DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW

Welcome to Smalltown, America. You’ve seen it portrayed many times in films before and since. Here, true to form, a small community is all but dominated by one officious arsehole – in this instance, it’s post office worker Otis (Charles Durning).

In-between lording it about at the post office, he’s keen on spying on local simpleton Bubba (Larry Drake) through his binoculars and complaining to anyone who’ll listen when he observes the man-child playing with youngster Marylee (Tonya Crowe).

Otis’ reservations are heard by his drinking buddies but not taken too seriously, until one afternoon when Marylee gets mauled by a Doberman while in Bubba’s company. Bubba carries the girl back to her parents’ abode and sobs "Bubba didn’t do it" as he deposits her unconscious body at their doorstep. But, naturally, these folk are quick to recall Otis’ warnings about the retard – and a warrant is put out for Bubba’s arrest.

Otis has other ideas. "Get the dogs and the guns" he tells a friend, as he and three others head out to the rural home owned by Bubba’s aged mother in search of vigilante-style justice. When mother (Jocelyn Brando) insists on her son’s innocence and denies knowledge of where he may be, the hunting party follow their dogs’ noses to the nearby field where an odd-looking scarecrow stands trembling.

Bubba is indeed found cowering in the guise of a scarecrow. Despite his pleas, he’s gunned down mercilessly by all four of his pursuers. Mere seconds after they’ve done so, the shaking vigilantes receive a radio broadcast confirming that Bubba was guilty of nothing more than trying to protect Marylee from a dog attack.

Fearing retribution from the State, Otis places a pitchfork in the dead Bubba’s hand, in a bid to claim self-defence. Amazingly, this line of defence works and the quartet of killers are found innocent on a charge of murder.

But, before long, their collective consciences are plaguing them – and, even worse, strange things are happening, like off-camera assailants turning up to scare these witless hicks to death...

You’ve probably seen DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW, in which case there’s no need to elaborate. If you haven’t, it would be absolutely criminal to divulge any more.

First screened on American television on October 24th 1981, the film became immediately celebrated as one of the best made-for-TV horror films around – and was subsequently picked up by Channel 4 when they were new to British TV in the mid 80s, where it made an equally big impression on this side of the pond.

Directed by Frank De Felitta – who also wrote the original novels of AUDREY ROSE and THE ENTITY (as well as adapting both into screenplays) – SCARECROW works so well because it tells J D Feigelson’s simple story in a straightforward, unfussy fashion.

There is precious little gore, nor are there big set-piece scenes or convoluted sub-plots. Instead, De Felitta employs extreme discipline and sticks to what he knows is best: a good story, well told. Strong characters, a sympathetic situation ... and an old-as-the-hills revenge plot. Works every time.

In the case of SCARECROW, it helps that the film is wonderfully shot and benefits from Glenn Paxton’s truly eerie score. Oh, and the late great Durning was never more of a cunt than he is in this film – he’s superb, a true villain who you can’t wait to see get his comeuppance.

Perfectly paced at 96 minutes in length, SCARECROW is also one of those films that manages to be genuinely creepy. Just how or why is difficult to put a finger on. Is it because the characters are all plausible, albeit grossly exaggerated in terms of good and bad? Perhaps it’s the simple, smalltown setting and perfectly staged by-the-numbers plot? The surprisingly cinematic quality to many sequences? Or maybe just the flawless performances throughout?

Could it be the haunting, suckerpunch ending?

Whatever it is, there’s nary been a made-for-TV film as frightening as this. Okay, there are no monsters and there’s hardly any blood, but SCARECROW is testament to the fact that you don’t need either of those elements to get audiences fretting.

In short, DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW is a marvellous film and I’m delighted to see it make the move on to blu-ray.

The film looks very good in VCI entertainment’s pillar-boxed 1.33:1 transfer.

The original aspect ratio is preserved and the 1080p HD presentation (a VC-1 file) is very impressive. Blacks are solid, images are detailed without signs of any obvious over-enhancement and colours are strong. Flesh-tones are natural throughout and the picture manages to look remarkably clean without suggesting unruly use of Dolby Noise Reduction. It’s a great transfer, despite some natural softness.

English audio comes in options of PCM 2.0 and 5.1. I focused on the former, which was fair throughout and sounded better than the glimpse of the uneven 5.1 mix I sampled. Optional English subtitles were an unexpected boon. We also get Spanish subtitles but I’m afraid I’m not equipped to quality check them.

The disc opens with a gorgeous animated main menu page. From there, discreet pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 17 chapters.

Of the extras, a commentary track from De Felitta and Feigelson is the most substantial. Both chaps speak fondly of the entire production and boast remarkably good memories.

The relatively recently filmed 32-minute documentary entitled "Bubba Didn’t Do it: 30th Anniversary of Dark Night of the Scarecrow" is a superb addition to the disc. It features insightful and professionally produced reminisces from cast and crew members (Feigelson, Drake etc) plus contributions from fans such as Stuart Gordon. This is very cool.

There’s also a beautiful but brief 67-second trailer for the original CBS TV screening of the film back in 1981. Pure class.

As a nice accompaniment to the above, we also get the same for CBS’s repeat broadcast of the film in September 1985 (65 seconds). Both offerings are pillar-boxed, and awesome.

A Q&A follows, where Crowe, Feigelson and (a huge) Drake gather together to field questions from a disappointingly small audience and their host. No matter, it’s a fantastic watch regardless, and never outstays its 46-minute running time.

A 10-minute photo gallery is set to the film’s satisfyingly morose score and offers a plethora of priceless behind-the-scenes images.

Finally, we get a fairly redundant 58-second trailer for other films available from VCI. This just shoves the covers for the likes of BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, CITY OF THE DEAD and THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE under our noses.

So, the film looks great and you get an audio commentary, plus 90 minutes of extra material.

All in all, this is a sterling release for a film that many love but few expected to see on DVD, let alone blu-ray. The fact that this edition is so nice and the film holds up to nostalgia extremely well is reason to rejoice. It’s region free too.

Highly recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis