Night of the Scarecrow

Plot

In order for a town to prosper and have a successful harvest, the citizens made a deal with a warlock. When the people found out that the warlock was sexually preying on the town's women, they murdered him and buried his bones, which resulted in his ghost being confined to a scarecrow.

Cast

Reception

While Variety wrote that the director "has more luck with physical scenes than he does with coaxing inspired performances out of his actors", Blu-ray.com wrote that the director "stages things very effectively and gets some good performances out of a game cast." A reviewer for DVD Talk did not like the "inept circa-1995 CGI".

Jeffrey Kaufman of Blu-ray.com compared a violent scene in the film to a scene in another horror film with a murderous scarecrow, the television film Dark Night of the Scarecrow. Eric Hansen of Variety wrote of the film and its original VHS release, "A moderately exciting, average monster movie with good production values and a few good ideas, “Night of the Scarecrow” looks to have its longest life on homevideo." A review for TV Guide says, "A healthy dose of directorial style and energy makes this prosaic low-budget chiller a tense, entertaining diversion."

Adam Tyner, writing for DVD Talk, said "It's kind of interesting seeing some of the familiar faces in the cast, and Night of the Scarecrow does trot out a few really nice looking setpieces, but none of that's enough to salvage this limp, lifeless, uninspired, instantly forgettable slasher flick. Skip It."

Home media

The original video release was in 1995 on VHS, distributed by Republic Pictures. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Olive Films in 2013, with the same special features – an audio commentary with director Jeff Burr, a making of video, and a picture gallery.