Overview: THIS THRILLING DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW 1 & 2 4K UHD DOUBLE FEATURE INCLUDES BOTH THE 1981 CLASSIC HORROR FILM ALONG WITH ITS EXCITING, LONG AWAITED 2021 SEQUEL!

4K Blu-ray Verdict: Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) tells the tale of when young Marylee Williams (Tonya Crowe) is found viciously mauled, all hell breaks loose in her small rural town. Officious postmaster Otis P. Hazelrigg (Charles Durning) leads a gang of bigots in pursuit of the suspect: her mentally challenged friend Bubba Ritter (Larry Drake).

Finding him hiding inside a scarecrow, they exact brutal mob justice, only to discover a tragic mistake! Now a strange apparition stalks the land seeking each of them out, as the legend of the Scarecrow begins.

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 totally 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 the 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, for the most part.

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 (I mean, come on now, it’s hard to be scared when you’re rooting for the scarecrow!). It’s a shame because the cast is really pretty 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.

All that said, I’ve seen a fair few supernatural revenge films over the years. In fact, The Crow happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time. One of the great things about that - and others - is that the wronged individual is front and center when it comes to meeting out punishment to those who had caused his demise.

However, here the original victim was never destined to be leading man material therefore he’s not really seen throughout the majority of the film and, instead, you get a kind of Final Destination feel where karma dishes out revenge on his behalf. Not a bad film overall though, for sure, but I guess it was just the time and the fact that it was a TV movie that rid it of its guts, so to speak.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2 (2021) reminds us that a dark terror lies just below the surface of the small-town Chris Rhymer (Amber Wedding) and her young son Jeremy (Aiden Shurr) have settled in. One day while looking for Jeremy, she comes upon a weathered old scarecrow, and realizing that is only an inert effigy, she tells it her secret for being there.

Now, suddenly after forty years, a dark terror stalks the cornfields. Is it on a mission of revenge or is it protecting Chris from outside threats? The legend of the Scarecrow continues!

This long-in-the-making sequel was written by J. D. Feigelson, who also wrote the original, but inexplicably changes the central concept to turn the scarecrow into a killing entity, thereby rendering the movie not only essentially indistinguishable from a million other slasher movies, but also making it, well, sillier. Ray Bradbury is listed as a story consultant, though he died almost 10 years before this film was made, so that just gores to show you how long this sequel was sitting around for.

And even though this was a straight-to-home entertainment affair, one would have justly assumed that there would be some horrific, bloodthirsty atmosphere abounding within every scene, but there really isn’t. The plot itself goes off the rails a lot, heads down dead ends, gets confusing at times, and the acting, well, overall it is good, decent, yes, but the dialogue spoken sometimes comes across stilted, much like dinner theater.

I mean, it wasn’t exactly top of the line horror writing, but it made for an okay enough viewing experience. It was, however, the type of script and story line that doesn’t really require your undivided attention, and that meant it was easy to get distracted (or to forgive it and pass over it, I guess).

Still, in conclusion, and as much as it is most definitely not an extension of the original, Part II is an acquired taste that may take some people longer to appreciate and enjoy than others.

Bonus Features:
New 2023 DNOTS Triple Fan Commentary Track Hosted by Heath Holland (Cereal Midnight Podcaster) and featuring Robert Kelly noted film historian and artist, and super-fan Amanda Reyes, expert extraordinaire on TV movies, author, podcaster! Original DNOTS Commentary Track with Writer J.D. Feigelson and Director Frank DeFelitta New 2023 DNOTS2 Commentary by J.D. Feigelson Video Feature - “Bubba Didn’t Do It: 30 Years of the Scarecrow” by Daniel Griffith Video Feature – DNOTS Cast Reunion Q&A Recorded at the 2011 Frightfest Film Festival Trailer – 1981 CBS World Premiere Broadcast Promo Trailer – 1985 CBS Network Re-Broadcast Promo Photo Gallery – Behind the Scenes.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow - Official Trailer

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