Five people heist the Camp Pendleton payroll, kidnap a pilot and his daughter, who are forced to fly them to Mexico. En route a double cross has one of the thieves parachute with the loot into an abandoned graveyard surrounded by strange scarecrows.I really wanted to like this film. A 1980s film with killer scarecrows? Yeah, that is something I can get behind. I like "Night of the Scarecrow", and "Dark Night of the Scarecrow"... heck, even "Hallowed Ground" is not completely terrible. But here, I guess I just did not see it.And, again, I liked the idea of mixing an action and heist movie with horror. That is a very rare combination. But they could not pull it off, and it was left feeling convoluted. The confusion was compounded by the use of voices -- were they from the radio, the scarecrows, or where? Things were very unclear from one moment to the next.

I'm not going to try and convince anyone that Scarecrows is a great horror film. It isn't. But considering the limitations of a no-name cast and tiny budget, this film is a lot better than it would appear to be on paper. I kind of remember seeing this as a kid, but a recent viewing was definitely worth the rental.The story is relatively simple, and the film is fairly short. A group of commandos rob a fortune from a military base and hijack a plane that will hopefully take them to Mexico. Of course there is no honor amongst thieves, and one of the guys jumps out with the money, hoping to get it all for himself. Unfortunately for everyone, this man happens to land on a deserted farm haunted by murderous scarecrows. Not only are they looking to carve up their victims, but they can also control your mind and make objects (like trucks with no engines) move on their own. The other commandos also land on this property, and by the end of the night, few of them are left to regret the decisions they have made.The film has kind of a hasty beginning where it doesn't quite feel sure of itself. Only after the entire group has landed does the good stuff begin. The film has several gory killings and scenes where the unexpected happen. The brain control element of the story really wasn't even needed, but it turns out to add even more surprises. The killings look incredibly realistic. The film does have some problems with repetitive shots of scarecrow faces that are only there for padding. You could actually take the running time of this film down to just about an hour and it still would have been effective. But give it a look. You most likely won't feel as though your time has been wasted. Too bad the cast and director didn't go on to do much else. There was some real talent both in front of and behind the camera in this one. 7 of 10 stars.The Hound.

Five criminals stage a daring, violent robbery of an army payroll at a camp named Pendleton, and abduct a father and daughter to fly them to safety. However, the mastermind of the robbery decides to make off with the proceeds and parachutes down into a remote rural area. Naturally, his enraged comrades follow. However, what they don't expect is the nearby farm is populated with scarecrows - stealthy, sneaky, sadistic zombie scarecrows who decimate the gang one lowlife at a time.I know that that sounds pretty silly, but give director William Wesley and crew credit for handling this premise better than you'd think. They never go the purely cheesy route, largely staying away from blatant humour (although there are some amusing, silly gags near the end) and any sort of camp. What they do instead is milk the atmosphere for all that's it worth, and when it comes down to that aspect of the movie, it's very well done.They also make the interesting move of never truly explaining things, in terms of how these scarecrows could come to be that way. The scarecrows are genuinely ugly and ferocious, and there aren't too many shots of the things shambling around, which would undermine their effectiveness. And speaking of ferocity, the gore in this movie is extremely enjoyable, as we get to see stabbings, decapitations, and the sight of a character who's had their innards removed to be replaced with the purloined money.This is entertaining stuff here, that gets down to business right away and moves forward at a respectable pace. (If it weren't for a pretty slow end credits crawl, the running time would still come in around 80 minutes or so.) The characters are reasonably entertaining & the acting gets the job done; it's a hoot to see the character Curry (Michael David Simms) lose it as he realizes how screwed the whole bunch of them are. Ted Vernon, who also takes an executive producer credit, is good in the top billed role of Corbin; he looks tough and bad ass but is really a sensitive kind of guy, as he tries to look out for the young female captive Kellie (Victoria Christian, who is actually dubbed by Bambi Darro).Lovers of indie horror, and the scarecrow sub genre, are sure to find this a pleasing enough movie that can claim to be legitimately spooky, and delivers a number of fine sequences as it plays out.Seven out of 10.

Maybe I went in expecting too much. I read a review of this film on here where the guy gave it a 10/10. He stated that it was much better than any Halloween or Friday the 13th any day. I admit, most Friday the 13th movies blow. This movie was equally horrific. It is slow paced, dark, and not filled with many quality kill scenes. It also has an ending that will make you want to blow yourself up with a grenade. There has to be a better way to end the movie. Give me the budget for this film and I will at least generate a legit 5/10 movie. I have seen hundreds of cheesy horror films, especially ones from the 80's. Comparatively this one ranks way low on my list.