My problem with the story

The intro was suspenseful but didn't payoff, I just didnt get it.

I liked this farmer character and his strained relationship with his wife and kids. This was a great set up. Pressure of the failing farm was working...

I didn't get what the kids connection to the scarecrow was that never really paid off.

The childrens voices in the corn was another item that never really paid off.

I thought it was great with the neighbors being introduced as sort of the devils advocates. They were good but the weird kid was silly and was never really paid off in any meaningful way.

I suspected John was committing the murders... this was great... but when the scarecrow comes to life... wow... you just took the whole life out of the movie when you remove the tension and mystery of the whole story... It unravels the whole story... The story works when John is the Murderer and simply being played by his own mind or illusions.... but to bring the scarecrow to life... as some kind of real creature is just silly.

I find it really hard to believe that that was the writers original intention.