tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post2056351343671389416..comments2024-03-28T20:46:33.836-04:00Comments on Final Girl: blood on the plowStacie Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07784074536271206501noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-74914736660880285852010-03-27T21:28:53.317-04:002010-03-27T21:28:53.317-04:00GREAT post.
I found some old photos of an early ...GREAT post. <br />I found some old photos of an early design for the scarecrow. I posted about it here:<br /><br />http://pumpkinrot.blogspot.com/2008/12/scarecrow-nose.html<br /><br />The bar scene: "FRIED CHICKEN!!!!"<br />Classic.Rothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11329750481399948095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-17308684601169590922007-04-08T17:21:00.000-04:002007-04-08T17:21:00.000-04:00I currently have this movie on vhs-I taped it off ...I currently have this movie on vhs-I taped it off TBS a few years ago. I first remember watching it when I was in grade school and it scared the crap out of me. Great flick, which I would buy if it ever comes out on DVD.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-44420546790072693512007-03-30T03:50:00.000-04:002007-03-30T03:50:00.000-04:00I saw only the beginning of this movie when it air...I saw only the beginning of this movie when it aired - my parents turned it off after the courtroom scene - but I read the synopsis in the paper afterward and learned it was a horror movie. I've long wondered how the scarecrow got its revenge and whether it was any good. The early scenes have stayed with me many years although I have never discussed it with anyone. I am startled and grateful, yet not surprised, to come across it again here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-23172204435125022732007-03-29T20:50:00.000-04:002007-03-29T20:50:00.000-04:00I too saw this movie when it first aired. It real...I too saw this movie when it first aired. It really got to me and loved, LOVED the ending when the Scarecrow gives Marylee the flower. Amazing ending! <BR/><BR/>Yes, Charles Durning is really a good actor. He was so wicked and horrible in this movie - it's fun to watch him at his craft. Everybody was really good in this film.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-55372738828628642802007-03-29T19:18:00.000-04:002007-03-29T19:18:00.000-04:00God, I love this movie. I actually hadn't had a ch...God, I love this movie. I actually hadn't had a chance to see it until a few years ago and I was BLOWN AWAY.<BR/><BR/>What's so funny to me, as everyone has pointed out about Durning's sleazy portrayal, is that he's also played amazinginly sweet characters too. Check him out in another TV Movie called Queen of the Stardust Ballroom. He's so kind in that. What an amazing actor...<BR/><BR/>As much as I love TV Movies from that era, Scarecrow does exceed beyond the usual fare of the time. It's shot so friggin' amazingly and does play with a lot of adult non-TV type themes. I can think of few better, or scarier than this movie.<BR/><BR/>I also like that weird scene between Otis and his buddy - is it at a graveyard? - when his friend is reduced to a mass of childlike tears. Wow.<BR/><BR/>Awesome review Stace. You impress me AGAIN!Amanda By Nighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01910620012465381103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-46115609035154753672007-03-29T18:46:00.000-04:002007-03-29T18:46:00.000-04:00Good lord. I repeat myself. Sorry. Running after t...Good lord. I repeat myself. Sorry. Running after two little kids for weeks on end (one of whom chooses not to sleep through the night...) has cost me bushels of IQ.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-34592620486288224572007-03-29T17:52:00.000-04:002007-03-29T17:52:00.000-04:00Oh, man, and how do I keep forgetting all this stu...Oh, man, and how do I keep forgetting all this stuff. Love the post title as well. The song has always creeped me out exactly by association with this movie, which may be why it's my favorite cut from Johnny Cougar's catalog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-73082974983603416782007-03-29T17:25:00.000-04:002007-03-29T17:25:00.000-04:00Woo! Ponder Points®! I'll be sitting by the mailbo...Woo! Ponder Points®! I'll be sitting by the mailbox waiting for my membership card and statement. I'm thinking I'll probably redeem them for some snark.<BR/><BR/>Seriously, though, you and Chad are onto something with the fact that the movie's enduring scariness rests precisely on its visual and narrative restraint. Otis is the perfect example: he's a murdering, lacivious, would-be pedophile... <I>on network TV in 1981!