Scarecrows [DVD]

Cinematographer Peter Deming not far out of high school and already shot Evil Dead II one year prior to Scarecrows and now part of the Spectral Motion team (The Gravedancers, Blade: Trinity, Hellboy) and makeup artist Norman Cabrera do such an effective job that if you muted Scarecrows and just watched it would be scarier. However then you'd miss such classic lines as "I must have been possessed by demonic demons."Deming does a great job making the atmosphere eerie with the use of shadowy images and spooky photography.Cabrera made simple but effective monsters out of the scarecrows. In Fangoria's October issue Cabrera said director William Wesley asked him to {basically come up with something really scary and kept referencing John Carpenter's Halloween in the sense that the mask is simple but very frightening stating its much scarier for a creature to have a very simple face because you don't know what it's thinking} and Cabrera did just that.The plot isn't so much to write about compared to the two strong points mentioned above. A group of marine commandos commit a robbery on base and manage to get away hijacking a plane with a hostage pilot and his attractive daughter. This happens instantly and soon after one of them gets greedy and takes the money and parachutes out of the plane into a field with freaky scarecrows everywhere on crosses and a eerie house that would feel right at home on Elm St or better yet the house in the Blair Witch Project.The other soldiers parachute in and pursue him and when they find him they give him a sever beating which would kill most but doesn't effect him. He seems to have superhuman strength, something happened to him in that field before they found him. Eventually he is beheaded and the soldiers find that he has been gutted and is stuffed with the money in place of his organs.I thought this was going to be one of those so bad it's good 80's horror films after being the cult pick in Film Comment this month and a special retrospective section in Fangoria as well but Scarecrows delivers scares and sticks with you later that night in the dark.The acting is pretty bad and the lines are corny but the atmosphere and special effects far make up for that also pay attention towards the end when one of the soldiers who is losing it sends everyone out of the freaky house so he can wait for his friend to come back and come back he does even though we and he saw him be killed, great make up on that part. Also saving some of the ridiculousness is a great concept and realization of one of the troops who says what if we didn't make it out of that robbery with all those bullets coming at us, maybe this is hell, if you were in hell would you know it?

I can't believe I've never come across this film especially considering that at the time of this writing the film has been around for almost 35 years! Normally I'm not into gore movies just for the sake of gore, and while this one isn't going to be winning any screen writing awards any time soon, it's actually surprisingly well done all the way around. Solid 3.75 Stars.

Good horror that also provides some laughs.

I consider myself a horror movie aficionado, but somehow I had never even heard of Scarecrows. I stumbled upon it on Amazon Prime and I'm glad I gave it a watch.The premise to this movie is simple: a group of paramilitary soldiers are on the run from the law in a plane with a sack of money and two hostages. Things go wrong and they are forced to land the plane in a remote rural area. The group makes their way to an abandoned farmhouse surrounded by scarecrows and, as you may have guessed, the scarecrows come to life and start picking them off one by one. There's plenty of gory kills and creepy moments and overall this is a really fun little horror movie.A few things hold this movie back from being a classic. We are given no introduction to any of the characters, not even the hostages who the movie seems to want us to root for, and so I didn't really care much about what happened to them. While I appreciate how fast paced this movie is, it could have really used an extra ten minutes or so in the first act that familiarizes the audience with all of the characters, their personalities, and their relationships so we start to feel more invested when people start being murdered.I also wish that this movie had gone a little further down the body horror road. Not to spoil too much, but we learn pretty early on that the scarecrows have some rather grotesque supernatural abilities, and it would have been nice if they had used these abilities more in the film. There are a handful of really unnerving body horror moments, but there definitely could have been more.If you're looking for a creepy, gory horror movie to watch around Halloween this movie fits the bill perfectly, just don't expect anything too memorable.

Fantastic lost horror gem of the 80's finally gets its due on DVD! Previously only available on beat-up VHS tape or an overpriced full-screen German import titled Paratrooper, MGM has blessed the horror masses with a definitive version for our collections! The movie has a refreshingly original plot, which drops a group of ex-military robbers and murderers into the wrong field in search of their missing bounty. A great unique script and really good acting (except the pilots daughter who is AWFUL) always makes me wonder why this film sat in obscurity for so long? Although our main characters are all villians they have individual personalities and believable dialogue that keeps us interested in them and their plight. Of course atmosphere, jump scares, and a generous and well done amount of gore is also included for our viewing pleasure (including a brutal face stabbing)! If you are new to horror or are a horror buff starving for a truly enjoyable horror film (especially in these times of remakes and direct-to-DVD dreck) this is a can't miss. Also make sure to pick up MGMs upcoming releases of the 80's classics From Beyond and The Burning. For horror fans... Christmas comes early this year!

Classic 80s horror. Just wish they showed the scarecrows more and explain more where they came from. Other than that, it's a favorite of mine to watch especially during the fall time.

I do especially love how the wind is blowing in the "teen" girls hair...while in an airplane cockpit thousands of feet up but yeah....gotta love this because you cant make it up.

Habe mir diesen Film gekauft, weil er mich interessiert hat und die Rezensionen ganz gut waren!Über den Inhalt will ich jetzt gar nicht eingehen, kann ja jeder nachlesen.Fakt ist, nach so 15/20 Minuten, hatte ich schon bereut, diesen Streifen erworben zu haben!Habe zu Ende geschaut (sonst würde ich keine Rezension schreiben) war wirklich froh, als der Abspann lief!Würde ich mir mit Sicherheit, kein " zweites Mal" mehr antun, kein Spannungsbogen, nichts!Bild und Ton, waren dem Alter entsprechend gut!Schade, für mich war das eindeutig zu wenig...

This is not the best horror movie.but i have a soft spot for it its a goofy 80s slasher but i've all ways have a great time watching it.and ya scarecrows can be creepy as hell

This is actually a really well made film. Pretty good story, effectively acted, and the horror aspects, I think, were well executed. Counts as one of my favourite horror films.

Scarecrows, is a forgotten '80s horror jem. A better than average slasher flick and utilizes a less than traditional story line that works quite well.

I really like this B grade movie. Not real scary but worth purchasing