Dark Night Of The Scarecrows 1 & 2 — Dark Night Of The Scarecrows 1 & 2
Here’s a double disc blu ray set bringing together the classic 80’s scarecrow thriller/ horror film Dark Night Of The Scarecrow, and its 2022 follow-up. The release features a new scan of both films, a few commentary tracks, and a few other extras.
Dark Night Of The Scarecrow is from 1981, and it’s an American-produced TV movie. It was directed by Bronx New York-born Frank De Felitta. Between the early 60s and early 90s, he had seven other director credits to his name. These went from pseudo-ghost-documentary The Stately Ghosts of England(1965), The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan (1979) a romantic sci-fi regarding a time-traveling dress, and psychological thriller Scissors (1991).
So first up we first on disc one we have the original film Dark Night Of The Scarecrow- with a runtime of one hour and thirty-six minutes. It's set in a small rural California town in the summer. We open seeing a young girl around twelve and a late 30 man dressed in degrees & child-like clothes- the girl is Marylee(Tonya Crowe), and the man is Bubba ( Larry Drake) who is an eight-year-old stuck in an adult body. The pair are making flower chains, and are been watched from a distance by tubby & greying Otis ( Charles Dunning) a local busybody/postmaster. After seeing what he sees he heads to a local dinner- where with three of his friends he discusses the matter of Bubba- implying he’s dangerous.
We next see Marylee & Bubba walking past a fence with a broken panel- looking in they can see a well-kept garden with water features and gnomes. She wants to go in but he, says he mustn't break the rules….so she goes in & a dog attacks her. Bubba takes her back to her mother- she screams.
Otis and his men grab their guns and dogs- take to tracking Bubba. He managers to make it back to his older mother's house- where she tells him to hide…we find out soon enough where he’s hiding, inside the nearby scarecrow- the gang runs into the field, seeing Bubb’s fearful eyes in the sack head, and shooting him-up, in one of the few bloody moments of the film….we find out directly after this Marylee has survived, and it’s all down to Bubba. As things unfold the men are acquitted in the town court, but clearly, someone or something knows the men are truly guilty….and want revenge.
The film starts off as a mix of small-time drama/ light thriller- but slowly and surely moves into low-key/ at points very creepy/eerie horror. With the Scarecrow seemingly appearing then disappearing, and unexplained deaths like one of Otis’s gang falls head first into a wood shredded late one night- with someone creepily turning it on & off.
Acting wise Dunning is excellent as the deceitful/ devious mailman. Crowe is effective as Bubb’s child friend- getting some great moments of unease when she claims she’s talking to her dead friend. Lastly, even though Drake officially gets about five minutes on screen he’s conceiving as an eight-year-old in a man’s body.
Dark Night Of The Scarecrow is a prime example of slowly building & steadily unfolding horror. Moving from the murder, onto the creepy & uneasy revenge side of things. For most of the film you only hear shuffling footsteps, or get eerie shots of the suddenly appearing scarecrow- but we get a wonderfully bone-chilling resolve.
Next, of course, on the first disc, we have the 2022 sequel Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2 (aka Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2: Straweyes). It was directed & co-written J.D. Feigelson, who wrote the original film, and seemingly it was co-written Ray Bradbury- though he passed in 2012. And was filmed in rural Kentucky, around autumn/ fall
The film, I guess is best described, as a small-town murder mystery- with light touches of horror/ unease. It focuses on mother and son 40-something Chris(Amber Wedding), and her pre-teen son Jeremy(Aiden Shurr)- who have recently moved into an isolated house near a small rural town- she is working in the local sells-everything store.
As we get into the film we see a figure stalking through the dead corn- it’s a local farmer who goes on to berate his beer-drinking/dirty magazine-reading/ rock radio-listening farm hand Shrevie Nickson(Mike VanZant). We follow the farmer back to the barn- he washes his false eye, puts it back in, and then feels that someone is in the barn with him…he lands up(off-screen) getting a scythe through his head- with his false eye popping out.
We go on to meet two very contrasting cops- Scott (Adam Snyder) who looks like he’s dropped out of a sleek TV cop show, and a feet-on-table/ baseball hat-wearing Lazy red-neck cop. The pair start investigating the murder/ looking for the on-the-run Shrevie.
Meanwhile, Jeremy is been looked after school by a seemingly kindly/ if a little shifty retired woman Hildie Corvis(Carol Dines). He is also speaking behind closed doors to a rather immature-sounding man- but when the doors open he’s playing on his own.
As the one-hour and twenty-four-minute film unfolds- we get a few more murders- taking in- burnings, hangings, fork kills, and knifings- these are largely shown off-screen/semi-shown.
We get a few moments of eerier atmospheres, and seemingly moving scarecrow footage. But largely it plays like a low-budget murder mystery- with some very mixed acting. We do get a supernatural reveal later on, as some neat enough nods back to what happened in the first film- but boy do you get one hell of a cheap/ corny end.
I had very mixed feelings about Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2- on the whole, it has nowhere near the atmospheric/ creepy as the first film, and it looks very digital video in its production/ feel. I liked the idea of revisiting the original story, it’s kind of neat who/ what Hildie Corvis is, and there are a few eerie moments.
Extra on the first disc taking in two new commentaries- one for the first film, and one for the second film. So the first film's track is with Heath Holland (Cereal Midnight Podcaster), Robert Kelly noted film historian, and super-fan Amanda Reyes, expert on TV movies, author, & podcaster. This is a very well-researched & Informed track- which is a must-play. They begin by talking about how well it did in the original ratings when it was shown, and with each new TV replay, its fanbase grew. We find out the film got a VHS release in 1986 Key video. They discuss how the US postal service had to be asked for its use in the film, and how surprising it was they agreed as the Otis character has nothing positive about him. We find out the film was first shown on CBS in October 1981- getting 31% of the viewing figures- ranking number 68 of 268 films of that season. They talk about the Frankenstein/ Universal Horror references in the film, and the subtle/ suggested elements like Otis is a paedophile. They talk about actor Larry Drake. Later on, discuss how Otis is cosplaying an authority figure/ general- and comment on his room. They point out great members of the supporting cast, and the way female characters are treated in the film/ actress bios.
The track for the second film is from its director J.D. Feigelson. This starts off promising, as he discusses his visual choices for the open credits, how he wanted to call the film just Straweyes, and talks about kicking the pace up in the beginning. Sadly from here, he gets very sporadic in his track, and he’s largely just describing what’s on screen- which I’m afraid is largely dull.
The second disc takes in the first film again- this features an archive commentary track from writer J.D. Feigelson and Director Frank DeFelitta. Also, we get the 2011 documentary Bubba Didn’t Do It: 30 Years of the Scarecrow(31.41) which is a great making of- moving from its script development, its filming/ location, etc. We get interviews with the writer, director, and a fair selection of cast/crew- like actors Drake & Crowe. Otherwise, on the extra side, we get two original CBS trailers- one from 1981, and one from 1985- these each last around a minute. There’s a 2011 cast Reunion Q&A Recorded at the Frightfest Film Festival(46.04). And a making-of photo gallery.
The original Dark Night Of The Scarecrow is a stone-cold 80’s horror classic, as well as an influential film- informing all scarecrow horror films after it's wake. The second film is not great, and certainly not the sequel the original deserves- but it does have its moments. It’s certainly nice to see the two films together here- with a good selection of new & archive extras....as release I was hovering around a three mark, but as the first film is a classic, I had to give it a four.