Scarecrows (1988 film)

Scarecrows
Directed by William Wesley
Produced by Ted Vernon
William Wesley
Cami Winikoff
Written by William Wesley
Richard Jefferies
Story by William Wesley
Starring Ted Vernon
Michael David Simms
Richard Vidan
Kristina Sanborn
Victoria Christian
David James Campbell
B. J. Turner
Music by Terry Plumeri
Cinematography Peter Deming
Edited by William Wesley
Distributed by Manson International Pictures
Release dates
  • September 28, 1988 (1988-09-28) (US)
Running time
 83 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $425,000 (estimated)

Scarecrows is a 1988 American horror film written and directed by William Wesley. The film centers around a group of mercenaries who have hijacked a plane. After one of their number escapes with the money, they land near a farmhouse surrounded by scarecrows. As the group searches the scarecrow-infested grounds and are picked off one by one by an unseen assailant, they come to realize that something evil lurks on the grounds...

Plot

Scarecrows is about five bank robbing paramilitary mercenaries and war criminals who steal three million dollars from Camp Pendleton and take two hostages, a pilot and his daughter. As the robbers fly towards Southern waters, one of the robbers steals the loot and parachutes into a dark field. The remaining robbers land the plane and head for a broken-down house. The house has a demonic history, which causes scarecrows guarding surrounding graves to become animate and slaughter all trespassers, dooming their victims to live on as scarecrows for all eternity.

Cast

Production

Filming took place in Davie, Florida.[1] Cinematography was by Peter Deming, who would go on to work on Hellraiser and Evil Dead 2.[2]

Release

The film was released on VHS by Forum Home Video in 1988. The company released the film in both R-rated and unrated versions.[3]

The film was released on DVD on September 11, 2007 by MGM/Fox.[4] The DVD is unrated and uncut in a 1.85 anamorphic widescreen presentation with no special features. On 2 June 2015 Scream Factory set the Blu-ray Disc premiere of Scarecrows.[5]

Reception

Critical reception for the film has been mixed.

Allmovie gave the film a positive review stating, "Tightly paced and consistently tense, this low-budget film has slick production values (making it appear more expensive than it probably was) and only falters in some laughably overwrought performances".[6] Time Out gave the film a mostly positive stating in its review for the film, "Although a little slow to get started, this better-than-average horror movie makes excellent use of its creepily-lit monsters, is reasonably well put together, and features some stomach-turning grisliness".[7] Steve Barton from Dread Central awarded the film a score of 3.5 / 5 stating, "As fun as it is over-the-top violent, Scarecrows is the perfect fit for viewers looking to strap in for some good old fashioned mindless mayhem".[8]

Ian Jane from DVD Talk gave the film a mixed review saying, "While the movie looks and sounds okay and is presented here in its uncut form, it hasn't aged all that well and the barebones presentation doesn't help anything. Scarecrows has got some solid gore and will definitely provide children of the 80s with a fun sense of nostalgia, but it's not a great film".[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Scarecrows (1988)". DVD News Releases.com. DVD News Releases.com. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Brian Albright (24 October 2012). Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews. McFarland. pp. 224–. ISBN 978-0-7864-7227-7.
  3. ↑ "Alternate Versions for Scarecrows". imdb.com. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  4. ↑ "Scarecrows (DVD)". dvdempire.com. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  5. ↑ "Scarecrows". imdb.com. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  6. ↑ Binion, Cavett. "Scarecrows (1988) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast - AllMovie". Allmovie.com. Cavett Binion. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "Scarecrows". Time Out.com. NF. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Barton, Steve. "Scarecrows (DVD) - Dread Central". Dread Central.com. Steve Barton. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  9. ↑ Jane, Ian. "Scarecrows : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk.com. Ian Jane. Retrieved 3 November 2014.


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