Scarecrows (1988)

[Dehydrator]

Has anyone seen this? It's got a pretty good reputation ( I mean, look at these praising comments at imdb. They can't possibly all be from the director or somethin... ). Anyway, it's on e-bay and I thought I'd ask my fellow schmoes before I throw money out of the window.

[AlienClown]

Don't pay more than $5.

[Donuthole75]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by AlienClown:
Don't pay more than $5. </font>

I have it on an old washed out VHS, though I haven't seen it in awhile. The acting is pretty tight and the Scarecrows are pretty damn creepy. Good, eerie atmosphere and alot of people saeem to like it. I say don't pay more than $15 for it. It's worth more than $5 though.

[Elgyn]

It`s good. A little on the hokey side here and there, but the scarecrows themselves are really friggin` cool! The plot isn`t too bad either.

[skantchweasel]

BUMP!

After recommending this on another thread. I thought id take a trip down memory lane and check this bad boy out again...

What a movie!
Seriously though, some of the "Schmoes" here may have it down as simply another direct to video movie, but for all its low budget-ness, it does succeed in being a genuine Horror movie. As in delivering on all fronts, without once having to resort to "Hip-ness", instead resulting in an extremely atmospheric and unsettling movie.

Maybe the Jack character seemed a tad out of place with the hardened Commando scum, but the characters are very strong and credible with incredibly good performances, considering the majorly non professional cast (I think one of them was a car salesman?!?).

Even after seeing it about 20 times in my younger days, it still holds up to viewing now... I still get goosebumps from the scene when the Team catch up with Bert.

An overall excellent movie, which if it had have been given the right exposure, could have made one hell of a difference.

[skantchweasel]

Also,
I ve only personally seen the UK 18 version of this, which did have some moments of severe interpersonal mayhem.

Just wondering if the US Schmoes have seen both the Unrated & R rated version and could fill me in on any potentialy missing highlights which could be missing from my version?

cheers!

[Elgyn]

Yes this is a cool rather obscure movie.


***SPOILERS***

*But*, dude how about when the grenade is thrown inside the plane, and just kills the scarecrow but does no damage to the plane`s hull or anything!

And the "demonic demons" line! LOL, I`m not trying to bash the movie (I really did like it), but those two scenes were totally MST3K worthy!

[skantchweasel]

Did i say it was perfect?

***SPOILERS&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; SORT OF....


So the grenade may be a bit hokey? To be honest, untill i read the post from you about it, the logic of that whole issue never crossed my mind. To be honest, unless i was sitting down and dissecting the movie, i wouldnt really be concerned... but as you mention it, yeah... it is a bit of a lame-o... but otherwise you wouldnt have had the dog chowing down on the heroic dude in the dying scene... http://www.joblo.com/ubb/wink.gif
Just suspend belief as to the destructive powers of the handgrenade...

As for the "Demonic Demons" man... the way its written there is taking it completely out of context. Jack was a bit of a buffoon tbh and not a scarecrow had been seen at that point... I beleive the exchange to have been along the lines of

"I dunno, maybe the place is posessed... by demonic.. demons ..or something...?"
"Your ass is gonna be posessed by my boot if you dont shut up"

lol
I thought the line in question to be genuinely amusing myself... If it had have been from one of the more logically minded characters giving a heartfelt monologue, then yeah we d be talking Mature stilton.. but man, seriously not worth holding a line like that against the movie, especially when the response was so amusing...

Now wheres the bloody DVD release?!

[Elgyn]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by skantchweasel:

but man, seriously not worth holding a line like that against the movie, especially when the response was so amusing...

</font>

I wasn`t holding it against the movie - I just thought it was FUNNY!! But you`re right, maybe it was *supposed* to sound really stupid because the character Jack said it.

[skantchweasel]

Yeah i think bad choice of words on my behalf there as well... but yeah, judging by the tone of the rest of the film, The quality of the dialogue throughout is, i thought, pretty high for a movie of its origins so i really dont think a line like that would have made it in there as a sincere statement.

Sorry, I love the movie.

cool.

[genephillips]

i think this place is possessed by demonic demons...
...your head's gonna be possessed by the butt of my rifle if you don't shut up!

that's one of my all-time favorite lines from a horror film!
i think there's some more pretty funny wise-cracks in this movie but i can't remember them. also, i read a review on the imdb in which someone said that this movie was very reminiscent of resident evil. as a big fan of the resident evil games, i noticed strong similarities myself. i wonder if maybe creators of resident evil saw this film and got ideas from it?

[Kim_EZ]

Creepy film! I hate scarecrows. x.x Why were the scarecrows able to move anyway?

[Elgyn]

I don`t think they ever really explain why the scarecrows were alive.

