Why so much hype?

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

Small town vigilantes wrongly accuse a mentally challenged man of attacking and killing a little girl. It turns out he didn't attack her but saved her from a neighbour's vicious dog. The vigilantes find this out just after killing the innocent man who is disguised as a scarecrow. Oops. When the local courts offer no justice, the vigilantes start getting bumped off one by one.This is actually a TV movie and is a cracker. It built up a cult following amongst horror fans and is one of the best horror TV movies ever made.The film feels authentic and depicts the bloodthirsty lynchmob really well. We see during the course of the film that these people are the true simpletons of the piece. We also see that a group of people who are desperate for violence and maybe more don't need any justification for it. Its also interesting that the members of the lynch mob are all depicted as being fine upstanding members of the community (the postman, mechanic, farmer etc) whilst being completely hellbent on inflicting their lawless brand of 'justice' on someone whos just a bit different. This film has a great cast that is like a whos who for horror fans. As well as Larry Drake from Tales From The Crypt, Charles Durning who amongst other things was in When a Stranger Calls, John Houseman from the original Hills Have Eyes and Ed Call who played Glen's (Johnny Depp) father in A Nightmare on Elm Street.The tension in certain scenes is built up to nailbiting levels and the direction and screenplay are top notch. This is the perfect example of a TV movie that was so great that it transcended its medium and was given a VHS and DVD release. And deservedly so. This is brilliant.

**This review contains many spoilers**. I was around in 1981 and remember this movie being advertised. I could not remember if it was a theatrical or TV movie. All I remembered was something about a scarecrow comes to life and exacts some sort of revenge on the townsfolk. But I never saw the movie until now (October 2016). Great little made for TV movie, above average as many TV movies have been. Its theme is actually like an old folk tale/myth. An avenging spirit comes back to right the wrongs. There is a hint/atmosphere of paganism here with the elements of the harvest, fall, scarecrow, pumpkins, farms, etc. that have been used in other films and it is used here to great effect. In many ways, it reminded me of an extended episode of Night Gallery. The photography, music, production values and just the right touch of eeriness hearken back to that series of the early seventies. Unlike some of the NG episodes, the night scenes in this were actually shot at night and they look really good. Light and shadow, wind and movement are used here to very realistic effect. I'm actually glad I didn't see it until now as the film was digitally restored and put on DVD in 2010. Some small bits were restored that had been cut from the original TV airing. After seeing the film, I watched it again with director and writer commentary which I can recommend. Much of the scenery is beautiful, with wide shots that are more like a theatrical film. The director said he did that purposely to lift the overall quality of the film. Note: the movie was shot in Southern California, north of Los Angeles. It could pass as a Midwestern corn growing state though, except maybe the hills/mountains are a giveaway, i.e. not flatlands and plains. Larry Drake and Charles Durning I recognized almost immediately as character actors I'd seen in countless shows and although I was not familiar with the young actress who played Marylee, she was quite a good little actress, conveying a mature and very knowing quality, wise beyond her years without coming off as phony. Her dialogue and her insistence that Bubba is still alive were eerie and I kept wondering through the whole film whether she really was talking to Bubba and he wasn't dead (as she tells Otis) or just making it up a la wishful thinking. Drake is fabulous as the mentally challenged Bubba who is wrongly blamed for a little girl's death. Turns out she doesn't die and Bubba didn't hurt her either, but by then Bubba has already been executed vigilante style by a posse of four local townsmen in a scene that's surprisingly graphic for a TV movie. You can see poor Bubba's blue eyes peering out of the scarecrow he's hiding in and the fear in them is extremely real and haunting. You don't easily forget it. The musical score is quite good and eerie in its high pitch, sad and piercing. It's an unusual score and one that stays with you. The low budget production values just add to this film oddly enough. They make it better. What it doesn't show in direct view, e.g. Harless falling into the wood/brush grinder, the sound effects make up for and fill in the imagination. The machine obviously was real and makes that scene all the more harrowing. What kept me guessing all along was, you can often hear a sound of someone walking and the Philby character glimpses a shape, some figure going through a doorway, but the figure is just hard enough to make out, it becomes one of the most goose bump inducing scenes in the movie. Is it the scarecrow come back to life or is it someone else (human) exacting revenge on Bubba's behalf? Bubba's mother is almost certain that justice will prevail as she talks about there being more kinds of justice in this world than the law, implying that the four men will get what's coming to them but also raising the possibility that she or someone else is avenging her son's death. That question is answered and revealed in a great two part ending, first where the tractor clearly starts itself (gearshifts move by themselves) and the really best part, the scarecrow once again turning and looking at Marylee, after those footsteps can be heard again. It is Bubba after all and he's gotten his revenge. It's a great ending, chilling and something I had to go back and view again. As another reviewer said, this one is best viewed late at night, alone.

Greetings from Lithuania."Dark Night of the Scarecrow" (1981) is a movie made for TV. It's genre is horror, and it's a nicely made one. It's not particularly scary, but it's a well made movie. It's nothing original or greatly made, but it does it's job for 1h 36 min of keeping you involved in a basic story, with OK acting, nice script and a very tight directing.Overall, there isn't much to say about this 80's made for TV horror flick. If you like not complicated horror movie plots, OK acting, simple story but with simple and very good direction - "Dark Night of the Scarecrow" is surely to be check one. It's superbly well paced and you very worth watching it once.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) *** (out of 4) Very effective made-for-TV movie has four locals killing an innocent man who they thought killed a child. A short time later all four are let off by the court system but soon they start to fear that the dead man has came back for revenge. DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW has one of the best reputations of any horror film from this era and it's easy to see why once you've viewed it. It's one of those rare cases where a film's reputation is actually worthy of all the good things you've heard about it. Director Frank De Felitta does a very good job building up a rather creepy atmosphere that he captures right from the start and continues up to the rather chilling final shot. The film is rather unique as it doesn't contain any gore and what's most rare for this period is that it actually takes its time building up the characters and their fears. It takes nearly twenty-minutes for the man to be killed and then it takes quite a bit of time before the revenge starts. There's some pretty good moments involving the scarecrow even though it's not used as much as some might think it would be. The opening murder sequence is extremely well directed and the shots of the eyes through the mask were very effective. The film also benefits from some very good performances with Charles Burning leading the way as the main bad guy. Robert F. Lyons, Claude Earl Jones, Lane Smith and Larry Drake are also good in their parts. The film contains some pretty good cinematography as well as an effective music score. All in all this here is certainly one of the better made-for-TV movies and it's a good example of why violence and gore isn't needed to tell a great and effective story.