Matcollis
This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.
Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
PlatinumRead
Just so...so bad
GL84
After a daring escape from a military base, a group of robbers comes upon a small, abandoned house in a cornfield, and after trying to make an escape find the scarecrows in the field are alive and hunting them down one by one forcing them to deal with the creatures.This might be a little bit undeserving of its status as a cult classic, but it's still genuinely creepy. One of the best things about this film is that it conjures up an effective and genuinely creepy atmosphere here with a lot to really like about it. This mainly comes from the mystery surrounding the scarecrows which is absolutely creepy, as nothing is really given about where they come from, who put them there and what they are, making this a rather intriguing offering with this fine set-up at the heart of the film creating a rather imposing source of fear. Likewise, they look just right and the aura created from them is remarkable with their hand-made feel, blank expressions and burlap faces creating an air of menace to go along with all the mystery bits held over from the beginning so a lot of its success is based on the scarecrows. So much is derived from them and their look that they literally carry the film in the beginning where the first romp through the stalks is a very long, drawn-out sequence built around the faces and suspense from the scarecrows. It's other action scenes, from the encounters out in the cornfields where the creatures prove impervious to bullets or the scarecrows coming after them in their hideout make for a lot of rather fun scenes utilizing their appearance even further. The frantic finale, where the last remaining members must fight their way through the growing number of creatures in order to get away, gives this a nicely thrilling finish putting all the focus where it should be during that sequence. The other big plus is the strong kills, which are brutal and feature a good dose of blood when they occur, which all manage to hold this one up over its minor flaws. There are several things in here that don't really sit all that well. The most aggravating is that the majority of conversations were held over headsets, and often times made it seem like no one on-screen was actually speaking. It's incredibly irritating and makes it completely disjointed when you hear the majority of the conversations over headsets with the garbled functions and lack of actual conversations being carried out on- screen. This makes it worse as it's during the best part of the film as this happens during the search for the missing money and manages to really highlight the film's weak budget with its simplistic storyline really coming out in full force. There's also the big factor here in that the film really makes it obvious that there's an uncut version around that is far gorier than what is given, as what's on display is kinda choppy at times and looks like it was edited. Outside of these small nit-picks, this wasn't all that bad.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.
Lucabrasisleeps
I was quite surprised by how much I liked this film. Generally I am not much of a fan of these sort of characters. I would have preferred if they were college kids or something. Not because of any nudity stuff but because I have seen quite a few movies with these type of characters (for eg.Predator). Btw these are robbers dressed in military fatigues.I did think maybe there was some overuse of music for a film like this. But the movie in general has none of the 80s cheesiness. It all seems fairly competent work unlike the dozens of crappy low budget crap in the 80s. The acting is pretty good too. I loved the female character, quite surprised to see she has only 1 acting credit.Great atmosphere throughout.I loved it, 8/10
Michael_Elliott
Scarecrows (1988) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Fairly entertaining horror film has a group of robbers forcing a father and his daughter to fly them to Mexico but along the way the gang leader jumps out of the plane with the money. Soon his "co-workers" go after him and they all find themselves in a strange field with countless scarecrows that come to life. SCARECROWS isn't exactly going to win any major awards but I think horror fans who enjoy some gore should find it of interest. In its uncut form the picture actually offers up some very memorable death scenes ranging from decapitations to bodies being sliced in half and there are some even more memorable ones where the gore factor is pretty over-the-top. It's certainly easy to see why two versions of this was released as the uncut one features enough red stuff where there was no way the studio could have gotten it past the MPAA. These effects certainly help the film move along as do the great looking villains. The scarecrows are pretty much what you'd expect them to look like but I really loved them. I thought each of them in their own way looked terrific and really gave the film some much needed atmosphere. The performances were also above average for this type of picture and there's no question that director William Wesley managed to build up some good atmosphere. The biggest problem is that between the fifty and sixty minute marks there's really nothing going on and the film grows a little boring before finally picking up in the final act. The various shots of the airplane flying was also annoying and especially when they just used the same shot over and over again. Still, with the memorable death scenes and great looking monsters, SCARECROWS offers up enough to make it worth watching.
swk845
Maybe I went in expecting too much. I read a review of this film on here where the guy gave it a 10/10. He stated that it was much better than any Halloween or Friday the 13th any day. I admit, most Friday the 13th movies blow. This movie was equally horrific. It is slow paced, dark, and not filled with many quality kill scenes. It also has an ending that will make you want to blow yourself up with a grenade. There has to be a better way to end the movie. Give me the budget for this film and I will at least generate a legit 5/10 movie. I have seen hundreds of cheesy horror films, especially ones from the 80's. Comparatively this one ranks way low on my list.
