Horror Movie Review: Scarecrow (2013)

How difficult is it to come up with a movie title that stands out? Or hasn’t been used in a number of variations before? According to this 2013 SyFy original TV movie, very difficult.

Scarecrow, not to be confused with the 1988 horror Scarecrows. Or the 1981 horror Dark Night of the Scarecrow, the 1995 horror Night of the Scarecrow & the 1996 horror Psycho Scarecrow. Also the 2002 horror Scarecrow, the 2003 horror Scarecrow Slayer, the 2004 horror Skarecrow & the 2009 horror The Messengers 2: The Scarecrow…and so on.

Horror movie creators sure love using scarecrows!

Opening with two teens getting it on in a barn. They accidentally fall through the floor into a secret basement where they are then killed by something in the dark.

The film then jumps to a group of young teens who are serving detention by being taken to an abandoned cornfield to take the scarecrow for the 100th Scarecrow festival. The same cornfield where the barn from the start is located.

The cast are a bland, character-less bunch & it is established almost immediately just who is going to be the hero/heroine. Aaron Harris (Robin Dunne) is in charge but almost immediately after arriving things wrong.

A local legend about the cornfield is retold. An ex-girlfriend turns up & the ‘bad kids’ of the bunch start misbehaving. Thankfully the scarecrow doesn’t have time for rubbish character developments & starts attacking the group.

Seemingly invincible, survival seems to be tied to the location but it isn’t going to let them escape that easily. Being a SyFy original, a certain amount of rubbish is expected & the plot doesn’t disappoint. The film can barely sustain its 86-minute run-time resulting in the final 30-40 minutes being dragged out to excruciating levels.

You’ll be pleading for it to just end & not turning the movie off can be seen as a hell of an effort. It’s a pity because the usual SyFy movie issues aren’t as prevalent. The CGI is surprisingly decent! The scarecrow looks really good & the way it moves is a nice touch. The blood & gore is also pretty decent looking but it would have been nice to see a bit more bravery in regards to showing some of the more violent deaths!

A better story & Scarecrow would have been one of the better SyFy horror originals. Unfortunately, it’s just not & ends up being a real chore to get through.

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