Scarecrow Gone Wild

Director - Brian Katkin (Slaughter Studios)
Starring - Ken Shamrock (WWE), Matthew Linhardt (Joint Body), and Samantha Aisling (Mascara Diablo)
Release Date - 2004
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "He's the death of the party!"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Midnight Collection: Deadly Harvest)

Rating (out of 5):

     After watching Scarecrow and Scarecrow Slayer, I had to take a break from shitty flicks and watch something worth a damn.  After very little hesitation I threw in Fight Club.  After watching that masterpiece I had some time to kill so I started watching the third and final film in the Scarecrow trilogy, Scarecrow Gone Wild.  I knew this film was going to be horrible but I had no idea what I was in for once I threw it in the PS3.  It took me around three days to actually finish the movie, not because I was busy with work and chores around the house, but because it was just terrible and could not put myself through the torture of finishing it.

     The film begins with a group of upperclassmen hazing the incoming freshman.  The coach, Ramsey (Shamrock), makes one of the upperclassmen, Jack (Linhardt), promise that they will not haze the freshmen.  Unfortunately, that same upperclassman heads off that evening to get a little tail and the hazing still takes place.  The upperclassmen take the "fresh meat" to the local cornfield where they are to pull a prank with one of the scarecrows.  However, after a freshman, Sam, takes a punch at one of the upperclassmen and hits his girlfriend instead, they take the hazing too far.  The group decide, not knowing Sam is a diabetic, to tie him to the scarecrow for the night.  When the other freshmen go to check on the young man they find him comatose.  When Jack discovers what had happened to Sam he rushes to the cornfield to get him.  Jack is extremely upset over this, not because he promised the coach there would be no hazing, but because Sam is actually a childhood friend and the pair was raised together.  They are able to take Sam to a nearby hospital that is under construction.  Sam remains under a coma but he is stable.  Everyone responsible for the hazing head off to the beach like nothing had happened.  While at the beach they start falling prey to a killer scarecrow.  After more of the group is murdered, they finally realize the connection between Sam and the scarecrow.  They know they need to wake Sam from his coma in order to survive.  The group succeed at waking Sam and ending the murders, that is until Sam starts killing the survivors because he is still one with the scarecrow.

     I have no idea where to start with this film.  This is without a doubt the worst movie I had paid money for.  When compared to the previous two films this one does have a little better acting.  However, a turd, when being compared to another turd, is still a turd.  Just like the previous installment, the scarecrow does not have the same personality that made the first film so enjoyable.  The acting is the only feature in the film that is an improvement over the abysmal second film.  The special effects in this film are on the same level as Scarecrow Slayer.  The practical effects and CGI are terrible.  True horror fans will not find any entertainment from the death scenes in this flick.  Also, the scarecrow does not look as good as the previous films.  The special effects artist on those films done a wonderful job incorporating cloth and straw in to the look of the scarecrow creating an authentic looking scarecrow, however, in this installment the scarecrow is clearly wearing a latex mask making him look cheap.  Finally, the story is the same one already told in the previous two films with very minor modifications.  In fact, all three films tell the same story and could be watched out of order due to each one having no connection to the previous minus the scarecrow.  Overall, this film has better acting but fails in every other aspect and I recommend passing this one up.