The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide

by Scarecrow Video, The Staff and Friends of Scarecrow

Scarecrow is to video stores as The Elliott Bay Book Co. is to bookstores: independent, iconoclastic, and obsessed. With more than 60,000 titles in a single outlet, it's a paradise frequented by serious movie lovers and staffed by movie freaks. Loaded with a deep appreciation and understanding of movies, these fanatics have assembled one of the most eclectic movie lists to date. This is a unique list of essential, cool, funny, laughable, important, fluffy, outrageous, you-just-gotta-see videos for anyone interested in the art (both high and low) of moviemaking. This book easily satisfies every reader's personal penchant. Includes the best of the best and the worst of the worst in biker flicks, documentaries, foreign films, psychotronics, action, experimental, kids, film noir, murder mysteries, gay and lesbian, music, anime, and more.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Reference, Media Tie In

832 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

One good thing in this horrible year of 2020 is that after years of planning we finally emigrated to the UK, surviving a six month+ pandemic delay and witnessing the US not quite descend into fascism, though the ongoing clown show coup attempt remains an aggravation that will last until January 21. The big negative in the Year in Cinema is of course the same pandemic, as actual cinema has been for me a rumor for nine months. The big positive turned out to be a 14-hour documentary by Mark Cousins, Women Make Film, which reveals dozens upon dozens of movies directed by women, so many of which I had never heard of let alone seen. An absolute must for serious cinema people. TCM programmed many of these films, which was a big influence on my viewing this year.

Part One, January - June, is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Last movie seen in a movie theatre: The Hunt, back in March
Last movie seen on US soil: Antonia's Line
First movie seen on UK soil: Make Up

As ever, bold = five stars or nearly so, (r) = a rewatch, all others seen for the first time.


Highlights of Women-directed Films

Fast Color (dir. Julia Hart)
Lo-fi dystopian sci-fi. At the end a brilliant image of Lorraine Toussaint facing down a dozen white cops, even more resonant now.

Olivia (Jacqueline Audry) and Madchen in Uniform (Leontine Sagan)
Two films set in girls boarding schools, from 1951 and 1931, and attendant slow burn lesbian passions.

The Cave of the Yellow Dog (Byambasuren Davaa)
About a nomadic Mongolian family whose young daughter adopts a wild dog, is not allowed to keep it, keeps it anyway. Wonderful.

4 by Agnes Varda: Cleo from 5 to 7, L'Opera Mouffe (a short film), Le Bonheur, La Pointe Courte
Le Bonheur was the mindblower here. Never has a film been so devastating by pulling its punches. A simple, sunny (ha) story of a happy marriage and what happens to it. By never commenting on what is happening, it becomes maddening in its fascination. Practically a horror film by inference. I'll never watch it again, but genius, Agnes.

The Juniper Tree (Nietzchka Keene)
Icelandic folk tale, on the dark and grim side. Costarring Bjork!

Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren)
A brilliant surreal short film. 14 minutes very much worth investing.

XXY (Lucia Puenzo)
Argentine film about an intersex teenage girl. Excellent, highly recommended.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger)
Trippy 1926 animated film.

Rafiki (Wanuri Kahiu)
Kenyan lesbian drama.

Danzon (Maria Novaro)
Mexican film about a woman looking for her missing dance partner. Watched on election night, a much needed temporary escape.

Wanda (Barbara Loden)
Unsung 1970 film showing that women could do bleak American stories as well as the guys. Fits right in with the likes of Five Easy Pieces.

Tigers Are Not Afraid (Issa Lopez)
A brilliant Mexican film meshing cartel violence, fairy tales, and homeless children. Between this and The Untamed, there is some great trippy cinema coming out of Mexico recently.

Beau Travail (Claire Denis)
The fourth and best film of Denis that I've seen. Very loose adaptation of Billy Budd, but really not much happens, yet every frame is riveting.

The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye)
Very funny lesbian mockumentary.

10 to 11 (Pelin Esmer)
Turkish film about a curmudgeonly collector.

