Scarecrows was made during a particularly rough time for horror when it came to the MPAA, which had been tested by the Friday the 13th series for too long at that point. The filmmakers kept that in mind and deliberately shot "wetter" gore scenes that the board would demand to be cut, which would leave the essential violence intact when the film was eventually passed with an R-rating. The unrated tape proved enticing to adventurous horror junkies who were rewarded with a darkly lit but very splashy E.C. Comics-style tale about a pilot and his daughter forced to fly a cargo plane towards the border by a gang of bandits on the run. Of course, they soon end up spending the night in a remote graveyard where the population consists of some ominous scarecrows who aren't quite as inanimate as they appear.
"It was a very grassroots, guerilla filmmaking kind of thing," recalled makeup artist Norman Cabrera (who went on to work on the two Hellboy films and 2016's Star Trek: Beyond) when interviewed by Red Shirt Pictures for the film's Blu-ray bow. "We were all kids. It was like doing a Super 8 movie with a budget." In fact, according to him, the oldest person on the set was 30-year-old director William Wesley. The director had some tense moments with leading man Ted Vernon - who later commented in his own video interview that "He's lucky I didn't wring his freaking neck! I came close a couple of times" - when Vernon's financial investment and executive producer status was put in jeopardy. A colorful Florida personality nicknamed "Wolfman" (especially in his auto dealer business), Vernon had already established himself as a boxer in the area and would go on to create his own regional show, South Beach Classics. Vernon's role as the initial investor called for not only a starring role for himself but also for his dog, Dax, who easily steals all of his scenes.
Other newcomers working on the film would also go on to bigger and better things including producer Cami Winikoff, who was tasked with raising the rest of the budget and would go on to such films as Eve's Bayou (1997) and the Leprechaun series. Unfortunately, tragedy struck two of the major names involved; first upon actor B.J. Turner, who makes a strong impression here as Bert and would pass away five years after this film's release. The film's evocative score, reminiscent of Jerry Goldsmith's work on the classic series Thriller, was the handiwork of seasoned jazz and pop composer and conductor Terry Plumeri. His debut score here would lead to such later films as Sometimes They Come Back (1991) and One False Move (1992). Tragically, Plumeri was violently murdered in 2016 in his Florida home by burglars during a home invasion. The couple responsible was apprehended soon after, with one committing suicide in jail.
This film also holds a special place as one of the earlier horror films centered around scarecrows, coming in the wake of the much-loved, made-for-TV gem Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) but preceding the effective opening of Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003) and Jeff Burr's entertaining Night of the Scarecrow (1995). In fact, the basic premise for this film - minus the criminal element - was reused again for the 2011 horror film Husk, which was circulated as part of the After Dark Films genre festival series.
By Nathaniel Thompson
