I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

How sad is this?

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow is an effective, eerie even slightly camp television film made for Halloween but seriously put some Horror films made for cinema to shame.Mentally challenged Bubba (Larry Drake) happily plays with a ten year old girl Marylee (Tonya Crowe.) When she goes missing, a group of four local red-necks egged on by postman Otis Hazelrigg (Charles Durning) assumed that Bubba attacked her and go looking for him.Bubba hides by dressing himself up as a scarecrow in a field, but the the group shoot him dead in a hail of bullets.It turns out Marylee is alive and well and that Bubba was innocent. The red-necks are tried at a laughable court hearing and released in a travesty of justice.Unfortunately for the now free group of red-necks, a mysterious scarecrow begins appearing in their fields and one by one they meet a gruesome death such as being buried arrive in a silo.As each person dies the rest get jumpy. Director Frank De Felitta makes effective use of television conventions by suggesting the killer lurking in the shadows and making eerie noises. The killer might be supernatural or a figure of the imagination of the nervous red- necks.Larry Drake became better known in LA Law where he also played a mentally retarded man. The group of red-necks such as Lane Smith also became familiar faces on TV and film but the film hinges really on the repulsive, rotund and creepy postman played by Durning. Too fat that his uniform does not quiet fit him and seems to like young girls as well which might had been a motive why he wanted Bubba out of the way because his playing with Marylee was innocent.Durning is the last to go as an unmanned tractor chases him in the fields, why does he keep on running in a straight line? A corny ending if ever there was one.

Been quite a while since I've watched this one. Watching it again I must say it's a good old school horror film - and it was made for TV.The movie has a pretty basic story line to follow for a "slasher" TV movie without being "silly" - it is enough to keep me interested. The "monster scare factor" is pretty decent. There is not an over abundance of scarecrow horror films out on the market so this movie gets bonus points for being a scarecrow "monster" film.It's always nice to see Charles Durning on the screen - he's a good actor. He plays a "bad cop" role in this movie. Without giving the film away, Otis P. Hazelrigg (Durning) and his fellows did something they really should have not done - covering up their act - which leads to the "scarecrow".Good film for the Halloween season and a late night flick. A worth while horror movie in my opinion.7.5/10

I never recall myself getting so wild with the 'Scarecrow' tales. 'Dark Night of the Scarecrow' is one such masterpiece that has no budget to boast but simply a great attitude that brings a win-win situation to both director and the audience. Frank de Felitta is a miraculous man and has proved that the scarecrows don't just scare the crap out of birds! The background music adds tension to the plot and is one of the most haunting soundtracks I can ever think of. The artistry lies in the way scarecrow has been pictured and this solely makes the story alive. J.D. Fiegelsen (The godfather of scarecrow sub-genre and also the author of 'Audrey Rose') has penned down the script with a meticulous and fervent mind that itself is a terrific combination. What impresses me most is that DNOTS was a TV movie! They don't make like this anymore nowadays. The plot revolves around few townsfolk who kill a mentally-challenged and nitwit Bubba for no apparent reason, but someone who lives in the sky and writes our fates decides to wreak havoc on the culprits and settles the scores in bizarre and supernatural ways.Buba Ritter (Larry Drake) is a retarded but fully-grown up man, who lives with his mother Mrs. Ritter (Jocelyn Brando) in a small town. He befriends a little girl Marylee (Tonya Crowe) and it seems that they both are on the same note and love each other's company. Marylee and Bubba spend their time playing near a windmill in the lemon-yellow fields. Their friendship is despised by the town's mean mailman Otis (Charles Durning), farmer-cousins Philby (Claude E Jones) and Harliss (Lane Smith) and gas station attendant Skeeter (Robert Lyons) and they are only looking for a good time to punish Bubba. One day while playing with Bubba, Marylee is mauled by a ferocious dog and falls unconscious. Bubba is attacked by the dog but he somehow manages to save a fainted Marylee and takes Mary to her mother. The news spreads like a fire and Otis quickly assumes that Bubba might have raped and murdered the girl. Otis, Skeeter, Philby and Harliss promptly form a lynch mob and go after Bubba with a pack of hunting dogs. Mrs. Ritter realizes that her son is in danger and she disguises Bubba as a scarecrow and plants him at a field. The lynch mob arrives and the dogs sniff Bubba out in no time. Otis and his friends empty their revolvers on poor Bubba. Minutes later, Otis is informed that Marylee had only fainted and is alright after medical care. In order to make the murder look like a self-defense assault, Otis puts a pitchfork in dead Bubba's hands to make appear as if he were about to attack them and was therefore killed in response.The murder is prosecuted in court where on the grounds of zero proof, the culprits are somehow able to save their necks. The district attorney Sam Willock (Tom Taylor) doesn't believe on Otis and his friends, and promises to send them to the death row, if he ever finds a clue. Otis and his friends want to keep their misdeed a secret but its not very long when Harliss mysteriously falls into a chipper and is shredded to pieces. Philby notices a scarecrow in his fields and is horrified. On Philby's tip, Otis decides to take the matter in his hands and burns Mrs. Ritter's house. A few days later Philby, under mysterious circumstances perishes inside a grain silo and Skeeter goes insane with fear and is ultimately killed by Otis. Otis appears to be a pedophile and is after Marylee. He also accuses Marylee of orchestrating the scarecrow murders, which she denies. A game of cat and mouse begins where Marylee is chased by Otis and they finally land on a pumpkin patch. A plowing machine in the patch animates all by itself and begins to follow a running Otis. Otis soon finds the Bubba scarecrow before him and realizes that he is impaled by the same pitchfork he ever put in Bubba's hands as alibi.DNOTS is one of the best Halloween films that follows a simple plot, has a weird atmosphere and crazy soundtrack. I never get satisfied watching it once and can watch it all day long. It has some magic that keeps you tied to your seat. Unlike splatter films, the film has very little gore and takes inspiration from evergreen horror milestones like Halloween and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It is noteworthy that Halloween and TCM also have very little gore, but they boast on the effect they cast on the viewers. DNOTS certainly is a great combination of fear, anxiety, insanity and trauma all seasoned in the curry of devilish Halloween atmosphere. The portrayal of rural culture adds great taste to the movie, where empty fields, chippers, plowing machines, grain silos and pumpkin patches have been used as horror intensifiers. DNOTS simply rules!