VCI Entertainment
Blu-ray Release: September 10, 2024
Video: 1.33:1/2160p (HDR10)/Color (Dark Night of the Scarecrow); 1.85:1/2160p (HDR10)/Color (Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2)
Audio: English LPCM 5.1 and 2.0 Mono (Dark Night of the Scarecrow); Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 (Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2)
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Run Time: 97:04 (Dark Night of the Scarecrow); 84:26 (Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2)
Director: Frank De Felitta, J.D. Feigelson
When young Marylee Williams (Tonya Crowe) is found viciously mauled, all hell breaks loose in her small rural town. Officious postmaster Otis P. Hazelrigg (Charles Durning) leads a gang of bigots in pursuit of the suspect: her mentally challenged friend Bubba Ritter (Larry Drake). Finding him hiding inside a scarecrow, they exact brutal mob 'justice'...only to discover a tragic mistake! Now, a strange apparition stalks the land seeking each of them out as the legend of the Scarecrow begins. (From VCI Entertainment’s official synopsis)
Debates surrounding the greatest made-for-network-television horror movies typically pertain to the 10-year period between 1971 and 1981, just before video rentals and premium cable changed the way home audiences watched movies. Such a list would probably begin with Steven Spielberg’s Duel (1971) and include Dan Curtis’ The Night Stalker (1972), Dead of Night (1977), and Trilogy of Terror (1975), Tobe Hooper’s Salem’s Lot miniseries, Bill L. Norton’s Gargoyles (1972), and Lowell Rich’s Satan’s School for Girls (1973), among others. It ends with one final classic, Frank De Felitta’s Dark Night of the Scarecrow, which aired on CBS in October of 1981, but tonally and visually feels more in-tune with the decade prior.
Typically categorized as a slasher movie from the peak of the era (Patrick and I covered it in part three of Genre Grinder’s look at The Slasher Movies of 1981), Dark Night of the Scarecrow doesn’t feature the kind of stalk & slash sequences typically associated with the genre. What it does have are the types of creative kills that became slasher commonplace going into the mid-’80s, as filmmakers struggled to outpace each other on the limited formula. While Dark Night of the Scarecrow often implies the presence of a corporeal killer, the set-pieces themselves act more like a precursor to the ‘accidental deaths’ of the Final Destination movies, where the invisible hand of death guides elaborate, murderous Rube Goldberg devices. Broadcast practices & standards oversight likely ensured that most of the violence was only implied, anyway. Unable to embellish the horror with the simple shock value of gore, De Felitta was forced to be a little more inventive, giving the film another advantage over several of the theatrically released low-budget slashers released the same year.
The circumstance surrounding the murders – vengeance from beyond the grave as the result of an unjust death – also fits the slasher mold on paper, as many a classic slasher killer is enacting some kind of revenge and some are even undead, but, again, the way the story is told evokes an earlier brand of ironic horror shorts, usually found in E.C. comics during the 1950s. Dark Night of the Scarecrow is right at home with the Amicus portmanteau films that drew upon the comics, like Freddie Fancis’ Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and Peter Duffell’s The House that Dripped Blood (1971). In fact, it’s hard to even consider it a killer scarecrow movie, because we only see the scarecrow actually moving in one scene, unlike William Wesley’s Scarecrows (1988) or Jeff Burr’s Night of the Scarecrow (1995), where scarecrows are explicitly murdering humans. The title really refers to the crime that killed him, not his choice in posthumous garb.
An abundance of atmosphere, higher than average production values, and thoughtful cinematography from D.P. Vincent A. Martinelli all set Dark Night of the Scarecrow apart, but its real advantage is found in its A-level cast of character actors and cult icons. Charles Durning leads the production with a pathetic and despicable performance for the ages, and is backed up by stalwarts such as Claude Earl Jones, Lane Smith, Robert F. Lyons, and Jocelyn Brando as Bubba’s protective mother. Bubba himself is played by Larry Drake, who most cult fans remember from Sam Raimi’s Darkman (1990), but whose breakthrough was L.A. Law (1987-’94), where he played a different mentally handicapped character named Benny (noting that Drake, himself, is not mentally handicapped and that it’s a little strange that he was typecast as such).
De Felitta wrote and directed two more made-for-TV thrillers, Doberman Patrol (1973) and Killer in the Mirror (1986), as well as the 1991 Sharon Stone film Scissors. He’s better known as an author, whose work includes Audrey Rose (1975) and The Entity (1978), both of which were turned into studio pictures by other directors (Robert Wise and Sidney J. Furie, respectively). Screenwriter J.D. Feigelson had previously written the teenage Jekyll & Hyde movie Horror High (1973) for director Larry N. Stouffer then turned almost exclusively to TV movies, including One of the Missing (1979), which he directed himself, Peter Medak’s Cry for the Strangers (1982), and Wes Craven’s Chiller (1985). He continued working in television into the early ‘00s and eventually made a sequel to Dark Night of the Scarecrow in 2022. It is, to my chagrin, included with this 4K UHD collection.
