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Scarecrows (1988)

Rate: 3
Viewed: 5/24

ScareCr
5/24: William Wesley sure likes his name a lot, huh?

It turns out to be fake as he used to be Jose Rolando Rodriguez. Anyway, Scarecrows kicks off the opening credits, and immediately, I notice the style was ripped off from The Exorcist. It's also a mistake to keep going back and forth between the titles and what's happening on the hijacked plane.

Then, when the dumb mercenaries appear in the middle of the woods with a female hostage and hole themselves up at the house while trying to sight their invisible enemy, I can't help but sense the rip-offs from Predator, but this time, it's a bunch of scarecrows surrounding them. The And Then There Were None concept may not be original, but it does work wonders.

The horror aspect is easily felt, but there's so much talking that it's been ruined. If half of the dialogue can be thrown out, Scarecrows will be better for it. Hearing Bert's thoughts aloud is so dumb. Hard to shake off is the amateur acting which is indicative of the film's low budget, yet the rest of the show looks professionally done.

What also bothers me is the lack of logic. Say Bert flies out of the plane and lands by the house. He gets on a truck that's going fast which has to be miles and miles away. How is it that he's suddenly near the house after the truck breaks down? Ditto for the rest of the guys on the plane who are able to land so near the house and be there right away. It's also amazing they can locate each other in the middle of the woods, no matter what. Plus, they're able to track Bert at the same time while on the plane? Some advanced technology they must have despite the fact that I never saw it at any point.

All in all, Scarecrows is neither well-made nor original.