Antonia's Line (Marleen Gorris)
1995 Dutch film that won Academy Award as best foreign film, and a big hit in the video store where I used to work. A feminist generational epic, pretty great throughout.

Make Up (Claire Oakley)
Strange psychological drama set in Cornwall, flawed but interesting.


Truffaut and Bergman

The Story of Adele H.
I liked this, in fact probably more than any other Truffaut I've seen, but it also confirms that in general I just don't get on with Francois. I've seen six of his. This one: bizarre true story of obsessive love, very good. The 400 Blows: good, not a masterpiece. The Bride Wore Black: good, but an actual Hitchcock is better than an homage. Fahrenheit 451: I liked it as a teenager, mostly forgotten it now. Jules & Jim: hated. The Woman Next Door: ridiculous melodrama. I think I'm calling it a day with FT.

Hour of the Wolf
Bergman's horror film, sort of. Very good but he sets the bar so high. The Bergman films I've seen, in rough order of preference:
Through a Glass Darkly
The Seventh Seal
The Virgin Spring
Summer with Monika
Cries and Whispers
Fanny and Alexander
Wild Strawberries
Winter Light
Autumn Sonata
Hour of the Wolf
Shame
Persona
The Silence


Too Beautiful for Science

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
The equally sad and inspiring story of the Hollywood star regarded in her day as being the most beautiful ever, who happened to be a brilliant scientist as well, and how the world failed to cope with that. An unbelievable story except that it's true. I also realized I had never seen any Hedy Lamarr movie, so I did.

Experiment Perilous
A decent, sort of gothic, sort of Gaslight film, alas though Lamarr's character remains mostly helpless and passive.


British Kitchen Sink Dramas

Lynn + Lucy and Dirty God
Both well made but dear lord are they misery fests.

Wasp
I liked this much better, a short film (26 minutes) by Andrea Arnold.


Horror Flicks

Shutter
I haven't seen many of the Asia horror boom of the early 2000s, but this Thai film is excellent, scary and poignant and with a knockout ending.

Martin
George Romero of course made stone classic zombie flicks (Night of/ Dawn of/ Land of the Dead) but his other work is very hit and miss. Martin is a non-supernatural vampire flick, great concept, but it's awful. Deathly slow pacing + terrible acting. Avoid.

The Transfiguration
And this is a loose remake of Martin, and it's great. An improvement in every aspect. See this instead, it's what a John Sayles horror flick might be like.

The Howling (r)
Island of Lost Souls (r)


Other Foreign Films

Torment
Swedish melodrama written (not directed) by Bergman.

I Vitelloni
Early Fellini, a precursor to Amarcord.

Daisies
Anarchic bizarro plotless Czech film, not even sure what to say about it.

Lacombe, Lucien
Louis Malle film about French collaboration with Nazis, very good.

The House is Black
Short film about a leper colony in Iran.

Pather Panchali
Satyahit Ray's film about an impoverished family, long and episodic but eventually pulls you in. Impressive that it was his first film.

Stroszek
Werner Herzog film about German misfits who relocate to Wisconsin. It's very Herzogian.

Mouchette
Robert Bresson film about a luckless much-abused girl. I loved Au Hasard Balthazar but this one seemed to have little point other than life is miserable and people suck.

On the Beach Alone at Night
The Last Wave (r)


Other Genre Oddities

Daughter of Shanghai
Anna May Wong was a rare Chinese actress working in 1930s Hollywood, after seeing Shanghai Express I wanted to find something else she was in. She is actually the star of this 1937 drama, and she's good and so is the movie. Just over an hour, a solid 7 out of 10.

The Last Waltz
Scorsese's documentary about the final concert of The Band. Great film, great lineup of artists, but I have to say, the one song by Van Morrison... I'm not a particular fan and never saw him perform live, and wow, he is the antithesis of charisma. Looked like a middle-aged banker doing karaoke.

Possessor
Brand new film by the son of David Cronenberg, great premise (a hitwoman who can possess another's body to carry out hits) but chilly and distant in the extreme and the gore is so off the scale that it becomes ridiculous.

