(1981) 4 Donald Guarisco This spooky little gem is one of the best made-for-television horror films ever made. J.D. Feigelson's script is built on a familiar (and satisfying) supernatural vengeance motif but it finds a number of clever wrinkles to keep it engaging: a surprise revelation about one of the characters that occurs two-thirds of the way in is particularly effective. Along the way, this carefully crafted tale reveals it has more than scares on its mind as it uses this story to communicate a message about how ignorant fear and repressed desires can turn people into something worse than a monster. Frank DeFelitta's direction is wonderfully atmospheric, mixing traditional horror film stylization with a believably seedy evocation of the darker aspects of small-town life. He also crafts the film's scary setpieces with equal parts precision and flair. These scenes never linger on gruesome sights: instead, DeFelitta uses the characters' reactions to unseen threats to effectively build tension and trick the audience into thinking they are seeing more than they actually are. Best of all, the film has wonderful performances: Larry Drake is emotionally affecting as the gentle giant whose murder sparks the plot and Robert Lyons and Claude Earl Jones as two of the conspirators, both of whom become slowly consumed by fear as the phantom avenger starts bumping off the killers. However, the film belongs to Charles Durning and his intensely creepy turn as the manipulative fear-monger behind the innocent man's murder: his character starts out unlikeable enough but Durning digs deep to reveal extra layers of the character's manipulative nature and secret insanity as the film goes along. By the end, his character's monstrous, amoral acts are as terrifying as the unseen menace enacting its revenge. To sum up, Dark Night Of The Scarecrow is an effective and surprisingly thoughtful creepfest that stands alongside The Night Stalker and Salem's Lot as television's finest horror films.

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The Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981)

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Suitable for Children

genres

Horror

sub-genres

Supernatural Horror

category

Feature

directed by

Frank de Felitta

countries

USA

released

1981

run time

100 min.

produced by

Wizan Productions

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by Sandra Brennan synopsis

Misguided townsfolk, blinded by bias and fear, mistakenly kill a mentally retarded man after someone accuses him of raping the young girl he had befriended. Shortly thereafter the entire town is beset by a supernatural terror. The story originally aired on television.

characteristics

- Terror

- Town

- Supernatural

- Revenge

- Vendetta

- Vigilante

- Vengeance

- Retribution

- Retaliation

- False-accusation

- Avenge

- Misguided

- Rape

- Rapist

- Mental-handicap

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