Quite possibly the silliest movie set in a cornfield since preacher/farmer Mel Gibson got spooked by strange events in M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, After Dark Films’ Husk is an exceedingly tame entry in the killer scarecrow sub-genre.
Brett Simmons’ predictable, by-the-numbers screenplay is matched by his plodding, uninspired directing debut as the film is almost totally bereft of tension, logic, twists and surprises.
Evidently it’s an extended version of Simmons’ 2005 27-minute film of the same title; even so, the feature’s running time of 75 minutes plus credits feels much longer.
In the promising opening sequence, five teenagers in a truck are barrelling along a country road when – splat! – a flock of crows smashes the windscreen and the vehicle ploughs into a cornfield.
They often refer to each other by name, which is handy because none has a distinct identity and one can tend to blur into another, except the girl (Tammin Sursok) and the guy with glasses.
Two characters are rapidly dispensed with while macho Brian (Wesley Chatham), nerdy Scott (Devon Graye) and cowardly Chris (C.J. Thomason) unwisely shelter in a dilapidated farmhouse, where one member their group has just expired.
Even more foolishly, Scott and Brian venture out wielding flashlights, which is odd considering the surrounding area clearly is illuminated by arc lights.
In truth the young cast is nothing more than fodder for the marauding scarecrows.
The dialogue is occasionally laughable, possibly unintentionally, as when one character says his mate was upstairs in the sewing room. 'What was he doing in there?" he’s asked, to which he replies 'Sewing."
The special effects budget must have been miniscule judging by the glimpses of the malevolent scarecrows, the flashbacks which provide the plot’s stab at exposition are clunky, Bobby Tahouri’s thunderous score can’t disguise the lack of on-screen excitement and the make-up work consists mostly of fake blood.