Brimstone
A western about a luckless woman stalked from town to town by a preacher. Well made I guess but so depressing in its implacable misery that I kind of wish I hadn't bothered.


Others I Highly Recommend

Who'll Stop the Rain (r)
Forgotten 1978 film version of the book Dog Soldiers; good book, the movie might be a slight improvement. Hard-bitten story of the disillusionment of the Vietnam era.

The Train (r)
Not sure why this isn't better known, a great WWII film from 1964 about resistance fighters trying to stop Nazis at the end of the war from looting art in a French museum back to Germany.

Coherence
Great sci-fi mindbender about a comet and possible alternate dimensions. Would make a great bad dinner party double bill with The Invitation.

Mangrove; Lovers Rock; Red, White and Blue
We're making our way thru Steve McQueen's Small Axe films. The first two are particularly good.

The Night My Number Came Up
1955 British film that I'd never heard of, a Twilight Zone-ish story of a man who dreams of a plane crash and people on a plane wondering if it's a premonition. A genuine sleeper.


The Worst Film I Saw This Year

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Not sure why I bothered, as I'm a Twin Peaks agnostic, and for that matter a David Lynch agnostic. Anyway this is terrible, and wow, '90s era misogyny has not aged well. Also, as an actor, Chris Isaak is a great singer.


Everything Else

The Silence of the Lambs (r)
3 1/2 Minutes 10 Bullets (very good documentary about a white-on-black shooting)
What We Left Behind: Star Trek Deep Space Nine
It's Not That Simple
She Dies Tomorrow
Losing Ground
The Killers (1964 remake, not as good as original)
Pitfall
Possessed
Hawking


Film of the Year

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, seen in February.


Percentage of films seen directed by women: 36% (41 of 114).

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In theory, Scarecrow Video is an amazing store. In practice, it's chaotic and unwelcoming. One expects and even embraces a charmingly ramshackle setup and a ever-so-cooler-than-thou staff in a Mom N'Pop video store, but Scarecrow takes it one or two steps too far. The sheer quantity of titles and emphasis on rarities make it a browsing mecca, but a nightmare for someone who just wants to rent a movie. And a hundred dollar deposit for out-of-print titles? Fuck you. "Out-of-print" isn't the liability it used to be, with that new-fangled internet and all. I understand you're just protecting your inventory, but most of the people who'd be interested in viewing "Hunk" on VHS probably don't have a spare hundred mouldering in their checking account. Pulling shit like that is going to make people WANT to steal from you. But it's been awhile since I've been there. Maybe they've eased up. Anyway, I digress.

This would be a fun guide to flip through while waiting for your significant other to buy something for their mom's birthday at Border's, but it's definitely not a must-own. It's basically a huge book version of the little notes that employees put next to their movies on the "Staff Picks" shelf. Funny to glance at, but not terribly insightful or helpful. They exist so you'll ask them at the registers who wrote those funny notes, and whoever did it can sheepishly admit to being hilarious, scratch their new tattoo, and offer their begrudging, embarrassed, and secretly overjoyed thanks. One of those books that was probably more fun to write than it is to read, but they do pull off a good one-liner or two, and it's always fun to read a well-thought-out dissenting opinion on a universally beloved movie, a pastime clearly relished by the hipsters involved. In summation, "The Boondock Saints" sucks miserably unwashed ass. Thank you for your time.

[Christopher Stockwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like low-budget horror movies as much as I like books. This book has a lot more than B Rate horror, but it's the final and best word on most movies made prior to 2004. If I had a criticism, it would be that I'd love to see a updated version that scoops up the last nineteen years or so. Bonus, Scarecrow is in my native city of Seattle. It's right up the road from my house by the University of Washington (the U District). If you come through Seattle, making a pilgrimage to Scarecrow Video is a must do.

[Joey Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite leaving out some classic/notable movies, this book is sharp, opinionated, informative and ultimately worthwhile. Everyone loves the bastards behind the counter and this is the closest I can find to having one on hand and at my beckon call.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Movies for every mood and every theme, brought to you by the staff at Scarecrow Video in Seattle.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

You'll need for nothing else.

[jandrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING IN THIS STORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!