‘Curse of the Scarecrow’ DVD Review
Stars: Kate Lister, Louisa Warren, Cassandra French, Tim Freeman, Darrell Griggs, Tiffany-Ellen Robinson, Tommy Vilés | Written by Shannon Holiday | Directed by Louisa Warren
Separated for 20 years after the brutal murder of their parents, June and Carl are reuniting at the family barn where the horror took place to commemorate the anniversary of their parents’ death. Accompanied by her therapist and best friend, June is about to uncover the truth behind the locals’ belief in an ancient curse. A curse that sees a scarecrow takes human form every 20 years to wreak havoc on unsuspecting residents…
Proprtion Production are back again! Yes, after seemingly cashing in on the Pet Sematary hype with the unrelated Pet Graveyard, the company tap the killer scarecrow mythos, a genre trope that has been severly under utilised (in my opinion) in recent years, with Curse of the Scarecrow.
I love a good scarecrow-themed horror movie, ever since I saw Dark Night of the Scarecrow on TV many moons ago. In fact some might say I have an unhealthy obsession with them – I own just about every film ever made about killer scarecrows that are available on DVD or Blu-ray; and I get excited every time a new film is announced. So to say my anticipation for Curse of the Scarecrow was high is an understatement. Plus it’s another Proportion Productions/Champ Dog Films film and, despite any budget-based issues, they’re usually a entertaining watch no matter the subject.
Speaking of budget, Curse of the Scarecrow looks like it’s one of the smallest productions from the company yet – though that doesn’t mean the film is any less effective. Essentially this is a three-character film, with the ever-dependable Kate Lister holding the story together in the role of June. It’s also very much an old-school slasher movie (right down to two characters having sex and then immediately getting killed!), with the titular scarecrow as the antagonist, stalking the cast a la Jason Vorhees in the Friday the 13th franchise. In fact the scarecrows mannerisms, appearance and methodology reminded me very much of Jason from the second film – bag head “mask” and all.
I mentioned it in my last Proportion Productions review and I’m going to mention it again here; in fact I’ll no doubt keep mentioning it until I’m blue in the face, but once again Curse of the Scarecrow is a FEMALE-led horror, both in front of and behind the camera! Louisa Warren both directs and acts – appearing in the film as Lister’s best friend, and the pair have a thoroughly convincing comraderie that I’m guessing stems from their working relationship.
Shannon Holiday, writer of the previously reviewed Darker Shades of Elise and House on Elm Lake, penned this film – which interestingly looks to be part of a possible franchise, given that both Warren and Holiday previously worked together on Bride of Scarecrow (released in the UK earlier this year as Scarecrow Rising), which features a similar story of a scarecrow killing people on a Welsh farm every 20 years – the same core story beat as this film. A film which also references a myriad of other scarecrow-based killings across the UK… A set-up for a whole series of UK-made scarecrow movies perhaps? I hope so.
Scattered with some truly interesting ideas and visuals – the shot of one of the scarecrow victims (I won’t say who for fear of spoilers) lying on the floor, face covered in blood, mouth stuffed with straw and a crow sat on his/her cheek is simply inspired – Curse of the Scarecrow is ultimately let down by a lack of characters for the titular monster to kill. It’s a simple as that. A few more intersting deaths would’ve brought this film to another level.
As it stands Curse of the Scarecrow is another winner from Proportion Productions/ChampDog Films; its not a good as some of their output but as I said in the opener, their films are always an entertaining watch no matter the subject.
Curse of the Scarecrow will be released on DVD on April 22nd, courtesy of High Fliers Films.
