Director: John Oak Dalton
Year: 2019
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Scarecrow Slasher
Plot:
Working in a small-town, a librarian comes into contact with the diary of a bullied teen who killed himself from years ago, and when the residents start to mysteriously die in strange accidents she realizes a killer scarecrow has awakened for revenge forcing her to stop its rampage.
Review:
Overall, this one wasn’t that bad of an indie film. Among the better qualities found here is the fact that there’s an intriguing and enjoyable world built up here in this small-town setting. Playing up the idea of the locals with their own tortured past and the secrets coming to light through inconspicuous means, the idea that the prominent people in the town were responsible for his death and have covered it up causing all the chaos in modern-times works rather well. It gives a rather old-school feel of the sins of the past returning once again which is a fantastic ploy to take here with the film providing the necessary backstory to feature a solid reasoning to get things started. The fact that most of the stalking scenes are quite stylish and enjoyable, with the scene oftentimes featuring bright, garish lighting to hide the creature coming for them allows for this to generate some solid suspense at times with the backstory offering a fine rationale for everything. These here are what hold the film up overall.
That said, there are some issues with the film. The main problem is that the film tends to spend too long on useless scenes that go nowhere and don’t further the plot much, from the generous donator conversing with the town-drunk about the painful memories of her past when she clearly doesn’t want to or a phone-call between the sister and her agent over her work which seem rather pointless in what they’re trying to accomplish, especially in a film as short as this one where its crucial not to waste time. As well, other times include scenes of the woman taking out the belongings from her mother’s house while on the phone complaining about having to do it or a reminiscing conversation about the old days just serves to eat up time without doing anything. That all ends up meaning that the killer scarecrow doesn’t even get involved until the film’s nearly halfway through, which for a slasher film isn’t all that impressive or enjoyable.
That leads to the other issue, which is the somewhat underwhelming slasher scenes when they do occur. Not only is the film’s tendency to do quick, shock moment-style scenes of the scarecrow appearing behind people to kill them off really unrewarding by depriving the film of numerous chances at adding to the suspense factor, but the shortness also allows for several other issues to spring up. The fact that they’re mostly bloodless and don’t provide any real kind of variety in the kills really does this a huge disservice, and that they’re mostly off-screen as well is a wholly underwhelming take on their slashing scene. On top of that, the clumsy shuffling and staggering walk that occurs when the victim tries to flee is more of a comical intonation than anything, somewhat ruining several of these scenes. While it’ s not in the slightest bit detrimental, there are enough flaws to lower this one somewhat.
Overview: **.5/5
A wholly watchable and enjoyable low-budget indie slasher, there's more than enough to like here that does hold it up over it's few, somewhat detrimental issues that spring up simply by being a low-budget indie effort. If you're a fan of these films, it's well-worth a look and can offer up a lot to like, while those not looking into this type of genre or style should heed extreme caution with this one.
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