Scarecrows are scary. The clue is in the name. That’s why they can make effective characters in horror movies. Just check out the brilliant Dark Night Of The Scarecrow or even that freaky, fantastic moment in House Of 1000 Corpses.
Which brings us to the failure that is Husk, written and directed by Brett Simmons. Some people have enjoyed the movie and I can only assume that it’s thanks to the inherent creepiness of scarecrows (and, admittedly, one or two moments of genuine creepiness stuck in the middle of the dross).
Husk tells the story of a bunch of kids who crash their car and end up trying to get help. They head for a house that they can see in the middle of a cornfield but it turns out that there is danger hidden behind those rows of corn. A creepy old house in the middle of nowhere. Creepy scarecrows that seem a lot livelier than they should be. It all adds up to prime horror material.
Or, at least, it should.
Writer-director Simmons takes any potential and squanders it with a cast of characters making stupid decisions (and played by people who don’t do enough to make themselves all that appealing), the inclusion of one of the group suddenly having psychic visions so that we can all find out just how this situation arose and a number of moments and plot devices that draw comparisons to other, better movies.
C.J. Thomason is the only cast member who comes out of everything relatively unscathed. Wes Chatham is hampered by playing an idiot, Devon Graye has to deal with those psychic visions, Tammin Sursok is simply the one female of the group and Ben Easter doesn’t have enough screentime to make much of an impression.
Thankfully, the scarecrows are scary when shown onscreen and there is at least one decent idea in the script that manages to elevate a couple of scenes to something bordering on the very good.
It’s just not enough though. 4/10.
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