Scarecrow (2002): Movie Review
Scarecrow is a direct-to-video slasher film released in 2002. It was produced and directed by Emmanuel Itier, who also produced the sequel, Scarecrow Slayer, the following year. I’ll begin this Scarecrow movie review by providing a brief overview of the story and then take a look at some of the film’s good points and failings.
The main character is a high school student called Lester. He’s one of those guys that don’t fit in at school. He’s always on his own and is a favourite target for the school bullies. Even the teacher is a bitch with him.
The sad thing is that Lester isn’t a bad kid. Sadder still is the fact that even his home life is hardly a stable one. His mother is drunk a lot of the time and the rest of the time she seems to be little more than a whore who appears to have very little in the way of feelings for her son. It is pretty fair to say that Lester does not have much of a life and just when it seems that things could not possibly get any worse for the young man, they do because he doesn’t have any life at all. One of his mother’s boyfriends kills him and leaves him strung up by the neck in a cornfield.
Lester’s mother witnesses the murder, but manages to do with her mouth the one thing that she seems unable to do with her legs, she keeps it shut, and her son’s killer goes free because everyone thinks that the poor kid killed himself. His mother doesn’t even go to the funeral.
The last thing that Lester sees isn’t his life flashing before his eyes; it’s a rather ugly scarecrow. Somehow his spirit attaches itself to the bundle of rags and straw and Lester returns, with a new attitude that is as ugly as his new look and he has revenge on his mind.
Scarecrow is an okay movie and has a lot of good points. It has the look of a professionally produced movie and I thought the camerawork very good. I particularly like the way that sometimes, between scenes, the camera flashed to the clouds blowing past in the sky. The soundtrack to Scarecrow isn’t just good, it’s great and I can’t fault it. It is young, lively music and it rocks.
The only thing that lets the movie down is the cast, because most of the actors don’t seem to know how to act. Half the cast are young girls though; all of which are incredibly easy on the eye, so I suppose that compensates a little for the poor acting. Talking of easy on the eye, Scream queen Tiffany Shepis plays one of the key characters and she is one of the few who can act, so not only does she look incredible, but she is credible as well.
Is there any sex and nudity in the movie? Not really. Sex is talked about in reasonably graphic terms, but, nothing over the top. There are a few humorous scenes though. One of my favourites has got to be when two young kids find a dead body in the corn field. The deputy is pretty grossed out by the whole thing, but manages to keep a firm hold on his lunch and goes to talk to the boys. He explains to them that death is just another part of that big circle of life and then asks them, “Is there anything that you would maybe like to tell me or maybe ask me about the way you are feeling right now?”
Yeah,” smiles the first boy. “It was the greatest thing I ever seen. He had, like, sticks coming through his ribcage. You could see bones . . . and blood. He even had, like, holes in his face.” When the other boy joins in and mentions the maggots it proves too much for the poor deputy, who looses his fight to hold onto his lunch and tosses his cookies into the cornfield. For me it was worth sitting through the rest of the movie just for this scene, but I always did have a weird sense of humour.
Scarecrow is not the best horror movie ever made, but it is nowhere near being the worst either; so if you fancy a change from watching all the latest Hollywood blockbusters; if you want to see something a little different; or if you just have a weird sense of humor and enjoy movies where girls run around in tight-fitting pants, this Scarecrow horror movie could be right up your street.