Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

MartinHafer When the film begins, Bubba (Larry Drake) is playing with a neighbor girl. She's young and he's a mentally challenged adult. Well, for some odd reason, several of the locals hate Bubba and Otis (Charles Durning) enjoys stirring up hatred against the man. Soon after this little scene, the girl is attacked by a vicious dog and Bubba saves her and brings her home to her mother. He's hysterical and soon all sorts of crazy rumors start that HE attacked the kid and killed her. But she's only slightly hurt and before long, folks are running about town looking for Bubba. Otis' little group is primed for a hanging...all due to Otis' drumming it into their dumb minds that Bubba is a danger to them all! As for Bubba, he hides in a most unusual fashion...pretending to be the scarecrow on his mother's farm! The evil quartet soon find him and don't give him a chance to surrender and shoot him 21 times!! Amazingly, the local judge refuses to indict them for murder!! So, it seems that the four scum-bags have gotten away with it.Soon after this incident, a scarecrow appears on one of the four men's land...and within a short time, he's dead...supposedly by accident. And, soon after that, the same thing happens again. At this point, Otis isn't about to take any chances and begins killing off anyone who could possibly be behind the two deaths. What's next? See this cool made for TV horror movie.Overall, this is a very well made and highly entertaining film...far better than the norm for such a picture. The acting, writing and scare factor are all there...and the film is well worth your time.Interestingly, a few years after this film was made, Larry Drake went on to become a regular on "LA Law" playing another mentally challenged man. I am pretty sure this film must have helped him land this role.

donbanf **This review contains many spoilers**. I was around in 1981 and remember this movie being advertised. I could not remember if it was a theatrical or TV movie. All I remembered was something about a scarecrow comes to life and exacts some sort of revenge on the townsfolk. But I never saw the movie until now (October 2016). Great little made for TV movie, above average as many TV movies have been. Its theme is actually like an old folk tale/myth. An avenging spirit comes back to right the wrongs. There is a hint/atmosphere of paganism here with the elements of the harvest, fall, scarecrow, pumpkins, farms, etc. that have been used in other films and it is used here to great effect. In many ways, it reminded me of an extended episode of Night Gallery. The photography, music, production values and just the right touch of eeriness hearken back to that series of the early seventies. Unlike some of the NG episodes, the night scenes in this were actually shot at night and they look really good. Light and shadow, wind and movement are used here to very realistic effect. I'm actually glad I didn't see it until now as the film was digitally restored and put on DVD in 2010. Some small bits were restored that had been cut from the original TV airing. After seeing the film, I watched it again with director and writer commentary which I can recommend. Much of the scenery is beautiful, with wide shots that are more like a theatrical film. The director said he did that purposely to lift the overall quality of the film. Note: the movie was shot in Southern California, north of Los Angeles. It could pass as a Midwestern corn growing state though, except maybe the hills/mountains are a giveaway, i.e. not flatlands and plains. Larry Drake and Charles Durning I recognized almost immediately as character actors I'd seen in countless shows and although I was not familiar with the young actress who played Marylee, she was quite a good little actress, conveying a mature and very knowing quality, wise beyond her years without coming off as phony. Her dialogue and her insistence that Bubba is still alive were eerie and I kept wondering through the whole film whether she really was talking to Bubba and he wasn't dead (as she tells Otis) or just making it up a la wishful thinking. Drake is fabulous as the mentally challenged Bubba who is wrongly blamed for a little girl's death. Turns out she doesn't die and Bubba didn't hurt her either, but by then Bubba has already been executed vigilante style by a posse of four local townsmen in a scene that's surprisingly graphic for a TV movie. You can see poor Bubba's blue eyes peering out of the scarecrow he's hiding in and the fear in them is extremely real and haunting. You don't easily forget it. The musical score is quite good and eerie in its high pitch, sad and piercing. It's an unusual score and one that stays with you. The low budget production values just add to this film oddly enough. They make it better. What it doesn't show in direct view, e.g. Harless falling into the wood/brush grinder, the sound effects make up for and fill in the imagination. The machine obviously was real and makes that scene all the more harrowing. What kept me guessing all along was, you can often hear a sound of someone walking and the Philby character glimpses a shape, some figure going through a doorway, but the figure is just hard enough to make out, it becomes one of the most goose bump inducing scenes in the movie. Is it the scarecrow come back to life or is it someone else (human) exacting revenge on Bubba's behalf? Bubba's mother is almost certain that justice will prevail as she talks about there being more kinds of justice in this world than the law, implying that the four men will get what's coming to them but also raising the possibility that she or someone else is avenging her son's death. That question is answered and revealed in a great two part ending, first where the tractor clearly starts itself (gearshifts move by themselves) and the really best part, the scarecrow once again turning and looking at Marylee, after those footsteps can be heard again. It is Bubba after all and he's gotten his revenge. It's a great ending, chilling and something I had to go back and view again. As another reviewer said, this one is best viewed late at night, alone.

