'Scarecrow Gone Wild' Review

When asked by several people what exactly Scarecrow Gone Wild was, I joked with them that all it took to get a scarecrow to show its privates was a little alcohol and a t-shirt. There is an ample amount of nudity in this film, but thankfully it's not a cheap straw knock-off of Girls Gone Wild.

Scarecrow Gone Wild is the third film in a series of "Scarecrow" horror films. The stories of all three center around demonic scarecrows that go around killing everyone associated with a particular act. This time, its the victim of a fraternity hazing who ended up in a coma who connects with the scarecrow. He goes around killing everyone who left him out in a cornfield overnight, and a bunch of innocent college kids for good measure.

Strangely enough, the movie opens with the scarecrow chasing a girl through a cornfield and then killing her, but this scene is never tied into the rest of the movie. Oh, and the girl in the skimpy undies in the picture on the right isn't actually in the movie either, though her picture appears on the box, the title screen, and the DVD itself.

The only big name here is Ken Shamrock, which is ironic for two reasons. Firstly, he's the worst actor of the group, and secondly because he really doesn't have that big a part in this movie. He shows up from time to time to look tough or get killed, and he sucks at both.

The other actors here aren't that bad, especially for a low-budget B horror film. Exceptionally good was Samantha Aisling, who plays Beth. Aisling is not only very talented, she's hot as hell too. Unlike Blood Gnome, most of the women in Scarecrow Gone Wild are fairly attractive. The male performers look like they just came out of Saved By the Bell, but at least they can kind of act. Nobody's acting skills are really that bad, at least not compared to some of the other ultra-low budget horror films out there.

The special effects are on par with your average B horror film. The scarecrow costume looks like an off the shelf Halloween costume, which may have worked had they shown him more sparingly. There's not an awful lot of gore, but what's there isn't particularly convincing. In one scene a dying man is literally holding a bunch of plastic intestines to his stomach.

The worst part of this movie is really the dialogue. It constantly seems out of place and unnatural. The personality of each character seems to change from scene to scene, and in typical teenage fashion characters are friendly one minute and then fighting the next. Also in typical teenage fashion, everyone has an attention span of a couple seconds. Several times it seems like the scarecrow is finally dead, and the surviving characters spend their time celebrating and making love with no concern for their dead friends. The movie takes a turn at the last minute and destroys a potentially happy ending in favor of a darker, more depressing one (Translation: They all die).

Overall this film is basically your run-of-the-mill low budget horror flick, with a few hot women and a wrestler thrown in for the hell of it. Many will find this movie dull, slow and unexciting, but it puts itself above other films in this genre that simply want to make you suffer. Good for a rental if your in the mood for a stupid horror film, but don't buy it.

Stats & Info
Rating: Rated R for Violence, Sexual Content, and Language
Rarity: Uncommon
Genre: Horror
Released: 2004
Country of Origin: USA
Video: Color; Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Audio: English (Dolby 5.1); Spanish Subtitles
Plot: Killer Scarecrow awakened by a diabetic in a coma kills college kids.
How Bad Is It? - The effects suck, as does the dialog, and at times you can clearly see microphones on people's clothing.