</I><BR/><BR/>The movie gives you everything you need: the scarecrow imagery, the hints of unwholesomeness among the townsfolk, the farm-related slayings, but all without pushing your face in it. Your brain fills in the gaps, and it's all the more unsettling for it.<BR/><BR/>In this respect it reminds me of the (much more sophisticated) Hitchcock masterpiece <I>Shadow of a Doubt</I> in which, among other things, the completely unstated but undeniably freaky psychosexual dynamics between Teresa Wright's Young Charlie and Joseph Cotton's Uncle Charlie stay with one for years. Too damn creepy.<BR/><BR/>I wonder, in fact, if the decline in made-for-tv horror movies came about because the horror audience became narrowed to those for in explicitly gory teenager-aimed films, undermining producers' willingness to try for stories more spooky than bloody. I dunno.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-90810059102280473832007-03-29T16:30:00.000-04:002007-03-29T16:30:00.000-04:00Bill, you get 10 points for the use of "goodwyf"!C...Bill, you get 10 points for the use of "goodwyf"!<BR/><BR/>Chad, you're totally right about Otis, and when I watched the film this time, I was really taken with Otis. Not because he was GOOD or anything, but because I found him to a be a subtly (and surprisingly) layered character. When Bubba's mother astutely points out that the man obviously has a "thing" for Marylee, it's shocking and everything we've seen falls into place. <BR/><BR/>Beyond that, even, Otis was just so well-drawn and true-to-life. He's the bully who puffs himself up by hanging with men who are clearly his intellectual inferiors. In a further display of "power", he revels in his role as the town's postman- he NEVER takes the damn uniform off. And the type of men he fancies himself to emulate are revealed in a slow pan across his room, where we see pictures of Patton and a Napoleon bust. Of course, this is a pan across his sad, tiny room in a boarding house, where he sneaks booze as he maintains the image of teetotaling superiority in front of other townspeople.<BR/><BR/>Yeah, at the end of it he's still the scum-sucking villain, but he's real. And the whole Marylee angle adds a layer of slime to the whole affair without ever feeling too slimy for the audience to watch.Stacie Ponderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07784074536271206501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-1639364115521437552007-03-29T16:20:00.000-04:002007-03-29T16:20:00.000-04:00This is probably my favorite killer scarecrow movi...This is probably my favorite killer scarecrow movie (William Wesley's <B>Scarecrows</B> comes in a tight second) and it's great for all the reasons you give.<BR/><BR/>I remember watching its debut on TV back in October of 81 (it aired on Halloween night, of course) and being blown away by it. The ending managed to be creepy and comforting at the same time.<BR/><BR/>Also daring was how the movie pointed out that Otis hatin' Bubba was based on the fact that the creep was jealous and he wanted that little girl all to hisownself. Ew.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-6538817935432526282007-03-29T16:05:00.000-04:002007-03-29T16:05:00.000-04:00Revenant., not renevant. See, this is why I don't ...<B>Revenant.</B>, not renevant. See, this is why I don't have the swanky-cool horror blog.<BR/><BR/>Also, great title. That song has always creeped me out by association as well. I think that's why it's my favorite of Johnny Cougar's catalog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13599870.post-15123716178440841842007-03-29T16:00:00.000-04:002007-03-29T16:00:00.000-04:00Oh, HELL YES. That movie scared the bejesus, bemos...Oh, <B>HELL YES</B>. That movie scared the bejesus, bemoses, and bemohammad out of me. In fact, since I've recently become familiar with the œuvre of <I>Bob the Builder</I>, I have frequently advanced the hypothesis to my disbelieving goodwyf that Spud the Scarecrow is not merely the bumbling, but well-meaning scamp he appears, but is in fact, a hell-spawned retard renevant whose "mistakes" and "accidents" are actually premeditated instances of <B>Pure Evil</B>.<BR/><BR/>I'm not kidding. I've had this conversation. Although I was kidding.<BR/><BR/>Mostly.<BR/><BR/>:::shudder:::<BR/><BR/>(Fantastic review. Thanks. I'd totally forgotten it was Larry "Darkman's Nemesis the Office Boy" Drake as Bubba.)<BR/><BR/>:::shudder:::Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com