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★★★★
Directed by: Martin Barnewitz
Written by: Todd Farmer
Starring: Norman Reedus, Claire Holt and Heather Stephens
Throwback Film Review by: Rachel Pullen
Messengers 2: The Scarecrow (2009) Film Review
Recently I have been re-watching all of The Walking Dead, a television show I only originally watched because I had a crush on the very sexy Norman Reedus, and I thought seeing him kill the living dead would be hot and fun to observe, turns out I was right. But how, you may ask, did I fall into my love affair with Mr Reedus, well did you know back in the day he used to star in B-rate horror films? And who do we know that likes B-rate horror…that’s right, loyal readers, me.
So after my TWD binge I returned to one of my favourite early Norman Reedus flicks, a little sequel called Messengers 2: The Scarecrow. But wait, you cry, why are we not talking about the first one? Well Norman Reedus is not in it so I don’t care.
Anyway, Messengers 2 tells the tale of a young man and his family who are struggling to make ends meet on their farm, their corn is rubbish and crows keep pecking at it, making Norman feel like a failure, also he just quit being an alcoholic because his Christian wife was not into that, so you know …stress and resentment, as well as the judgment of Jesus...sigh.
He stumbles across an old scarecrow in his barn, coincidentally at the same time his new neighbour turns up with a 6-pack to introduce himself. He is keen for Norman to put up the scarecrow…and drink the beer! Scarecrow up, beer in the fridge, things are gonna go ham. But wait, what is this, the scarecrow brings good luck, his debt goes away (because the debt collector gets killed), his crops grow (because all the crows die), his wife kind of hates him less (but only because her friends keep dying and she is running out of people to talk with)...yay scarecrow powers!!!
Norman is like ‘’fuck this is good but also not good, and now I'm a bit crazy, better go see my neighbour and his insanely hot wife, like way out of his league wife, and have sex with her…oh no wait I shouldn't do that …but hey, scarecrow powers’’.
And so, it’s not long before all this shit comes to light, the scarecrow comes alive, tries to kill the family and Norman runs it over with a combine harvester…the end.
And while you may have just read the above and been flabbergasted, trust me when I say, this is kind of a good movie! The pacing is superb, enough tension and suspense, but not so much draw out you get bored, all the characters are developed enough for you to care whether they live or die, and the storyline, although farfetched, is explained and there are no loopholes that we all expect from a B-rate horror.
And of course, my darling Norman Reedus and his acting which I can never tell if it’s meant to be deadpan and un-expressive or not, either way if that’s what the director wants of him then he is doing very well….and I love him.
So, this week we have learnt:
Scarecrows can give you powers
Do not trust people with hot wives
And Norman Reedus may or may not be a good actor, but who cares!
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