Top 5 Creepy Cornfields

A coupe of days ago I wanted to watch Children of the Corn but unfortunately my DVD player wouldn’t start the DVD. So, out of spite I threw in Signs for some reason. As I watched the movie I could not help but remember the time that I screamed when Graham raised his flashlight and saw the alien’s foot in the cornrows. This got me thinking about cornfields in general. They are very scary places and considering that I have been and lived on a farm for decent amount of time, I know how frightening it is to be lost in the middle of a cornfield.

If you think about it, when you’re in a cornfield it’s easy to lose your sense of direction and when you’re lost and can’t find the way out it’s frightening. Plus, you can’t see where you’re going because the crops are taller than you so you are literally blind. At night is worse because there is not light at all out there. It’s dark and quiet and you begin to hear things (just insects but still).

Anyway, I’ve decided to make a list of creepy scenes in horror movies that have cornfields in them.

5. Dark Night of the Scarecrow – The Ending. A lot of people dismiss this movie for being really cheesy and stupid but I beg to differ. The ending when the audience sees the ‘scarecrow’ staring at them, it’s actually pretty frightening. It’s very stalker-ish.

4. Children of the Corn – The Confrontation. Yes, this movie is pretty campy at times but for me, it was pretty creepy seeing the presence of He Who Walks Behind The Rows. I mean, at first all you see is something growling moving under the ground like a Graboid and it’s pretty unnerving. As a kid I was yelling at the TV for the characters to run.

3. The Stand – His Storm. I love this movie and the entire film is poetry but when Stu meets Abigail and she points to the cornfield and there are rats on the ground and the scarecrow, with red eyes and white teeth, screams… I jumped out of my seat. It’s a terrifying scene.

2. Sleepy Hollow – The Prologue. As a kid, I had my eyes partially covered by my hands when this scene played out. The color and the atmosphere of the film was so haunting and the fact that you can see lightning off in the distance only added to the fright. Then, the scarecrow with the pumpkin head appears, everything is fin, and then all of a sudden the man’s head is sliced off as blood splatters across the pumpkin’s face. It’s frightening and it’s so poetically done. Tim Burton and gothic horror at it’s best.

1. Signs - Close Encounters. Oh yes, in the theater when I saw this scene I screamed and jumped out of my chair. From the time that Graham walks into the cornfield to the time that his flashlight goes out, it’s pure anticipation and there is no music whatsoever. You hear the aliens clicking in the background only adding to the chills and when Graham picks up his flashlight and shines it ahead of him, the leg appears and disappears into the crops. No sound and no music but pure fright. Again, all you see is the foot but the rest of the body is hidden and your imagination goes wild. Only after does the music start.

Honorable mention goes to Jeepers Creepers 2, who would have made 6 but for the sake of the post, I didn’t want to do Top 6 Creepy Cornfields.

Also, I do not have Dead Birds on here because I don’t remember the movie all that much and I am not sure if it has a cornfield scene. I think it does, but I am not sure. I have not seen Scarecrow Slayer or Scarecrow so I cannot comment on whether or not they were scary or just cheesy.

And yes, when I was younger I got lost in a cornfield.