Children of the Corn (1984)

2/4Even though it doesn't live up to its marketing as a scary movie, it still has it moments of suspense, and was also quite entertaining. The light-hearted treatment of quite disturbing material proved to actually be quite engaging, and the fact that not ALL of its characters took their fanaticism seriously proved to help sedate the movie. If all of the Gatlinian children were more than just blind followers of their leader, Children Of The Corn would probably go from it's current state to overbearing.The fact that the plot can suspend itself with barely any character development is (in its own unique way) pretty remarkable. It's just two parties colliding in one of the most screwed up situations. An aspiring doctor and his tag-a-long girlfriend are driving through Nebraska trying to make it to Seattle when they run over a dead body in he street. When they enter the town of Gatlin to report the corpse, they run into two orphans. There, they learn that the town is run by a child "zealot" and his accomplices, who have killed off all of the town's resident adults (smart people). Minimal character development packs the biggest punch here, as the tactic is to try and not get the audience too attached to the characters. After all, this is a horror film, right?Well, I've just set you up for my biggest problem with Children Of The Corn.... it misses so many opportunities. The lack of depth in the characters makes them vulnerable to a sick or sadistic plot twist. The characters in Children Of The Corn should have been let fall prey to even greater evils. This movie takes no chances, and in result has only half of the scares you'd want it to.The movie grabbed your attention, and excersized it HARD. It doesn't give many places for breathers, but at the same time, it's an easy run. In other words, this movie won't scare you into a heart-attack, but it has a sufficient amount of suspense. It'll do it's job, you'll have your fun, and it'll stay it's welcome.

Children of the Corn started as a short story first published in Penthouse Magazine that was later collected in the 1978 book Night Shift. It's a story incredibly similar to Tom Tryon's novel (and the film) The Dark Secret of Harvest Home. You could also draw parallels to Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's Who Can Kill a Child? or Village of the Damned.Did you know that Children of the Corn was filmed once before? A short film called Disciples of the Crow was made in 1983 that's an abridged version of this story.This one was produced in 1984, with Gor and Tuff Turf director Fritz Kiersch at the helm. Burt and Vicky (Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton) are on their way to California when they drive through the cornfields of Nebraska and accidentally hit a young boy. However, when Burt exams the kid, it turns out that his throat had already been slit. Uh oh.As they examine the boy's suitcase, they discover a crucifix made of twisted corn husks. They head to the next town, Gatlin, to alert the authorities.They come across a mechanic who refuses them service. The truth is that he is the last adult in Gatlin. He's agreed to supply the children with services and fuel for his life, but the enforcer of the town, Malachai breaks the pact and murders him, angering their leader Isaac.When Burt and Vicky get to town, everything is out of date and there's a bad feeling in the air. Even worse, no one seems to be in town. They find a little girl named Sarah alone in a house, where Vicky stays while Burt explores. Malachai soon appears, capturing Vicky and taking her to be sacrificed in the cornfield.The only thing in town that's in shape is the church. Inside, Burt learn the truth of Gatlin - twelve years ago, everyone over nineteen was killed and the children took Biblical names after their murders.Now, they live under this religious order that demands that everyone over nineteen must be sacrificed. During a blood-drinking ritual, Burt starts to yell at the children. They chase him until another young boy named Job rescues him and they hide in a fallout shelter.Isaac and Malachai argue, with the older boy taking over and ordering his leader to be sacrificed. Isaac warns that this will anger their covenant with He Who Walks Behind the Rows and the children will be severely punished.That night, Burt goes to rescue Vicky and a horrible special effect devours Isaac. Seriously, this weird chroma key fuzz looks incredibly dated. Anyways, Burt fights to save his wife and a possessed Isaac reappears and breaks Malachai's neck.A storm appears as Burt, Vicky and the two children decide that they must destroy the cornfield with gasoline and fire. They escape the town, taking the kids with them, their marriage somehow saved and they even discuss adopting the kids (but not before a sneak attack by Ruth is foiled).This overly happy ending stands in marked contrast to the downbeat tone of the novel, where Vicky is sacrificed and Burt is killed by the creature in the cornfield. The creature punishes the town by lowering the sacrifice age to eighteen, so Malachi and the elders all walk into the cornfield to die as Ruth wishes that she could kill He Who Walks Behind the Rows.

Looking back, I really haven't seen that many Stephen King movies. I'm not going to go through all the work of seeing the miniseries, just his regular feature length movies. The main problem with this film is that it's needlessly padded. There are so many scenes that drag on that just show the characters looking at corn. We never even really get a good idea of what the monster is. Is it actually a manifestation of the corn? This has some of the goofiest scenes I've ever witnessed in a horror movie. We see the monster being represented by a bunch of roots tunneling through the ground. At the end, the monster appears in some weird cartoonish thing.This movie was based on a short story and you can tell. I guess it's hard for me to really hate it, seeing as how it did entertain me with how ridiculous it was. If nothing else, I'll give it credit for starting off a series and it does genuinely seem better than the sequels. This film series actually set a record for most bad entries in any franchise! Seriously, I think there's at least ten bits of material centered on this, probably the most of any Stephen King adaptation. Maybe I'll have to read the story. Isaac is the most entertaining as the zaniest, as pointed out by the Nostalgia Critic. If there's anything legitimately good, it's that the main guy does show some courage at the end. If you have to see this, ignore the sequels. **

The many, and admittedly mostly very poor sequels to Children of the Corn, already prove that the original movie did something very well for them wanting to revisit this concept. From the incredibly creepy opening scene to the introduction of the actual likable two main characters the movie sets the tone of the suspense to come perfectly. There is no weak acting in the movie and even the children do a phenomenal job. Two of them are actually really high in my list of creepiest characters horror movies. And that soundtrack! It's easily just as eerie and effective as the Halloween soundtrack by John Carpenter. Admittedly, this movie has a few weaker scenes but some are so brilliant it easy to forgive the movie for those. The story is quite simple, maybe even thin, but that in no way hurts the atmosphere and the viewer becoming invested in what happens on screen. The first time I watched it I remember being scared at every corner while walking my dog for quite a while, my imagination making the worst out of my actually very peaceful and somewhat boring village! Maybe by today's standards, this movie isn't that scary anymore but I bet many people who haven't seen it yet will still really enjoy this underrated little gem.