CBS premiered Dark Night of the Scarecrow on 24 October 1981.
Made-for-TV horror tends to be weak. There are notable exceptions. Night Gallery was generally excellent. And it wasn’t alone. Tobe Hooper made the excellent Salem’s Lot for TV. There were films like Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. And there is pretty much anything Dan Curtis did during the 1970s.
This last exception is probably most telling. Horror on TV generally sufferred from groupthink. Curtis had power because of the success of Dark Shadows. But how did a film as outstanding as Dark Night of the Scarecrow manage to make its way onto TV screens without being defanged?
Sadly, the commentary track on the excellent Blu-ray release is laser-focused on the production, so we don’t learn much about how it got to be made. But there are a couple of things that stand out. One is that JD Feigelson didn’t write it for TV. And Frank De Felitta was the perfect person to direct. He was fundamentally a writer. But he also had a good, unpretentious visual style.
Why the network heads at CBS didn’t make changes to destroy it is not clear. It’s not like the film lacked for resources. It does seem fairly low-budget but quite reasonable for TV. I guess we can put it down to incompetence. If the CBS managers had been more on the ball, they could have destroyed this film too!
A big reason I love the film is that it’s a very effective revenge story. It’s a very clear plot. There is one truly evil man and three followers who are sort of idiots but also pretty evil. And I enjoy seeing them get justice.
Additionally, the acting in the film is exceptional. I can well imagine that at that time, none of these pros cost much money. And only Charles Durning would go on to be anything like a star. But everyone in the cast does a great job. I think actors work harder when they have a great script, as they do here.
If you have never seen Dark Night of the Scarecrow, you really must. It’s so much fun — even after 46 years!
Dark Night of the Scarecrow via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
