Note: This was a first-time viewing for me. I received the Blu-ray I ordered on the day it was featured on The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs. I watched the Blu-ray and, as you will read, I don’t regret my purchase.
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Wow, this is one movie that not only lives up to its reputation, but exceeds it. Dark Night of the Scarecrow is an impressive achievement on every level, not the least of which is how frightening it is. Conceived as a theatrical film, it instead aired on television during the Halloween season of 1981. Nevertheless, it looks and feels like a theatrical film.
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Let’s start with the story. The plot is simple, but the execution is brilliant. When four men act as vigilantes and take justice into their own hands by slaughtering a mentally-challenged man they believe killed a young girl, they are subsequently hunted and murdered by a mysterious force. It’s not as much what happens as how it happens.
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First, we don’t see who or what is killing them. We see only the occasional shot of a scarecrow standing in a field, usually from far away. Yet someone or something turns on the wood chipper so that Harless (Lane Smith) can fall into it. Someone or something traps Philby (Claude Earl Jones) in the silo and fills it with grain. And someone or something drives a plow toward Otis (Charles Durning.)
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The men first believe that D.A. Sam Willock (Tom Taylor) is responsible since he had unsuccessfully prosecuted them. However, tensions rise when the four men turn against each other, accusing each other of removing witnesses that could expose their crime. Otis even commits other murders to keep the secret. He’s a “good ol’” Southern boy with a streak of pure evil who, of course, will eventually get what he deserves.
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It must have been a risky career move for Durning to play such a despicable character. The rest of the cast is terrific, too, full of recognizable names and faces. The fourth vigilante, Skeeter is played by Robert F. Lyons. The young girl is played by Marylee Williams. The mentally-challenged man’s mother, Mrs. Ritter, is played by Jocelyn Brando, Marlon’s sister.
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It’s Larry Drake as Bubba, though, that’s the heart of the movie. Not every actor could make us feel that his character was truly wronged or make us feel true sadness over what happens to him. (Drake played a similar character, Benny, on L.A. Law.) The most effective shot in Dark Night of the Scarecrow shows us Bubba’s frightened eyes through the holes in the burlap bag turned into a mask.
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Director Frank De Felitta may be more familiar as a writer. He penned the novels Audrey Rose and The Entity, which were both adapted to film. (Prior to this, in 1979, he directed another excellent TV movie, The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan.) He didn’t write this one, though. The credit goes to J.D. Feigelson, who wrote Horror High (1973) and a handful of TV movie thrillers.
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Ultimately, two survivors exhume Bubba’s grave to determine if he’s dead and buried or not. We don’t see if the coffin is empty, but Skeeter’s reaction tells us everything we need to know and pushes the snowball down the hill for an edge-of-your-seat conclusion.
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Even if killing Bubba was not such a heinous crime, these men continue to demonstrate that they deserve to be punished for something. That’s one of the things that makes Dark Night of the Scarecrow so compelling. You feel, you care, and you receive the catharsis you need. Along they way, you get the added bonus of being scared.
Visit the TV Terror Guide: 70's TV Movies playlist at ClassicHorrors.Club TV on YouTube to watch Dark Night of the Scarecrow and other great movies from this series.
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