Video
Dark Night of the Scarecrow first hit VHS from CBS/Fox subsidiary Key Video in 1986. Stateside, it floundered on the digital market until VCI Entertainment released a DVD in 2010, followed by a collector’s edition and the Blu-ray debut in 2011. This 4K UHD release was held back several times since its original March 2024 announcement, which I’m sure worried fans, especially given VCI’s uneven history. Fortunately, it seems that the delays were worth it, because this is one of the studio’s better efforts. The film is presented in its original TV-friendly 1.33:1 aspect ratio and 2180p (the back of the box mistakenly claims that it’s 3480p, because it wouldn’t be a VCI release without some kind of copy error) with HDR10 enhancement.
I’ve included screencaps from the Blu-ray, which is part of this two-disc set and is identical to VCI’s 2011 disc. It more or less matches the color timing and general clarity of the 4K release, though the HDR enhancement punches up the highlights and brightens the colors, especially the bolder acrylic hues. Unfortunately, there are notable over-sharpening issues here that exceed those of the softer Blu-ray transfer and they might be due to overcompensating HDR and 4K upgrading. There aren’t any major blooming haloes, but the wide-angle edges, in particular, definitely shimmer. There is also a touch of noise reduction. It’s not so extreme as to create waxy textures and there’s still a notable degree of grain peppered over the print, but the overall look isn’t quite natural for a 40-plus year old, shot-on-35mm film. The good news is that the darkest, spookiest compositions tend to be softer, avoiding a lot of the uncanny moiré sheen.
I personally wouldn’t count this among VCI’s failures, like their lamentable Night of the Bloody Apes (1969) disc, but also wouldn’t rank it as high as their recent, superior The Bat Whispers (1930) Blu-ray.
Audio
Dark Night of the Scarecrow is presented with original 2.0 mono (mislabeled as stereo in the main menu) and remixed 5.1, both in uncompressed LPCM audio. I highly recommend ignoring the remix, which is both awkward and unnecessary. The original mix is a bit more condensed than I’d like, but there aren’t any specific compression issues, crackling sound floors, or similar problems with high end distortion. Glenn Paxton’s music has always been a little too low on the mix, no matter the release, so I don’t blame that on the UHD, but the original mix team. It’s too bad, too, because the score otherwise boosts the production value, setting Dark Night of the Scarecrow ahead of the cheapo slashers that it’s compared to.
Extras
Disc 1 (4K UHD)
Dark Night of the Scarecrow (97:04, 4K)
Commentary with Heath Holland, Robert Kelly, and Amanda Reyes – Holland of the Cereal at Midnight podcast sort of moderates this fact-filled track with Real Retro Cinema columnist Kelly and Made for TV Mayhem podcaster and general genre expert Reyes. The participants discuss the production, the film’s place in the TV horror pantheon, the history of TV horror at the time, deeper environmental and supernatural themes, and the careers of the cast & crew.
Dark Night of the Scarecrow 2 (84:26, 4K) – The belated, shot on a shoestring sequel was not very well-received by fans and I can’t really blame them. I’ll be polite and say that it’s nice to have it included here as a supplement. It might have worked as a short sort of homage to the original, but it is way too uneventful to sustain a feature length production. It includes optional commentary with writer/director Feigelson, who mostly narrates stage direction between long silent gaps.
Disc 2 (Blu-ray)
Dark Night of the Scarecrow (original Blu-ray transfer)
Commentary with director Frank De Felitta and writer J.D. Feigelson – Feigelson is more animated on this archival track, offering plenty of information and acting as moderator to help the less talkative De Felitta. It’s too bad that this track wasn’t ported onto the 4K version.
Bubba Didn't Do It: 30 Years Of The Scarecrow (31:42, HD) – A Ballyhoo Entertainment-produced retrospective featurette that includes interviews with Feigelson, Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon (for some reason), De Felitta, production manager Robert Koster, location manager Kool Marder, and actors Tonya Crowe, Larry Drake, and Robert F. Lyons.
2011 cast reunion Q&A (46:05) – Drake, Crowe, and Feigelson field questions from fans.
CBS network premiere and rebroadcast promos
Behind-the-scenes image gallery
VCI promo reel
The images on this page are taken from the included BD – NOT the 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.
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