10 Scariest Horror Movies Set At Halloween

Don’t let the fact it’s a made-for-TV movie put you off. They’re a rare breed but there are actually some decent made-for-TV films out there and Frank De Felitta’s creepy, atmospheric horror Dark Night of the Scarecrow is fortunately one of them.

Set in a rural town in the Deep South, it follows a young girl named Marylee who strikes up a friendship with mentally challenged local man Bubba. After she’s attacked by a dog, the redneck townsfolk immediately assume Bubba is to blame and he tries to hide from the ensuing angry mob by disguising himself as a scarecrow, the ruse fails to bamboozle the rednecks who find him and kill him in cold blood.

Unfortunately for the murdering hicks Bubba is resurrected a short time later on Halloween as a supernaturally-fuelled scarecrow to exact revenge on his murderers, which means we’re treated to some great festively harvest-themed deaths involving woodchippers, grain silos, and a strategically placed pitchfork on a pumpkin patch.

Its death scenes aren’t what make Dark Night of the Scarecrow scary, however, but its less-is-more approach that plays on the inherent creepiness of scarecrows, the growing paranoia of its vigilante villains, and its rural, autumnal setting to great eerie effect.