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Similarities to William Wesley's Scarecrows (1988)?

posted 20 years ago by musclebite
12 replies | jump to latest

I saw Dead Birds at the Toronto Film Festival. Am I the only one who noticed a lot of similarities between Dead Birds and the 1988 film Scarecrows? Both films have the following elements:

-a group of people steal money, they hide out in an abandoned house in the middle of a cornfield, they have plans to go to Mexico with the money, the previous occupants of the house had some sort of contact with demonic forces, the thieves are tormented by the leftover evil/demons. Also, the crucified people in Dead Birds reminded me of the scarecrows in Scarecrows.

[–] tikawicz 20 years ago

I have not seen Dead Birds yet, but that sounds just like Scarecrows, which I think is such an awesome movie.

[–] kittystrange 20 years ago

There also seems to be a bit of Dark Harvest(a movie with no redeeming qualities) going on this film. It's like Scarecrows and Dark Harvest were smushed together to make Dead Birds.

[–] treece479 20 years ago

yeah but unlike those movies Dead Birds is actually good.

[–] VickiBackman1976 20 years ago

I completly agree with you. I just watched Dark Harvest a few weeks ago and it is almost the same. (Only D.H. was cheesier and didn't have Patrick Fugit in it)

~Vicki~

PROUD FIREMAN'S WIFE

[–] ab-14 20 years ago

You mean it's not based on the Robert E. Howard story "Pigeons from Hell"? That's what I thought when I read the short summary.

[–] bioniczombiebaboon 20 years ago

(SPOILER)

Just saw this flick and I couldn't agree more. The basic plot (crooks make off with the dough into a cornfield, crash at an old abondoned house and get dispached by some supernatural creeps) and the gore scenes (ie- the body stuffed with straw that gets decapitated). While this flick is OK, I recommend seeking out the uncut version of Scarecrows.

[–] musclebite 20 years ago

Scarecrows is excellent! I first saw it in 1989 and several time since then over the years. Hard to find, but worth the search.

[–] tikawicz 20 years ago

Scarecrows is definitely one of the most underrated horror movies ever. great setting. I finally saw dead birds and saw many similarities, but dead birds stands on its own. The kid under the bed is one of the greatest scenes.

[–] xPr3DaToRx 20 years ago

Havent watched it yet, but from the plot tag on IMDb it greatly resembles a film called 'The Bunker', soldiers hole up somewhere and are picked off by ancient demonic forces. Doubt thats a bad thing though as i quite enjoyed 'The Bunker' so have high hopes for this.

[–] y2mckay 20 years ago

Funny, I just watched the Bunker a week ago. Actually, both films are of about the same quality and the same kind of basic story and atmosphere. My opinion was the same on both of them - good acting, directing, and spooky atmosphere, but script and characters needed more work.

[–] chockybikky 19 years ago

does anyone know where scarecrows is available to buy on dvd, i used to have it on vhs but would love it on dvd?

"all dressed up and no-one to blow"

[–] yohumbug 18 years ago

I would love to see, Scarecrows.