The 'Dark Harvest' Franchise...

As a whole, I find the entire "franchise" to be oddly fascinating for a variety of reasons: Why did Lions Gate obtain the distribution rights to all 3? And when they did, was making a "trilogy" out of these unrelated films their intent from the beginning, or did they just happen to have 3 scarecrow movies in their library and go from there? Whose idea was this? Were scarecrow films hot at the time?

Perhaps the most important question: Why are all 3 films SO BAD? Really. I've worked on some low-budget projects that are pretty crummy, but this whole series is just a mess.

What are the odds of 3 separate groups of filmmakers, from different parts of the country, simultaneously filming low-budget scarecrow-related films at the same time AND winding up at the same distributor?

Personally, I find "DH3" the most enjoyable of the bunch, simply because its ineptness exceeds that of the first two (and I mean that as a compliment. Truly. The film was clearly made by friends having a good time with their nickel budget production. The behind-the-scenes doc on the DVD shows that. So, I mean this truly: I enjoy it BECAUSE it's so earnestly awful. Matter of fact, I've tried tracking down more work from this film's director to check out, because, well, I guess I am a "fan").

I really would like to know the story behind Lions Gate's decision to release these three films. Did they turn a profit? If so, how much? I assume they would have based on the DVD covers alone, which truthfully, are pretty freakin' cool-looking.

(And yes, I realize part 2 didn't feature an actual scarecrow, per se. Which only makes it weirder they turned it into a sequel to the original "DH." And adding to the the oddness, that film also has its own sequel! AAGH!)