Reviewed by Adrian Hieatt
Stars Norman Reedus, Heather Stephens, Darcy Fowers, Michael McCoy,
Erbi Ago, Kalina Green, Laurence Belcher, Claire Holt | Written by Todd Farmer
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 90 minutes | Directed by Martin Barnewitz
It's safe to say that you don't need to have seen the orginal The Messengers to enjoy this instalment. In fact, this is a prequel. As you might expect, the film's concerned with the titular scarecrow causing some serious problems. He's inhabited by some kind of anicent Native American spirit, and as such he's determined to protect the land on which he's planted - no matter what the conseqeunces.
A down-on-his luck farmer, whose crops are doing badly and who is worried about supporting his family, finds the scarecrow at the back of his barn and erects it in his cornfield. Not only do all of the crows in the area mysteriously drop dead overnight, but a lawyer who tries to foreclose on the farm also meets his end under extremely unusual circumstances. The farmer realises what's going on, and tries to get rid of the scarecrow, but the spirit just can't let that happen...
Now, the title may suggest that this film is simply ludicrous, but this is honestly not so bad. It's a straight-to-DVD release, which is definitely where it belongs, but it's a notch above your average TV slashfest. There's a reasonably convincing performance from lead Norman Reedus, who transforms from a good old Christian dad into a drinking, swearing nasty chap (because of the scarecrow's malign influence). He's haunted by mysterious ghosts, thinks he's seeing and hearing things, basically rapes his own wife, has an affair with a neighbour's (slutty) wife and can't kill the scarecrow no matter how hard he tries. Plenty of gore in this one, if that's your thing, and there's even a reasonable amount of naked breasts too, thrown in wherever possible.
There's also a marginally interesting religious subtext, from the way that the farmer is driven from going to church, to the crucifixion position in which the scarecrow is hanged, and a whole lot of stuff about temptation. But it's never really followed through, like a lot of strands in this movie. Ultimately, despite a solid premise, and a commendable lack of people-running-away-from-an-unconvincing-man-dressed-like-a-scarecrow-scenes (the creature doesn't even come alive until the last 10 minutes), the whole thing is a quite hollow. A good psychological horror film is always difficult to pull off, and they don't quite make it here. The direction is pretty lame, and you may find yourself getting bored before it reaches the climax. But if you don't expect too much (and how could you really), you probably won't be that disappointed.
EXTRAS None