Is it jealousy we see in his eyes as he puts down the binoculars? His encounters with Marylee later in the film are slimy and disturbing, and hint at the rotten perversion of paedophilic desires. The question that haunts the film though is why exactly does Hazelrigg take singular exception to this relationship? The redneck vigilante posse he assembles are browbeaten into taking part in Bubba’s demise, but their hearts aren’t in it to the extent of Hazelrigg. We first see Hazelrigg voyeuristically studying their playful interactions through binoculars. Hazelrigg (what a fantastic name!) who despises the affection that the loveable cretin gets from Marylee. His closeness to the children of the town, specifically Marylee (Tonya Crowe), is something that particularly grates on postman Otis P. But it is the films almost total reliance on a carefully cultivated atmosphere of simmering small town tensions that sets it apart from contemporaneous efforts in the horror genre.īubba Ritter (Larry Drake) is a retarded simpleton, a mentally defective imbecile with the brain and self awareness of an infant. Nevertheless there are still several moments of surprising violence (the shooting of Bubba, the pitchfork fate of Hazelrigg), and one particularly unpleasant moment of off screen violence (the death of Harless). Feigelson, and he produced a literate and well constructed plot, peppered liberally with some wonderfully acerbic moments of dialogue for the villain Otis P. Naturally the strictures and regimentation of US network television meant that the emphasis was very much placed on the writing. In confirmation of the films cult credentials US distributor VCI belatedly issued a DVD in September 2010, and more impressively still issued a blu-ray in October 2011. I can personally attest to this by remembering several screenings on British television during the 1980’s which haunted my fractured dreams. It was originally broadcast on CBS in October 1981, became a network mainstay for many years, a success on video rental, and an unlikely success in other territories as well. Very few made for television movies have achieved the cult prominence of Halloween favourite Dark Night of the Scarecrow.
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