10 Best Hidden Gem Halloween Horror Movies

5. Dark Night Of The Scarecrow

Dark Night of the Scarecrow
CBS

While the gore is minimal, CBS' Dark Night of the Scarecrow is genuinely unsettling at so many points and brilliantly works the less-is-more approach.

A made-for-TV feature, the film opens by introducing us to Bubba, a mentally challenged adult, and young Marylee. Bubba and Marylee are best pals who spend their time making flower necklaces and just generally goofing around. However, when a dog attacks Marylee and seemingly kills her, a group of small-minded townsfolk believe Bubba killed the girl, and they're out to exact some skewed revenge.

This culminates in Bubba, desperately trying to hide by disguising himself as a scarecrow, hunted down and murdered by four locals. The catch is, Marylee wasn't killed and was actually saved from that dog by Bubba. Placing a pitchfork on Bubba's corpse to make it look like he attacked them first, the four's trial for Bubba's murder is thrown out of court due to a lack of evidence.

Still, justice is very much served when Bubba's spirit torments his killers from beyond the grace, all as the four start to turn on one another. As alluded to, some of the fates of these men are extremely grim to imagine, even if what we see is fairly minimal. For example, one fella is stuck in a grain silo, where he's slowly suffocated by his own crops.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.