Some things are just damn creepy and topping that list, just under clowns and mimes, are scarecrows. Given that fact, William Wesley was on to a winner with this low budget horror flick from the late eighties, a film that has plenty of gore along with a wickedly black sense of humour.
Rather than pit the straw filled ghouls against the usual array of airheaded teens the film features a group of criminals making their getaway after a big heist. When one of the gang attempts to make off with the loot alone, parachuting out of a plane at night into a seemingly deserted farm, the rest head after him. But the farm is far from deserted, as they soon learn to their cost.
From the moment our outlaw band set foot on the farm the film has a menacing atmosphere. As they hunt for their traitorous companion and the stolen moola through the fields they are stalked in turn by the scarecrows. The film doesn’t concern itself with why the scarecrows are up and about, instead providing a few hints and allowing the viewer to fill in the blanks. The why is never the important part of films like this and, by cutting out pointless exposition, Wesley gets down to the good stuff that much quicker.
That good stuff includes plenty of low budget gore effects, with decapitation and dismemberment the order of the day. It’s no surprise that some of the make-up effects guys went on to bigger things as they do a great job with what must have been a very limited budget. Added to the gore is some gross out humour that has the robbers pulling money out of a corpse that’s been stuffed full of their ill gotten gains. This sick sense of humour runs throughout the film right up to the closing scene and even the credits elicit a smile, with the cast list broken down into Crows and Scarecrows.
It’s surprising William Wesley’s directing career never progressed, he’s only made one other film, the disappointing zombie miners flick Route 666. Featuring great villains, lashings of gore and a knowing sense of humour, Scarecrows surprisingly slipped under my radar when it was originally released. It still feels remarkably fresh for a film that’s twenty years old and I’m glad I’ve now had the chance to see it.
