Director: Adam Cowie
Year: 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Scarecrow Slasher
Plot:
Over a year after the previous encounter, the survivors of the scarecrow encounter prepare the camping grounds to open it to visitors with a group of counselors, but when they start disappearing around the camp forces them to believe the cursed scarecrow has returned and must try to save the others.
Review:
This was a decent enough follow-up with some intriguing aspects. The main feature to like with this one is the rather strong setup that provides a reason for carrying on the storyline of this one incredibly well. Taking the story from the original with the survivors and how they’ve developed over the year with a stronger relationship than how they started, it brings a realistic touch that doesn’t normally come off in this kind of situation, and when combined with the connections made here involving how the other survivors have been equally affected with their distrust of scarecrows all create a solid amount of build-up from the original. As the truth about what happened to the location not just with the group but the other accidents that took place there allows for a more understandable reaction to what’s going on and their regulations about staying there that puts it all together quite well.
That all brings about some decent stalking scenes here involving the revived scarecrow coming to life and striking the campers. The long opening with it taking out the couple who are setting up the camp by themselves has some atmospheric touches that give it some suspenseful touches, much like the later scenes where it attacks the randy couple separately in the shower or in the supply bunker where the settings for these scenes features some solid setups for the suspenseful outcome. The big finale, where the remaining survivors band together to get to the creature with several big battles with the group attacking in waves and trying different tactics to stop the killer that has some life to things based on what’s come before including some shocking revelations to take place which are enough to hold this one up.
There are several factors here that hold this one down. One of the main issues to be had here is the generally sluggish and extremely dull pacing that keeps everything moving along at a rather glacial pace.. Far too much of the first half here is spent on inane conversations between them and the campers about what went on previously or how everything is going with the staff’s inappropriate behavior which makes everything take forever to get going. Focusing on these issues as much as it does at the expense of the scarecrow’s antics as they’re quite low in comparison to the mindless banter without much going on. That ends up leading into the other big issue in the lack of gore from the dearth of on-screen kills featured here with the lack of time being devoted to them which is then further hampered by the low budget not allowing them to come off that impressively with either off-screen kills or just not that interesting, leaving this one with some issues holding it back.
Overview: **.5/5
A generally decent enough if flawed follow-up, this is an enjoyable enough entry that has a lot of the same factors as the original leaving them both pretty much aligned together. Those who enjoyed the original or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while most others out there turned off by it’s issues should heed caution.
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