much of a plan and the guy is a stupid wimp so why did he fancy his chances on the run?
All in all a scaryish film which relies more on its twisted nature than its scare factor. That scarecrow in the night-vision shot was excellent though and the zombie/scarecrow Jack at the end wasn't too bad either. Yeah, watch this even if the character who is going to survive this is painfully obvious straight from the beginning. An averagely bland horror movie with a couple of cool scenes. Way too dark though. 6/10