Children of the Corn
October 22, 2010 by admin
Children of the Corn
- HORTON/HAMILTON
One quiet Sunday, the children of Gatlin, Nebraska slaughtered all the adults at the instruction of Isaac, a young preacher with mesmerizing powers; tThe murder rate is as high as an elephant’s eye in this flaccid adaptation of Stephen King’s short story. While driving through Nebraska en route to a new job, medico Burt (Peter Horton) and his wife Vicky (a pre-Terminator Linda Hamilton) nearly run over a mutilated boy who staggers from the cornfields. Seeking help, they enter the town of Gatlin, whose under-20 residents have butchered their parents per the decree of junior-grade holy roller Isaac (John Franklin), who preaches the word of a being called “He Who Walks Behind the Rows.” King’s original story (from his 1978 collection Night Shift) was a lean and brutal mélange of Southern-gothic atmosphere and E.C. Comics-style gore, which scripter Greg Goldsmith effectively neutralizes by adding a youthful narrator (a grating Robbie Kiger) and putting an upbeat spin on the story’s morbid conclusion. Fritz Kiersch’s direction is TV-movie flat, with the sole inspired moment (hideous religious iconography glimpsed during a bloody “service”) delivered as a throwaway. Aside from Horton and Courtney Gains (as Isaac’s hatchet man Malachai), the performances are dreadful, and the depiction of the Lovecraftian monster-god as a sort of giant gopher inspires more laughter than terror. Amazingly, the film spawned six sequels; Franklin (Cousin Itt in the Addams Family films) later appeared in and wrote 1999′s Children of the Corn 666. –Paul Gaita
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Review by cookieman108 for Children of the Corn
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So how did such a mediocre film warrant six sequels (here’s a hint…it’s all about the money)? There’s the original. Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1993), Children of the Corn III (1995), Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996), Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998), Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return (1999), and Children of the Corn: Revelation (2001)…that’s a lot of corn, or as the Native Americans call it, maize…I’ve seen the original, but not the subsequent sequels…my gut instinct tells me to avoid them. Children of the Corn, aka Stephen King’s Children of the Corn (1984), directed by Fritz Kiersch (Tuff Turf, Gor) features a solid cast including Peter Horton (“thirtysomething”) and Linda Hamilton (Terminator 2: Judgment Day). Also appearing is R.G. Armstrong (Dick Tracy), Courtney Gains (Colors, The ‘burbs) and John Franklin, who appeared 1991 film The Addams Family, along with its’ 1993 sequel, as the very hairy Cousin Itt.
The film, which primarily takes place in the small farming town of Gatlin, Nebraska, begins with a flashback, relating a particularly gruesome incident in where the children depopulate the town of nearly all adults through a good old fashion bloodbath. Fast forward three years to the present, and we have Burton (Horton) and his girlfriend Vicky (Hamilton) traveling through the Midwest as Burton has recently graduated from med school, and has been offered an internship somewhere…but that’s neither here nor there as the pair get lost, have an accident, and soon find themselves looking for aid in Gatlin…but guess what? Gatlin appears all but deserted…except for the children, who’ve formed some kind of weird cult, led by the incredibly creepy man-child Isaac (Franklin). Initially their idolatry seems to be centered on the corn, but later we learn it’s not so much the corn as what lurks under the corn. Burton and Vicky soon find themselves in a world of trouble, as the corn is thirsting for holy sacrifices, and they’re at the top of the list (I wouldn’t mind initiating a religious ceremony with that Linda Hamilton…that is the soft and sexy Linda from the original Terminator movie, not the bony and intensely scary Linda from T2: Judgment Day)…
The film is based on a Stephen King short story taken from his book Night Shift, which I’ve never read, but I have read a number of his other books, many of which were later adapted to film, with varying degrees of success…anyone else besides me sit through Maximum Overdrive? Okay, Children of the Corn isn’t as bad as that was, but it is lacking something…it’s not the acting…Horton, whom I despise for no other reason than he was on that TV show `thirtysomething’ was actually pretty good. As far as Linda Hamilton, well, I think she’s a good actress, provided she’s given something to work with, and that wasn’t the case here. The real fun is watching the performances of Franklin and Gains, as Isaac and Malachai, respectively. Franklin is extremely disconcerting as the leader of the group, mainly because his appearance is that of a child, but a closer look would make you think twice as his face and voice seem to indicate some much older. Turns out Franklin, who suffered from some sort of hormone deficiency, was actually much older, like 23 at the time of the film’s release. As far as Gains, he presents the most intense performance as Isaac’s enforcer and right hand man, but I felt like he got into it just a little too much (in the featurette Gains speaks of his craft and how he brought his character to the screen…I do appreciate it when actors give to the screen, but I think Gains took his modest role a bit too seriously, trying to make more of it than it was…but since the production in general was pretty bland, this overacting wasn’t necessarily unwelcome). These two guys come off really good as the antagonists, mainly because they’re so completely annoying I wanted to beat them both to a pulp (wait for the scene when Malachai is walking down the center of the street calling for Burton to come out, yelling `Outlander!”…you’ll understand what I mean by annoying). As far as the direction, I have no real complaints, as Kiersch seems capable…in the featurette he speaks a lot of what he was trying to accomplish with regards to the sense of direction, and in some areas I think he met his goal, but others I think his aspirations extended beyond his capabilities. So what’s the problem with the film? It’s the story…well, not the original story, but the adaptation of the story. As I said, I’m familiar with many of King’s works, and I know he takes a lot of time to craft his tales, utilizing detail like it was going out of style. I think one of the things that makes his story so popular is his ability to paint a visual using words…and he also seems to do this in terms that are accessible to an extremely wide audience. And I think this is a main factor that ends up hurting many of the films that are adapted from his novels…they lack the focus on what’s important to the story. I think this is why we are seeing his more recent works produced as television mini-series…because more time can be spent developing the story and presenting the details, in my opinion.
