MovieChat Forums > Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) Discussion > The shredder empty on gas? Empty coffin?

The shredder empty on gas? Empty coffin?

posted 8 years ago by Badlands1
1 reply | jump to latest

SPOILERS*

They said the judge ruled the shredder death an accident, yet the police never mentioned in court that the shredder was switched off upon discovery, yet the mailman knew? That's suspect right there.. Oh well it adds to the plot I guess.

The coffin did contain Bubba's remains, but when first seeing that scene, he jumps out of fear as if it's empty "it's him!" like Bubba is the killer since he's not buried, but then the mail man says we will go to the cops, we have nothing to hide he's still buried..

So it was Bubba's ghost driving/operating machinery, and filling the suit up, as we see him walking into the shed before he kills the fat farmer in the silo. Great movie, story and acting, but IMO it's a who-dunnit, great to see once but wouldn't want to see again for a while, similar to The Machinest, as a who-dunnit.

[–] Wuchak (8737) 3 years ago

The judge figured that the shredder could've simply stalled after the fatal event, which would make it an accident. It became common knowledge that the machine wasn't running when the scene was discovered, so the mailman wasn't suspect for knowing about it.

The guy who opens Bubba's coffin is shocked because seeing a corpse in a dark grave at 2:00 AM is a grisly sight, especially since he was obviously tormented by the guilt of murder.

We know from one particular shot that the tractor in the field was operating by itself, which suggests three possibilities:

- Bubba's vengeful ghost returned from the grave.
- The little girl has telekinetic powers that worked according to her imagination (whether she was aware of it or not) to bring about the justice she & Bubba's mom deeply desired. The closing scene could be interpreted as her using her powers to create an imaginary friend that she believes to be (or pretends to be) her former companion.
- The mother's faith in divine justice released angels to enact justice denied by human law.

Some kind of mix of these could also be at play.