Scarecrow (2013)

I didn't expect much of this movie and I was right about it. There is not much to say about this movie. I thought the actors were mediocre at best. The story could have been good if the movie wasn't so predictable. You have the typical high school bad students on detention. They are all like 25 years old and you wonder why they can not find younger actors to play them. Then you get the typical scenes like the car that doesn't start anymore, the girl that falls over all the time trying to escape, the girl that wants to offer another girl as sacrifice so she can escape herself etc... The only good thing about the movie was the scarecrow itself. I thought he looked pretty good. It would have been better if they had given us some background story. I will forget everything about this movie in a week.

I was very skeptical when I first thought about watching this movie. I mean, lets face it. Most syfy channel original movies suck. Horrible acting, actors in their 30's portraying "teens", horrible story, limited gore, and horrible creature cgi effects. Look at "Sharknado" as a prime example. But this...this was actually pretty good. The "kids" are once again all obviously actors well past that stage in their life, and while there's one or two that couldn't act their way out of a paper bag, the majority of the cast is descent. Thete's actually a plot, and...surprise surprise, it actually makes sense. While the scarecrow is completely cgi, and obvious at that, its better than most creature effects in syfy channel movies, and one of the cooler looking ones at that. And you see it quite often after the first half. While there isn't much in terms of gore or blood, there is one surprisingly bloody scene in the beginning of the movie, and looks like it would hurt like hell. All in all, a surprisingly decent effort by a cable channel that is known to have horrible movies.

I can be rather short about reviewing this flick. It's not scary at all but still you keep watching it to know how it will end. The story itself you have seen a thousand times before and Jeepers Creepers (2001) isn't far away. What turns it a bit down is that the scarecrow always is done in CGI. It doesn't look that bad after all but sometimes it do looks cheap. Luckily the wounds it creates on it's victims do look gruesome. The flick starts in a gory way and from that point it continues without a lot of boring moments. But as I said, you have seen it all before and there are already a few flicks out concerning scarecrows. Let Husk (2011) be much better than this one but it's watchable. I guess youth will do have it's scary moments but again, the CGI do sometimes attracts you more than the story itself due a few continuity mistakes. Let be the car crash the most important one. At the end of the day its' a CGIcrow with some nasty wounds being involved.Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

Released to Syfy during Halloween, 2013, "Scarecrow" chronicles events at a supposedly haunted farm where a school detention group goes to do some work. A scary-looking creature appears and starts picking them off one-by-one.There are some similarities to the hallowed "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) in that the group takes refuge in a farm house but, unlike that film, they don't spend the entire story there. The creature pursues them to other environments.Why do I rate "Scarecrow" as high as I do? For one, the filmmakers and actors take the material seriously and so the film never devolves into parody or camp. As such, the viewer is able to take it seriously. Secondly, the CGI monster is excellent. It's scary-looking and changes shape constantly while remaining the same basic appearance.Thirdly, the film features a quality cast of women. There are no less than FIVE, all stunning or near-stunning in their own unique way, starting with the blond (Lanie McAuley) in the teaser. From there we get four petite brunettes, beginning with the curvaceous delinquent played by Julia Maxwell, whose role is way too brief, followed by Nicole Muñoz, Lacey Chabert and Brittney Wilson. Lacey emerges as the film's protagonist while Brittney becomes the quasi-antagonist. Lastly, the Vancouver-area locations are effective for this type of film, particularly the superlative "ship graveyard" in the final act.The film runs 86 minutes.GRADE: B+/A- CRITICS' QUESTIONS ANSWERED (***SPOILER ALERT***) If the farm is abandoned who planted all the corn? Kristen obviously rented out the land to the neighboring farmer in order to pay the property taxes. Why is the nerd in detention to start with? Because nerdy misfits sometimes get detention too. Why does the creature show five claws/fingers? Because it has five claws/fingers. Why does the scarecrow monster look more like a burnt-to-crisp spider than a scarecrow? Because it's not a scarecrow, but rather some kind of demonic creature; the locals simply dubbed it the "Scarecrow" a hundred years earlier and the name stuck.Why are the bales of hay conveniently placed like steps? Obviously to make it convenient to climb to the second story door of the barn. Why does the cop car start and not the truck? Because there was nothing wrong with it; the owner of the old truck, however, said that it had a problem overheating. Why did the driver of the cop car swerve when the thing appeared on the road and not run it over? It was a split second decision and the sudden appearance of the creature shocked him; besides, it's clear that running the monster over wouldn't have harmed it.Why does the ex-boyfriend bravely roll under the vehicle and set it on fire with the creature there with him? He was already mortally wounded and, since he was going to die anyway, he wanted to (try to) take the monster out with his brave final act. Why is the girl ground-up by the farm machine and not the scarecrow? It was repeatedly stated throughout the movie that the creature couldn't die; or, at least, people didn't THINK it could die. Besides, the creature obviously doesn't have a concrete physical form and is probably more spiritual than physical in nature; thus the machine couldn't harm it.What are the limitations of the creature, as far as time of day when it appears or how far it can travel from the farm? It's obviously some kind of territorial demon attached to the farm & the town and seeks out the Miller family as prey, plus anyone that gets in the way; it's never disclosed how far it can travel from the farm or town, but the ship graveyard didn't seem too distant, maybe 5-7 miles. How did the ship explode without a spark? She broke the line by the tank and then made sparks with the ax, which caught the gasoline (or whatever) on the floor on fire, which spread to the tank within a minute or so and thus the ship blew.