[skantchweasel]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Kim_EZ:
Creepy film! I hate scarecrows. x.x Why were the scarecrows able to move anyway?</font>

Another of the fab things about this movie. Rather than pass everything off with another Necronomicon, its all left pretty much open. There are numerous hints as to the Fowlers dablings in the occult, but the main protagonists, as im sure anyone would be, as in the dark as the audience. Do you think it really takes anything away from the film though? IMO if theyd have copped out and pulled a Children of the COrn style demon out in the last reel, just imagine how it would have cheapened the whole thing? Also, in some instances, rather than coming up with some lame excuse as to the origins it is better to leave it open and avoid potential embarassment... Did anyone really know what was going on in the Dead trilogy?

Just looked on IMDB btw, trying to findout what the cast and crew have been up to since, and Jack (Mr Demonic Demons himself http://www.joblo.com/ubb/wink.gif) was actually in T2?!?! Played a character called Weatherby? I dont know either... does anyone else?

[The Claw]

Yeah. It's a pretty a-ok flick. its worth at least 5-7 bucks.

[Elgyn]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by skantchweasel:

Rather than pass everything off with another Necronomicon, its all left pretty much open. There are numerous hints as to the Fowlers dablings in the occult
</font>

Yeah I thought it was cool that they didn`t explain exactly what brought about the scarecrows. I like horror movies better when they don`t explain everything.
Who knows, maybe it was.....DEMONIC DEMONS!!

[renny]

Thank you! Someone is finally giving props to my favorite obscure horror flick. Did anyone else besides me think the scarecrows were really fucking creepy and the kills were genuinely brutal and disturbing?

[skantchweasel]

u can probably tell from my recent posts, that indeed someone does share your love for this totally under appreciated movie!

Static Scarecrow/Attack scarecrow... either way we're lookin at some bad ass mo-fos!
The atmosphere of the whole flick was so bleak you cant help but to have the effectiveness of the kills/attacks amplified by a thousand fold... its not as if youve got hip teens being killed off camera to a pop soundtrack.

On recent reflection, Scarecrows is happily nestled in my SERIOUS all time top 10 Horror flicks... (that is pretty serious talk)

Oh and BTW, Jack (of Demonic Demons fame) plays the "These photos were taken at (blah blah) police station 10 years ago" cop in T2... blink and you'll miss him.

[renny]

Holy shit, I did not know that! I should look closer at that guy the next time I watch T2.

[Elgyn]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by renny:

Did anyone else besides me think the scarecrows were really fucking creepy and the kills were genuinely brutal and disturbing?
</font>

I totally agree. The actual scarecrows were very scary-looking, and the kills were more brutal than most slasher movies I`ve seen.

[dellamorte dellamore]

I'm excited about this film now,but i could only find it on VHS.Does anyone know if there is a DVD version out there?It does'nt matter what region or if it's PAL/NTSC.

[skantchweasel]

unfortunately no, its not available on DVD yet. I saw somewhere in an interview with one of the honchos at Anchor Bay that he was quite interested in acquiring the rights to it, as he digged it the most too...

However if u can pick it up on VHS on the cheap i would strongly recommend it - itd be money well spent. Look at how long its taking an acknowledged classic like ROTLD to get the R1 DVD treatment...

[dellamorte dellamore]

I'm surprised,if it is even half as entertaining as some people say,that it's not even available on a Japanese import DVD.Somehow they get the rights to all those obscure but highly entertaining low budget horror(ie:Zombie 3).


I found a copy on half.com,i'll check it out.I really wish it would get the DVD treatment,because it seems it works more in an atmospheric way,than in an a horrfic one.It needs a clean,remastered print,but i'll settle for VHS at this point,same goes for Kingdom of the Spiders.

[This message has been edited by dellamorte dellamore (edited 04-25-2002).]

[AlienClown]

I didn't see this movie since I posted that last October, and don't think I will anytime soon since its availibility is scarce, but from what I remember when I saw it people are seriously overrating this.

[skantchweasel]

Well, it all depends on your taste in film. To be honest, i cant really see this appealing to the "Scream generation" ie those who like gloss on their films, but considering the rave reviews from non-genre, "Good movie" fans ive shown this flick - id give it my vote any day of the week. If you dig on sincere, no frills, intelligent Horror then id say Scarecrows gets a big thumbs up.

Hey man, we're all entitled to out own opinion - mine is that this movie rules!!!
http://www.joblo.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[AlienClown]

I don't think 'gloss' has anything to do with it.

[the saw is family]

i just picked up this flick this past weekend from a guy who was selling used vhs films 4 for 10 dollars,also picked up gothic directed by ken russel which i had been looking for forever. scarecrows while definetly not perfect is a pretty decent underrated slasher,i found it to be pretty entertaining.

[Razorblade Smile]

Holy Shit! And here I thought I was the ONLY one that ever saw that movie! Scarecrows kicks total ass. For a low budget film, it doesn't get much better. If anyone finds the oppurtunity to buy it on ebay or something, I would suggest doing so. That is a REALLY difficult movie to find. Took me years before I was finally able to track down a halfway decent copy.