A developmentally disabled man named Bubba Ritter (Larry Drake- DARKMAN) is subject to the suspicions and deep loathing of Otis (Charles Durning), the malevolent mailman in a small rural town. Unfortunately, Otis isn't alone, and when a little girl is hurt while playing with Bubba, he is blamed. Otis rounds up the rabble, leading to Bubba's untimely demise. The way in which Bubba had attempted to hide from them ties in directly w/ the title. When Otis and his pals get away w/ their crime, bizarre, grisly "accidents" happen that appear to be justice from beyond the grave. DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW is a made-for-TV horror movie about prejudice, vigilantism, murder, and supernatural revenge. It is also another example of how a great story and production can surpass the usual, commercial cheeeze of the network television medium. Durning's character is particularly well-realized. He's the black heart of his group of thugs, and he plays it fairly low-key. He comes across as a simmering, extremely dangerous man, rather than a wild-eyed maniac. His own proclivities are the projected motive behind his homicidal actions. This was unusual in TV movies of the period. Jocelyn Brando is also excellent as the immovable Mrs. Ritter. If you're looking for well-made TV horror, then start right here...

A group of bigoted locals wrongly blame gentle man-child Bubba (Larry Drake) for the death of a young girl and hunt the frightened dolt down, eventually finding him disguised as a scarecrow in his mother's field. Without giving poor Bubba a chance to explain what happened, the trigger-happy gang fill him full of holes. The ensuing murder trial is a farce and the men are acquitted, but one by one they are menaced by a creepy scarecrow before turning up dead.For my money, scarecrows are every bit as disturbing as clowns, but they don't seem to have captured film-makers' imaginations in quite the same way: there's tons of scary clown flicks (with more and more on the way following the success of this year's horror blockbuster It), but only a handful of scarecrow films. TV movie Dark Night of the Scarecrow, directed by novelist Frank De Felitta, attempts to prove to the boob tube masses that a creepy straw man can be just as terrifying as a grease-painted killer, but fails to do so: the limitations of the small screen format means that there is zero gore, and the film delivers very few genuine frights simply because the victims are all thoroughly deserving of their fates (it's hard to be scared when you're rooting for the scarecrow).It's a shame because the cast is good (Charles Durning is delightfully loathsome as mailman Otis, leader of the lynch mob, who, it is implied, is also a pedo) and De Felitta displays some not inconsiderable skill behind the camera.

***SPOILERS*** Much like the story & movie "Of Mice and Men" in this case it's the simple minded but sweet Bubba Ritter, Larry Drake, who tries to keep his 9 year old friend & playmate Mary-Lee, Tonya Crowe, from going into the Raincross family's backyard who's then savagely attacked and mauled by their dog BoBo and left for dead. With the towns letter-carrier or mailman Otis P. Hazelrigg, Charles Durning, rustling up a posse to exact justice Bubba takes off fearing for his life. Bubba hiding in a scarecrow outfit is tracked down and blasted to pieces by Otis and three of his appointed deputies Harless Skeeter & Philby, Lane Smith Robert F. Lyons & Claud Earl Jones, while offering up no resistance. The trouble for Otis & friends is that it turns out that Bubba in fact saved little Mary-Lee's life and she fully recovered, after receiving a set of rabies shots, from BoBo's vicious attack.Found innocent in Bubba's death by Otis planting a pitchfork on his dead body to proved he was shot, 21 times no less, in self defense it's Bubba's grieving mom Mrs. Ritter, Jocelyn Brando, who predicts that her son's killers will end up getting theirs saying "Theirs other justice in the world besides the law". And sure enough as the movie progresses her prediction,despite not living long enough to see it happen, turns out to be shockingly true. All four of Bubba's killers with Otis saved for last end up getting it-killed-and getting it good from what seems to be the dead Otis Ritter! ****SPOILERS*** A tale of revenge as well as justice in that those who ends up paying with their lives weren't rally all that bad but as a mindless lynch mob let their emotions take full control of them. Otis for his part went even farther then just leading the lynch mob by going out of his way and murdering both Mrs. Ritter as well as his guilt ridden friend Harless, who was about to crack, from keeping him talking. Driven out of his mind and running for his life chased by a driver-less tractor Otis ends up getting it through the guts by the very pitchfork that he planted on Bubba with what seems like a back from the dead Bubba, dressed as a scarecrow, being the one sticking it to him!

Here's a blast from the past! I remember seeing this film as a kid (around eight or ten) and everyone talking about it the next day in school. Three memories of this film: Bubba getting rather nastily executed by firing squad, the scene in the grain silo, and the end shot (which I won't spoil for you). It was on television last night so I thought I'd give it a go again, and see if it's still as scary as it was back then. It wasn't, but then again about thirty years have passed. What you do have however is a fairly solid supernatural thriller with a few scarecrow chills thrown in for good measure (but it could have done with more to be honest). What makes it still enjoyable is Charles Durning's performance as the evil postman who'll do anything to cover for his crime, that crime being the killing of mentally handicapped Bubba, who was mistakingly blamed for the mauling of his child friend, Mary Lee. Durning and his three cronies get literally get away with murder (they shoot Bubba to death while he's hiding inside a scarecrow), but they all get warned by Bubba's mother that there are other types of justice. Soon, things get all creepy when Mary Lee starts claiming that Bubba isn't dead, and a scarecrow turns up in one of the guy's fields. You know what that means – Scarecrow vengeance!I'll say no more about the plot but after all these years I was still impressed by the whole mood of the film. Durning helps greatly as he generally lies, cheats, and even kills to protect himself while Bubba generally gets his own back. The film centres mostly on Durning, however, as we get to see him try and find out who's messing with his head. Although lacking in gore (being a TV film) and slightly slow to get going, there's plenty to recommend here. It certainly stuck in my head as an impressionable young kid. Good stuff.