Dark Night of the Scarecrow is a 1981 American made-for-television horror film directed by veteran novelist Frank De Felitta (author of Audrey Rose) from a script by J.D.

Feigelson's intent had been to make an independent feature, but his script was bought by CBS for television; despite this, only minor changes were made to the original teleplay.

[1] In a small town in the Deep South, the friendship between Charles Eliot "Bubba" Ritter, a large but gentle mentally challenged man, and young Marylee Williams angers some of the townspeople, especially brooding, mean-spirited postal worker Otis Hazelrigg.

When Marylee is mauled by a vicious dog, Hazelrigg, promptly assuming that Bubba is responsible, forms a lynch mob with three friends: gas station attendant Skeeter Norris and farmer-cousins Philby and Harliss Hocker.

At the local church's Halloween party that night while playing hide-and-seek with the other children, Marylee is confronted by Hazelrigg, who tries to get her to tell him that Mrs. Ritter is behind the recent events.

Later that same night, Hazelrigg breaks into Mrs. Ritter's house to make her stop her supposed plot, but frightens her so badly by his violent appearance that she suffers a fatal heart attack.

The next night, Philby is disturbed by a commotion in his hog pen; while checking it out, mysterious occurrences make him panic and try to flee in his car, which refuses to start.

awarded the film 4/5 stars, calling it "a slow burning, fantastically creepy small screen tale".

In his review, Kerswell praised the film's ambiguity, writing, "At times it's so understated, so well constructed, we are as unsure as the characters as to whether there really is something out there lurking in the dark or, perhaps, their growing paranoia has finally got the better of them.

"[10] Angel Van Croft from HorrorNews.net gave the film a positive review, calling it "a well made movie with great acting, directing, and plenty of spooky atmosphere.

It stands the test of time and features an iconic image of evil that has never been more powerful, making this a classic steeped in frightful fall ambience, colors and imagery.

Scott Weinberg from eFilmCritic.com awarded the film 2/5 stars, calling it "laughable junk", and criticized Durning's casting as the main villain.

Feigelson and starring Amber Wedding, Carol Dines, Adam Snyder, Tim Gooch and Mike VanZant,[16] which takes place 40 years after the events of the original film, was released in 2022 on both DVD and Blu-ray by VCI Entertainment.