| Scarecrows Directed by William Wesley (U.S.A –1988) Scarecrows begins a few minutes after a spectacular payroll heist that we never see. A group of freelance mercenaries have just stolen three million dollars in cold hard cash from the Camp Pendleton military payroll office. After a bloody shootout that resulted in several military police being killed, the five robbers took a commercial pilot and his daughter hostage before taking to the skies in an old DC-3 transport. Roxanne, Curry, Jack, and Corbin are planning to start a new life in Mexico with the loot. Their two faced colleague Burt has other plans. Those plans involve double-crossing his friends and keeping the entire haul for himself. Like they say, there’s no honour among thieves. As for the pilot Al and his daughter Kelly… well, they’re trapped right in the middle of the whole mess. The bandits order Al to “keep it under the radar”, conscious that an F-16 could appear at any moment and end their retirement plans by blowing them out of the sky. As the transport passes over some farmland, Burt begins acting strangely. He’s wearing his parachute, and drags the three million over by the open side door. The nervous Burt notices the lights of a lonely farmhouse below, and pushes the money out before rolling a hand grenade towards the cockpit and diving out of the DC-3. As Burt and his loot parachute safely into the cornfields below, a quick thinking Corbin dives for the grenade and hurls it out of the plane. It explodes harmlessly in mid-air. The mercenaries are all equipped with small headsets that they use to communicate. As Roxanne realises what’s happened, she orders the pilot to circle the area. “We’ll be back Burt!” an enraged Curry growls into the intercom. As Burt dusts himself off in the darkness below, he surveys the surrounding area, and gazes skyward. “Where’s the plane?” he wonders aloud. “The grenade exploded… I heard it”. He decides to concentrate on the task at hand. Retrieving the money, and finding a vehicle to escape in. He runs into a disturbing looking scarecrow in the darkness. As he dons his night vision goggles, he scans the area. Amidst the fields of corn are a small graveyard, and a deserted farmhouse. To his relief, the turncoat also sees an old pick-up truck parked beside the abandoned building. “Bingo… my lucky night” he muses rather prematurely. He hears more taunts from his former friends crackling in his earpiece. “Hey Burt old buddy!” booms the voice of Jack. “Alright Burt… now it’s personal!” adds Curry, choking on his own rage. Burt looks up to see the transport passing overhead, and the white parachutes of Jack and Curry landing a few hundred metres away. Time definitely isn’t on his side. He finds the money, enters the farmhouse, and sees an old black and white photograph of three sinister looking farmers on the wall. Fortunately he’s able to find a set of rusty old car keys. Although he maintains radio silence, he’s still listening to Jack and Curry as they search through the dark cornfields for him. “By the way Burt… we owe you a live hand grenade pal!” Curry informs him. The pair of hunters have noticed the over abundance of lifelike scarecrows hanging off crosses in the fields. “If I were a crow, I wouldn’t wanna be here” Jack tells Curry. Burt loads the money into the pick-up, and starts the engine. He drives several hundred metres down a dirt road before the vehicle stalls. The resourceful mercenary looks under the bonnet hoping to fix the problem, only to find that the truck has no engine. The engine cavity is stuffed with mouldy corn husks. He can’t believe his eyes, but hasn’t the time to dwell on the surreal occurance. He drags the money out of the truck, and into a nearby cornfield. Roxanne informs Jack and Curry that their quarry is now on foot. “Must be frustrating to die with all that money in your hands” Curry tells Burt over the air. Then the real mind games begin. “Over here Burt” Curry taunts. The confused fugitive fires on a scarecrow ahead of him. “Pretty lousy shooting” Jack adds. As the pair tell him that he’s right in their sights, he fires at every scarecrow and shadow in a fit of paranoia. Meanwhile, Roxanne and Corbin have ordered their pilot hostage to land in a field nearby. As Bert runs out of ammunition, he forgets all about the money and flees through the corn. One of the lifelike scarecrows jams a harvesting tool into his abdomen. Roxanne and Corbin take Kelly as a hostage to ensure that Al won’t take off without them, and head for the farmhouse to rendezvous with Jack and Curry. As Jack scans the area with night vision binoculars, he can’t see a trace of Burt. He does however train them on the face of one of the lifelike scarecrows. He’s horrified as he sees it move. As the gang is reunited at the farmhouse, Jack is the lone voice of reason. “I think this place is possessed by demonic demons” he warns the others less than eloquently, and tells them that they should forget the money and just get out of there. But Roxanne, Curry, and Corbin aren’t giving up three million that easily. They’re determined to find Burt and pay him back, and more importantly find their money. As it turns out, Burt comes to them. He arrives at the farm house in a catatonic state. Curry and Corbin torture him in an effort to make him tell them where the money is. But the extensive beating provokes no response from the zombified turncoat. They blast Burt after he tries to kill Curry. The mercenaries are horrified to learn that he’s been eviscerated and stuffed with straw and some of the money. It seems that Jack may be right. They are little more than trespassing crows, and the demonic scarecrows aren’t going to allow them off the farm with or without their money. This obscure horror heist was one of the more satisfying films the genre had to offer in the late eighties. Whatever it lacks in substance, it makes up for in overall atmosphere. Scarecrows takes advantage of a number of simple yet effective camera tricks that have a disorienting effect on the viewer, giving us a taste of the bandit’s confusion in the hostile environment of a haunted farm in the middle of nowhere. The film’s grim score also keeps up an overall feeling of dread. This might just be the most atmospheric horror film since Tombs of the Blind Dead. It also wisely stays away from the tired glossy over-produced look that most horror and sci-fi films were going for from the mid-eighties onwards. The murderous scarecrow costumes and make-up are painstakingly detailed, yet still share a rustic quality that aids in the suspension of disbelief. This one never really found an audience, which is a pity. ENTERTAINMENT : 3 out of 4 WATCHABILITY : 4 out of 4 OVERALL : 3.5 out of 4 Reviewed by Blake |