By GLENN TOLLE
SCARECROWS
Starring Hannah Gordon, Mike Taylor, Umed Amin
Directed by Stuart Stone (As Stu Stone)
Written by Adam Rodness, Stuart Stone (as Stu Stone)
In SCARECROWS a gaggle of teens (two boys and two girls) decide to eschew their plans of going to the beach and visit an isolated lagoon instead. Not-so-subtle hints towards this being a bad idea soon present themselves, though they are disregarded by the two boys Farbsie (Mike Taylor) and Ely (Umed Amin) who are looking forward to having a bit of fun. Ultimately, the boys’ testosterone gets the better of them and the girls, when the owner of the land they are trespassing decides to teach them all a lesson – by turning them into living SCARECROWS.
A strong dose of humour carries the film along and fleshes out scenes and characters that otherwise would fall flat. This aspect alone might even earn SCARECROWS a cult following. Additionally, everyone involved added an extra dimension to their mostly one sided characters. Credit each actor with adding a lot of flare, which ultimately goes a long way to elevating SCARECROWS from its bare bones brethren.
I could go on about the film’s other strengths i.e. its cinematography, soundtrack, pacing, etc. but I think you get the gist. I like this film. My only gripe would have to be the lack of copious gore. Conceptually, SCARECROWS is quite gruesome, however those anticipating a gut churner will be sorely disappointed. Sure, there are a few scenes that are worth wincing over, but ultimately none of these are truly nauseating.
SCARECROWS may not be the grue-fest that some might be hoping for, and it may not be overly original, but it’s a funny, well-cast, well shot, and deserves to be seen at least once.
SCARECROWS hits VOD December 11th and DVD February 1st.
