4K UHD Review: DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW DOUBLE FEATURE

 

DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW 

Directed by:  Frank De Felitta

DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW 2

Directed by:  J.D. Feigelson

Distributed by:    VCI Entertainment / MVD

  I have always considered the original DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW one of the best made for TV horror moves ever made.   I still stand by that today.  I have seen it multiple times and it never gets old to me.  It is a true classic.   Somehow, I completely missed that a part 2 was ever made!   I was so glad to find this awesome double feature that contains both the original and part 2!  

 

  A review of the original DNOTS was actually published on my blog years ago by contributing writer, Scott Baker  (see that review HERE).   So for the purpose of this review, I will mainly be focusing on part 2.   If you are not familiar with these films, here is the plot synopsis for each one courtesy of the VCI Entertainment website:

Dark Night of the Scarecrow (Orig): When young Marylee Williams (Tonya Crowe) is found viciously mauled, all hell breaks loose in her small rural town. Officious postmaster Otis P. Hazelrigg (Charles Durning) leads a gang of bigots in pursuit of the suspect: her mentally challenged friend Bubba Ritter (Larry Drake). Finding him hiding inside a scarecrow, they exact brutal mob ‘justice’…only to discover a tragic mistake! Now a strange apparition stalks the land seeking each of them out, as the legend of the Scarecrow begins.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow #2: A dark terror lies just below the surface of the small-town Chris Rhymer (Amber Wedding) and her young son Jeremy (Aiden Shurr) have settled in. One day while looking for Jeremy, she comes upon a weathered old scarecrow, and realizing that is only an inert effigy, she tells it her secret for being there. Now, suddenly after forty years, a dark terror stalks the cornfields. Is it on a mission of revenge or is it protecting Chris from outside threats? The legend of the Scarecrow continues. 

  Again, I never knew a sequel to DNOTS existed, so this was quite a treat for me to be discovering this film for this first time!    While I admit it started off a bit slow, it definitely got better as the movie went on.   The film looks kind of cheaply made, and I assume it was, but it actually worked well for this film because it truly felt like a made for TV movie like the original.   I remember thinking as I watched the sequel that whoever made this film must have been a huge fan of the original.   They really got the look of the scarecrow to match the original, and there were many throwbacks to the first film that were a lot of fun.   Well, come to find out the director of part 2 was actually the writer on the original film!  

  Unlike the original film, we actually see some of the kills in this film.   The original's kills were all offscreen, which is not surprising since it was made for TV.   I was glad to see a little more gore in part 2, although it was still light on gore compared to other films this days.  I really liked the look of the scarecrow in part 2.  It as very similar to the look of the original, except this time it had glowing eyes in some scenes which made it extra creepy.  I also really liked the way the scarecrow moved...it was almost in a jerky manor, not fluid at all.  It almost remined me of stop motion in the way the scarecrow's head moved. 

  While part 2 isn't nearly as enjoyable as the original, it was highly entertaining and a very nice homage to the first film.   If you already own DNOTS on DVD or BD, you'll want to get this new edition not only for part 2, but the 4K release is an amazing upgrade from the previous releases.   The picture is crystal clear, which I expected for the sequel, but even the original film is so clean and like I have never seen before.  After seeing how good part 2 looked, I had to check out the original on 4K as well and I was in awe of how good it looked for a film that is over 40 years old.   

The DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROWS DOUBLE FEATURE is available now from VCI Entertainment and contains the following Special Features:

*New 2023 DNOTS Triple Fan Commentary Track Hosted by Heath Holland (Cereal Midnight Podcaster) and featuring Robert Kelly noted film historian and artist, and super-fan Amanda Reyes, expert extraordinaire on TV movies, author, podcaster! 
*Original DNOTS Commentary Track with Writer J.D. Feigelson and Director Frank DeFelitta *New 2023 DNOTS2 Commentary by J.D. Feigelson 
*Video Feature - “Bubba Didn’t Do It: 30 Years of the Scarecrow” by Daniel Griffith 
*Video Feature – DNOTS Cast Reunion Q&A Recorded at the 2011 Frightfest Film Festival *1981 CBS World Premiere Broadcast Promo 
*1985 CBS Network Re-Broadcast Promo 
*Photo Gallery – Behind the Scenes

CLICK HERE to purchase the Blu-Ray
CLICK HERE to purchase the 4K Ultra HD