_**Of Scarecrows and Men**_

Something horrible happens in a rural community and four yokels are haunted by their part in the tragic event. Their torment increases when mysterious things start occurring. Charles Durning stars as the lead hick, a mailman, while Larry Drake plays the mentally challenged Bubba. Jocelyn Brando is on hand as his mother.

"Dark Night of the Scarecrow" (1981) is a thriller/horror with good Halloween ambiance that mixes in “Of Mice and Men” (1939) and “To Kill a Mocking Bird” (1962). You could tell Stephen King was influenced by it for his “The Green Mile” (1999), but don’t expect a prison flick.

There’s an effective sense of small town good ol’ boys, albeit misled by one of their own, along with some powerful subtext and a conclusion that can be interpreted a few ways, providing food for thought. One of the themes concerns projecting one’s own negative issues on to an innocent person and situation.

This was originally released to television so don’t anticipate much gore. It doesn’t need it.

The film runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot in Piru, California, which is 24 miles due north of Malibu in the high country, a dozen miles west of Santa Clarita. The 2010 restored version (which is the version I viewed) adds a key 2-second scene regarding the farm tractor in the field at the end.

GRADE: B+/A-