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VCI’s DVD edi­tion of Dark Night Of The Scarecrow was an unex­pected sur­prise for hor­ror fans last year, offer­ing a superb trans­fer and a few worth­while extras put together by the film’s writer/producer J.D. Feigelson. VCI has gone back to the well for a blu-ray update of this pop­u­lar title.  Thankfully, this is not just some double-dip: it’s a gen­uine improve­ment on some­thing that was already pretty good in both the a/v and sup­ple­ment areas.

The blu-ray presents the excel­lent mas­ter used for the last edi­tion in all its high-definition glory and the results are fan­tas­tic.  The detail is sharp as a pin and the col­ors really pop.  The addi­tion of uncom­pressed sound capa­bil­ity gives an added boost to the audio.  Both 2.0 and 5.1 stereo mixes are avail­able: the 5.1 was used for this review and it’s a very robust mix.  The eerie Glenn Paxton musi­cal score ben­e­fits from the way it is opened up on this track.  Surround effects are lim­ited but very effec­tive when they are used (lis­ten out for those birds after the big shoot­ing scene).

The extras from the orig­i­nal disc — a com­men­tary track with Feigelson and direc­tor Frank DeFelitta plus an orig­i­nal net­work promo spot — are both retained here (check the link below for Schlockmania’s orig­i­nal cov­er­age of these extras).  However, the big news is that VCI has added a com­ple­ment of fresh extras that really boost the value. For starters, this set fea­tures a full-color book­let that show­cases an in-depth essay from genre scholar John Kenneth Muir.  True to Muir’s style, it’s a very thought­ful blend of inter­pre­ta­tion, inter­views and facts.

On the small end of the scale, there’s a ten minute ani­mated gallery of pro­duc­tion pho­tos, includ­ing sev­eral inter­est­ing can­did shots, and net­work promo from a 1985 rebroad­cast that offers an inter­est­ing vari­a­tion on the orig­i­nal “trailer” used for this film.

The heart of the new extras lie in two fea­turettes.  The first is a 46 minute Q&A ses­sion from a Kentucky film fes­ti­val that fea­tures Feigelson with stars Tanya Crowe and Larry Drake.  The mate­r­ial the group cov­ers over­laps with the info cov­ered in the com­men­tary and the making-of fea­turette but fans will enjoy see­ing the cam­er­aderie between these col­lab­o­ra­tors.  Drake adds a few inter­est­ing bits not avail­able in the other sup­ple­ments, like how he pre­pared for shoot­ing his scenes on L.A. Law (in which he played a Bubba-esque character).

The best of the new addi­tions is the other fea­turette, a snappy making-of piece enti­tled “Bubba Didn’t Do It!” This seg­ment was mas­ter­minded by Daniel Griffith and offers a fast-paced spo­ken his­tory of how Dark Night Of The Scarecrow came to be.  It incor­po­rates fresh inter­views with Feigelson, DeFelitta, Crowe, Drake  and actor Robert Lyons as well as input from crew mem­bers and even fel­low filmmaker/fan Stuart Gordon!  Lots of inter­est­ing mate­r­ial is included here, includ­ing how Ray Bradbury was a men­tor to Feigelson and how the hat Lyons wore in the film influ­enced his approach to his char­ac­ter(!).  Griffith orga­nizes his mate­r­ial well, break­ing it down into chap­ters to cover each phase of pro­duc­tion, and pac­ing it sharply like a good nar­ra­tive.  It’s a gem of a fea­turette, one of the best Griffith has done thus far.

In short, the great a/v qual­ity and added fea­tures (espe­cially the making-of piece) eas­ily jus­tify the mod­est retail price.  VCI has done a job to be proud of here — this is an upgrade that fans won’t regret invest­ing in.

To read Schlockmania’s film review of Dark Night Of The Scarecrow, click here.

To read Schlockmania’s DVD review of Dark Night Of The Scarecrow, click here.