Life on a farm is hard. Despite all the great things about the countryside–the fresh air, the beauty of nature, the close-knit community–there are major downsides. For one thing, too much isolation can lead to loneliness and a twisted worldview. Remote places can also nurture a sense of lawlessness, providing cover for corruption and violent deeds. And, of course, there’s all the manual labor required for daily survival, which leads to mental and physical exhaustion.

Because of all these issues, a farm is a near-perfect location for a horror movie. The characters are usually so far from civilization that no one can hear them scream when things go wrong, which they usually do–very, very wrong. Whether it’s mutilation by equipment, attacks by livestock gone wild, or the madness of too many long nights alone, horror movie protagonists can suffer all kinds of terrible fates on a farm. These horror movies are the perfect representations of the dangers of farm life, using their agrarian settings to tell stories of solitude, dread, and terror…