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Steve-Calvert.co.uk
A Passion For Horror
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Scarecrow (2003)Written and Dircted by Emmanuel Itier
Lester is one of those guys that don't quite fit in at school. He is always on his own and is a favourite target for the school bullies. Even the teacher is a bitch with him. But the teacher is a bitch period and doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about any of her pupils. The sad thing is that Lester isn't a bad kid at all really. Sadder still is the fact that even his home life is hardly a stable one. His mother is drunk a lot of the time and the rest of the time she seems to be little more than a whore who appears to have very little in the way of feelings for her son. It is pretty fair to say that Lester does not have much of a life and just when it seems that things could not possibly get any worse for the young man, they do, because he doesn't have any life at all. One of his mother's boyfriends kills him and leaves him strung up by the neck in a cornfield. Mommy dearest witnesses the murder of her son, but manages to do with her mouth the one thing that she seems unable to do with her legs, she keeps it shut, and her son's killer goes free because everyone thinks that poor, old Lester killed himself. Mom doesn't even go to the funeral. The last thing that Lester sees isn't his life flashing before his eyes; it is a rather ugly scarecrow. Somehow his spirit attaches itself to the bundle of rags and straw and Lester is back, with a new attitude that is as ugly as his new look, and Lester wants revenge.
Scarecrow is an okay film and has a lot of good points. It has the look of a professionally produced film and I thought the camerawork very good. I particularly like the way that sometimes, between scenes, the camera flashed to the clouds blowing past in the sky. The soundtrack to Scarecrow isn't just good, it's great and I can't fault it. It is young, lively music and it rocks. The only thing that lets the film down is the cast, because most of the actors don't seem to know how to act. Half the cast are young girls though; all of which are incredibly easy on the eye, so I suppose that compensates a little bit for the poor acting. Talking of easy on the eye, Scream queen Tiffany Shepis has a main role in Scarecrow and she is one of the few who can act, so not only does she look incredible, but she is credible too.
Is there sex and nudity in this film? Not really. Sex is talked about in reasonably graphic terms, but, nothing too over the top. There are a few humorous scenes in the film, though, and one of my favourites of these has got to be when two young kids find a dead body in the corn field. The deputy is pretty grossed out by the whole thing, but manages to keep a firm hold on his cookies and goes to talk to the two young boys. He explains to them that death is just another part of that big circle of life and then say's, "Is there anything that you would maybe like to tell me or maybe ask me about the way you are feeling right now?"
"Yeah," smiles the first boy. "It was the greatest thing I ever seen. He had, like, sticks coming through his ribcage. You could see bones. and blood. He even had, like, holes in his face." When the other boy joins in and starts talking about the maggots it all proves too much for the poor deputy and he looses his fight to hold onto his cookies and tosses them out into the cornfield. For me it was worth sitting through the rest of the film just to see this scene, but I always did have a weird sense of humour. Scarecrow is not the best film ever made, but it is
nowhere near being the worst either, so if you fancy a change from
watching all of those latest Hollywood blockbusters; if you want to see
something a little different; or if you just have a weird sense of humour
or enjoy films where young girls run around in tight-fitting pants, then
why not give Scarecrow a try? CAST Lester
Dwervick
... Tim Young
DVD Information:
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