Scarecrows

A gang of high-tech thieves rob a military bank and are on the run on a military cargo train, taking the pilot and their daughter (and their dog) hostage. Too bad for them, as one of them decides to double-cross the team and escapes the plane with all the money. So the team of thieves set down the plane and goes in search of their traitor and the money, sadly not knowing that they’re in one helluva big problem. You see, the area they landed on is filled with supernatural terror, embodied by a gang of killer scarecrows that mutilate, and transforms, anyone who comes in their way.
Along with Dark Night Of The Scarecrow, this is the only good scarecrow movie I’ve seen. Unlike Dark Night, which is more serious in tone, this one is campy and gory to the hilt. The acting is pretty bad from everyone involved, flat as a tire and with no distinguishable personalities, but that’s okay since they all end up meeting a terrible, and often gory, fate. Seriously, I’m surprised at just how gory this movie got, as I was expecting something more in the vein of a Full Moon film. Bodies are mutilated and chopped, a head is stabbed in the front (while wearing a bag) in one of the more particularly brutal ones, and the reanimated corpses come back filled with straw and, in one case, money, and twice as strong. A lot of the scares come from the location. The house looks very old and dilapidated, and I could believe that it was abandoned for many years. Plus, the fact that it’s all just a big field covered with trees, tall branches and corn add to the ‘where the fuck are they’ angle. The scarecrows look great too, with very well-made makeup effects and scary masks. They go very brutal when they need to.
Still, there’s a lot of silly stuff on the film, like the fact that a helicopter can’t find a cargo plane in the middle of a field at night, or the whole ‘where’s my harmonica’ thing. Also, the scarecrow you see above me makes an appearance many times, and it's shit-eating grin always gave me the giggles. But it doesn’t take away, only adds to the party atmosphere this film creates. It’s one of the coolest horror movies of the eighties, and one of the most underrated.