punishmentpark no, basically 'Dark night...' is way too dull and silly to be impressive. The premise, that of a mentally handicapped man being the unjust victim of vigilante-ism, is a good one, but straight away scenes drag on and on and on and lots of details are rather unbelievable. Also, the movie seems to want to play several genre-cards at once; drama / thriller / slasher / revenge-flick / ghost story... I'll admit, sometimes the most unusual of combinations can get away with it somehow, but certainly not this one.The gang of vigilantes just seems to keep getting back together until all of them are killed, and there is no police anywhere to be found. How Mrs. Ritter handles the devious mailman Otis P. Hazelrigg (great name!) is pretty smart and even the supernatural guidance for Marylee from Bubba could have worked well. A couple of scenes did work well enough if considered individually, but altogether it became a bit of boring mess - I'm sorry to say, because it has potential.4 out of 10.

Scott LeBrun In a small town, two gentle souls have a friendship going: young Marylee Williams (Tonya Crowe) and mentally impaired adult "Bubba" Ritter (Larry Drake). However, the postmaster, Otis Hazelrigg (Charles Durning) doesn't like what he sees; he believes that Bubba is a blight on their fair town. When Marylee is attacked by a dog, and (erroneously) assumed dead, Otis is all too ready to believe that Bubba was responsible (when, in fact, he saved Marylee's life) and collects his friends (played by Robert F. Lyons, Claude Earl Jones, and Lane Smith). They hunt Bubba down, find him hiding inside a scarecrow, and pump a good number of bullets into him. However, there's no evidence the district attorney can provide to suggest that the murder was anything other than self defense.Have no fear, however, as these four men will soon start to be psychologically terrorized and ultimately killed.To start with, this is an exceptionally good looking film, even more so now that the movie is available on DVD and Blu-ray and has been restored. The rural atmosphere is vividly realized, right from beginning to end. The story allows for some genuine scares and suspense - more to be found than in a good number of theatrical productions - and 'Dark Night of the Scarecrow' gets high marks for its potency; while its horrors are mostly implicit rather than explicit, they still pack a punch. Even the extreme violence that the movie suggests is intense for anything made for prime time network TV; one of the deaths may well have inspired a similar sequence in "Witness" approximately four years later.Give credit to writers J.D. Feigelson & Butler Handcock and director Frank De Felitta for keeping things ambiguous right up until near the very end. They merely present a few possibilities as to who could be doing the killing, and leave it at that. Memorable images include the sight of Bubba's terrified eyes behind the scarecrow's eye holes, and the big finish in the pumpkin patch is incredibly spooky.The cast couldn't be better. The always rock solid Durning is compelling in a rare lead role. As the story progresses, we learn his ulterior motive for wanting Bubba away from Marylee, and we can see what a stone cold creepy s.o.b. he is. Young Crowe is appealing, as is Drake in a role that will automatically have TV viewers thinking of the similar role that propelled him to fame years later on 'L.A. Law'. Lyons, Jones, and Smith are no less than believable as a worthless trio of jerks who understandably start coming unglued as their own guilt adds to their terror. And Jocelyn Brando (Marlon's older sister) is wonderful as Bubba's loving mother, who reminds us all that the law isn't the only form of justice that exists.This is great stuff that could be enjoyed at any time of the year, not just Halloween. I unfortunately missed the original TV airings, but this is why it's so nice to finally have it on the digital format for many people to discover or visit again. Top notch.Eight out of 10.