Dark Night of the Scarecrow! VCI Entertainment!

 Dark Night of the Scarecrow! VCI Entertainment! Directed by Frank De Felitta, written by J.D Feigelson and Butler Handock. Cast Charles Dunning, Robert F Lyons, Claude Earl Jones, Lane Smith, Tonya Crowe, Larry Drake and Jocelyn Brando.

In a small southern town a little girl Marylee Williams befriends a mentally challenged man Charles Ritter aka Bubba. While out in a field playing and picking flowers they are being spied on by Otis Hazelrigg local mailman. Otis tells Harliss Hocker about the situation and tells him they need to get rid of Bubba permanently. Harliss says he will rough him up but thats it. Otis says what if he kills the girl then Harliss said yeah he could because then he would have a reason. Marylee and Bubba start back home and she sees a house that has a backyard full of interesting things. Bubba says he won't go in because he would get into trouble. She goes in but a dog is there. The dog attacks her and Bubba jumps in to help her. Bubba takes Marylee to her mother lifeless. Word gets to Harliss who goes to Otis. They round up a small lynch mob to go after Bubba. Bubba gets home and tells his momma who tells him to play hide and seek. The dogs pick up Bubbas trail and it leads them to a scarecrow. Thinking he got away Otis does a better inspection of the scarecrow and realizes it is Bubba. The group opens fire killing him. Seconds later Harliss gets a call on his radio letting him know that the cops called off the hunt because Marylee was fine and sent home. Let him know Bubba was a hero keeping the dog from killing the girl. At trailing they get away with it saying it was self defense. 

After celebrating at a local restaurant Harliss finds a Scarecrow in his field of which it isn't planting season. He tells Philby and Skeeter and they go to Otis house to inform him who tells them to stop worry and leave. Harliss gets home that night after drinking and notices the scarecrow is gone, about to walk into the house he hears his woodchipper starting up in the barn. He goes to investigate and falls into the woodchipper. There is no proof of anything other than he was drunk and fell in. Otis tells Philby and Skeeter it was just an accident he was drinking and fell in. They said if that was the case who turned off the woodchipper. Otis says it probably ran out of gas. They go to check and it was almost full meaning someone turned it off. Otis thinking Bubbas mother Mrs. Ritter was the reason for Harliss murder and tells her they are even. She says they are far from even and tells him she knows why he looks at Marylee the way he does insinuating he is a pedophile. 

The scarecrow shows up in the field where Philby works. During the Halloween party Otis corners Marylee trying to tell her he is friends with Mrs. Ritter but she explains how Bubba told her what they did. She runs away and he gives chase but is shut down instantly by security. At the party Philby and Skeeter show up telling Otis the scarecrow is in the field of Philbys work. When they go to see the scarecrow is gone. Otis breaks into Mrs. Ritters home telling her to stop that they are even but while holding her mouth shut she has a heart attack and dies. As he is leaving the teapot goes off and he decides to turn the gas on high and the house explodes destroying any evidence. The next night while closing up shop Philby heard the hogs stirring and went to see what was going on. Upon looking at seeing nothing he turned around and saw someone walking into his office. Trying to leave his car wouldn't start so he ran into the silo. Hearing footsteps but thinking he was safe. The machines turn on and the silo begins to fill with grain. Philby suffocates from the grain. Otis goes to tell Skeeter who freaks out. Otis said it has to be Bubba he must of lived. They go to dig up the coffin and find Bubbas corpse is there. Now even more scared Skeeter tells Otis they need to go to the police. Otis agrees with him but says they need to refill the grave so nobody knows. When Skeeter hops down into the hole Otis hits him in the head with a shovel killing him and fills the grave to hide it.

While driving home Otis sees Marylee in the road. He follows her off road and wrecks his mail truck but gives chase. Catching her he tell her he knows she is the one behind the murders. A plow starts up and begins going after Otis. Running from the plow he runs into a scarecrow holding a pitchfork that he planted on Bubba when they killed him. Being impaled by the pitchfork he dies. Marylee was hiding in a pumpkin patch and she hears footsteps getting closer to her when she looks up it is the scarecrow. He hands her a flower and she says "Thank you Bubba".

Not a bad movie at all. It has a good cast Charles Dunning (The Muppet Movie), Lane Smith (My Cousin Vinny), Larry Drake (Dr. Giggles). They touch on stuff others probably wouldn't in chasing down a man who is mentally challenged down and executing him. The fact that one of them is a pedophile. I like the fact they never actually show the Scarecrow/Bubba doing anything to them but when Otis runs into the pitchfork. Shows how corrupt a small town can be as well because of how easy they let them off and yet nobody other than one lawyer fought for Bubbas justice. I give the movie a 3 out of 5. 

The Blu Ray release by VCI also includes extras,

Bubba Didn't Go It: 30 Years of the Scarecrow. 

DNOTS Cast Reunion from 2011

Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery

Original Trailer and Promo Trailer

Director and Writer Commentary

At the time of this writing you can buy this Blu Ray on VCI for $13.97

https://www.vcientertainment.com/product/dark-night-of-the-scarecrow-blu-ray/

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