Scarecrows (1988)

Released in the mighty Slasher series by 88 Films, *Scarecrows* by one-hit wonder William Wesley has finally received the release it deserves. Anyone in the mood for a bunch of adult non-actors playing soldiers in the bushes, occasionally getting ripped open by a scarecrow only to return themselves as such a stitched-together horror... you've come to the right place! The acting is abominable, but the juicy effects make you forget that easily. Not the first horror film with a starring role for scarecrows (I believe that is *Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)*), but certainly one of the better ones. Many were made, especially in the early 2000s... and the majority of them are hideous.

Translated from Dutch · View original

Surprising film.

Normally I'm not a fan of these kinds of low-budget films, but Scarecrows had something that just drew me in a bit more. I think it was mainly the setting in which the film takes place. A dark plantation with scary scarecrows—I quite like that. Moreover, director Wesley manages to do a lot with it on a limited budget.

The film is, in any case, insanely silly and the acting isn't exactly great. The characters are idiotic to the point of being hilarious. The effects, already mentioned by other users, such as grenade explosions, are dreadful, and as a whole, Scarecrows constantly exudes a low budget. And yet it manages to work, in a very strange way, because these kinds of films usually don't score higher than a 2.0* with me.

However, this film was actually quite enjoyable. The shots of the location are atmospheric, the scarecrows add character, and the gore is remarkably vicious. Naturally, it never gets truly suspenseful, but the atmosphere permeates well, and the mysterious situation the characters find themselves in manages to entertain. Throughout the film, I kept thinking about how good it would have been with a bigger budget.

Scarecrows isn't long and moves along well at a decent pace. The main advantage Wesley brings to the mix is that he doesn't waste any time. Scarecrows gets straight to the point and throws you right into the story. It might take a bit longer before they actually reach the scarecrows (even though this only takes 20 minutes), but the film is full of bombast and fun.

Nice movie, I watched it with great pleasure. It doesn't drag on and the film has a nice flow with quite a bit of atmosphere and scary threats. Of course, this isn't a scary movie, but I really think the setup of Scarecrows is much better than other films of this caliber from this era. Much more atmospheric and executed with much more passion. I quite like it.

Translated from Dutch · View original

Nice concept, but as mentioned earlier, the acting and dialogue are mediocre, and furthermore, the story is unfortunately not really explored in depth to provide more context. For example, I would have liked to know the backstory of that house.

Translated from Dutch · View original