Thread: Help with "Cornfeild Theme"

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Hi,
We do a haunted house each year and we have 7 rooms that are 16 x 20 feet. We each select our own theme/room haunt. Next year I want to do a cornfeild theme. I was thinking they could enter through an old rusty fence door that would screach to get in. Once in, they would follow a path we would make with real cornstalks nailed to a hidden wood frame. Other stalks would be randomnly placed here and there, maybe held in place in buckets. The building has a wood floor that can be screwed into. We could have designeted places where scarecrows could hide and jump out. Any ideas on other props that would go with that theme? Maybe a pitch fork? Old wooden barrel? Orange lighting? The attached photo is a mask we will attempt to copy and have about 4 to 6 people wearing in my room. There will be other fake scarecrows that will not move. Thanks for the ideas......
The masks -

that is one creepy mask. it reminds me of the old movie "The Dark night of the Scarecrow"

Speaking from experience as a first time backyard corn farmer, animals love to go through the stalks.

Crows and other birds are a natural companion to a corn field theme. So, too, are bugs and snakes. You could also play around with rabid squirrels, gophers, woodchucks, chipmunks, and deers.

Then there's the farming tools: pitchforks, shovels, bushels, and wheelbarrows are obvious. You could try to build up some fake large scale equipment: tractors, threshers, and the like. There could be an interesting accident scene with a ladder (to reach the tallest corn) and a corpse in a precarious position.

As for orange lighting, I can only ever find the party bulbs and string lights in orange. The yellow bug lights tend to be available in larger sizes and create a very unnatural glow.

Very nice!!!

Originally Posted by trentsketch

Speaking from experience as a first time backyard corn farmer, animals love to go through the stalks.

Crows and other birds are a natural companion to a corn field theme. So, too, are bugs and snakes. You could also play around with rabid squirrels, gophers, woodchucks, chipmunks, and deers.

Then there's the farming tools: pitchforks, shovels, bushels, and wheelbarrows are obvious. You could try to build up some fake large scale equipment: tractors, threshers, and the like. There could be an interesting accident scene with a ladder (to reach the tallest corn) and a corpse in a precarious position.

As for orange lighting, I can only ever find the party bulbs and string lights in orange. The yellow bug lights tend to be available in larger sizes and create a very unnatural glow.

Excellent advice!!

Don't forget sound -- it is often overlooked which is a huge mistake. Crickets, howling, crows cawing are great things to use.

Also take a look at the first Jeepers Creepers flick. It takes cornfields to the extreme

That mask looks creepy!!! Right on! And I agree with Empress Nightshade, pick up a copy of the first Jeepers Creepers movie and watch. That one gave me the heebie jeebies. Also for lighting I use canning jars wrapped in tissue paper, any color, and lit with tea candles. Those can sit on the ground and under leaves to add to the ambiance.

Here's an idea, not sure how well it would work, but might be worth trying:

Get some old bicycle tire tubes. Cut the tube and attach one end from the floor and the other end to the ceiling. Then take some corn stalks (2-3 per tube) and ty-strap them around the tubes. This could be a way to narrow the path a bit and the people will have to squeeze between the stalks to get by in some areas. The bike tubes should stretch enough to easily let them inbetween, and then straighten back upright with the stalks attached once they are through.

That mask is creepy!! Totally awesome! Excellent work!

And lets not forget the alien in the cornfield in "Signs"

I love the look of the mask. I picked up a few similar ones for halloween last year on sale at RiteAid Drug Store to make into scarecrows for my farmer scene.

BTW here's a link to a post I made under a thread about finding cornstalks for sale. Check out the website I mentioned. The tutorial might work for you.

Other ideas: I think that something "moving" or shaking the cornstalks and the movement and sound coming towards you is unsettling. Definitely like the addition of music or sounds like owls or growling wolves. Maybe the wolves can be making the cornstalks move as they stalk the haunt. Post a warning sign in the waiting line area to plant the thought.