Husk originally started out as a short film from writer/director Brett Simmons, who eventually got the proper financial backing from After Dark Films' new production label (After Dark Originals) to develop it into a full length feature that would later air on the SyFy channel before making its way to DVD. Whether the movie would be good or bad, Husk definitely had one thing going for it -- killer scarecrows. That alone was enough to warrant at least one watch from me. Unfortunately, in the end the movie still resulted in nothing more than your standard horror fare.

The flick follows a group of young friends on a little weekend getaway, as they're forced off the road after some crows decide to fly themselves straight into the windshield of their SUV. They awaken (minus one member of the group), and immediately assume the missing member must've somehow wandered off into the nearby cornfield. Naturally this is the point in the flick where they decide to split up and search for the friend. They eventually come across an old and seemingly abandoned farmhouse, where they'll soon discover will be their only safe haven from the deadly scarecrows that lurk within the cornfield.

I liked the concept of Husk and its somewhat creative use of the scarecrows. Basically (as the title would suggest) a malevolent spirit of someone who died on the farmland inhabits the rotting corpses of anyone that finds their way into the cornfield, and is able to move from one "husk" to the other. Sadly, that's where the creative aspects of the film ends, as the rest of it is nothing more than your standard genre clichés we've all grown to expect from films now-a-days.

Aside from the clichés, the flick is extremely lacking in character development, especially considering the group is thrown into the cornfield so early-on, leaving very little time to flesh out any of these people before they're killed (or turned). What can also be passed off as lazy writing is the back story on the farmhouse and what happened there to cause the scarecrows to come to life. It's all explained via flashbacks that one of the characters has for some reason. I guess that was the only way the filmmakers could come up with to give the audience a reason behind the madness.

In the end Husk is just an average film, offering a lot of the standard genre clichés we've come to expect and will likely be forgotten once the credits roll. It's a decent time-waster for a boring late night and should fill the void of scarecrow horror for the time being, but I'd advise skipping it otherwise.