The Divimax edition, released by Anchor Bay Entertainment features a really sharp looking wide screen (1.85:1) print, enhanced for 16 X 9 TV’s, and the audio is exceptionally clear and crisp. Special features include a new 39 minute documentary titled Harvesting Horror, an audio commentary by the director, the producer, actors Franklin and Gains, trailer, poster and still gallery, screenplay, storyboard art, title sequence art, and a mini reproduction of poster for the film inside the DVD case.
Cookieman108
Review by The Movie Man for Children of the Corn
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“Children of the Corn” is the 1984 adaptation of a Stephen King tale that turns children into monsters. Following in the tradition of “The Bad Seed” and “Village of the Damned,” “Children of the Corn” sets out to shatter our notion that childhood is a time of innocence. The opening scene grabs us right away. In Gatlin, Nebraska, a small farming community, the good citizens follow church on Sunday with breakfast at the local coffee shop. One morning, however, the town’s children rise up against the adults, poisoning their coffee and slashing their throats in a violent, horrifying sequence. Skip ahead three years. Burt and Vicky (Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton) have a bad accident outside Gatlin and walk to town, searching for help. But they find no adults. Eventually, they discover that the children of Gatlin have formed a religious cult around an evil entity, “He Who Walks Behind the Rows.” Though far from a classic, this film has an enormous following and has inspired six sequels, five released directly to DVD. Its appeal lies partly in the performances of the two young leads. John Franklin plays Isaac, the nine-year-old prophet who organized the cult, and Courtney Gains portrays the odd-looking and unsettling Malachai. Bonus extras include the featurette, “Welcome to Gatlin: The Sight and Sounds of Children Of the Corn;” an interview with Linda Hamilton; audio commentary by director Fritz Kiersch and actors John Franklin and Courtney Gains; and the documentary “Harvesting Horror: Children of the Corn.”
Review by K. Jones for Children of the Corn
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I’m 16 years old and I love Children of the Corn, it’s creepy without being gory. The dvd quality is great and the special features are fun. It was really interesting seeing John Franklin and Courtney Gains in the documentary for the 20th anniversary… they both look just as they were and it’s cool hearing about their experiences on set, which is continued in the commentary. Great dvd, it’s a great deal for those who love this movie.
Review by M. Ryan Fairbanks for Children of the Corn
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Surely the name “Children of the Corn” does not resound through horror film history as prominently as The Exorcist, Halloween, and The Shining. However the film is a noteworthy addition to the genre and it is often overlooked. It has achieved a mild cult following, and spawned more than a handful of sequels, so there’s gotta be something to it, right?
Based on a Stephen King story, the plot of the film itself was more than enough to make an interesting movie. A child preacher influences all the children in town to exterminate the adult population in a sacrifice to a deity “He who walks behind he rows”. The corn itself was meant to be more of a metaphor for nature in general, the children wanting to take nature back from the adults who so shamelessly wasted its resources. Although this original film illustrated that concept well, the sequels took the “corn” aspect much more literally incorporating goofy ideas like corn monsters…(I wish I was kidding), but that’s neither here nor there.
Anyway, we follow a young couple on a trip through rural Nebraska. After a series of unfortunate events, they are led to the town of Gatlin, where this whole thing with the kids killing their folks took place. Slowly, the couple is led through the ghost town and discover its disturbing past. After the residing children make it clear that they are unwelcome, they struggle to escape the cult’s murderous clutches.
Well the story had potential to be a great movie, unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way. Children of the Corn is actually a very slow moving film with minimal scares or gore. The bulk of the film is basically a very long chase scene without much reprise and the body counts boasts a mere two or three. The most noteworthy part of the movie is the eerie, unsettling atmosphere it manages to create with the ghost town scenes and the endless rows of corn. Some of the performances are decent, such as the Malakai character and Isaac. However for a film that’s partially themed around religion, it could have gone so much further and been so much more shocking. The great storyline is not utilized well at all.
All in all, for a Stephen King adaption this is not the best, but it’s certainly not the worst. The Children of the Corn is an eerie little film that’s worth a look if you like the horror genre.
Review by Z. Freeman for Children of the Corn
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Like the majority of adapted Stephen King stories, this 80′s horror flick falls short of the source material, although it’s pretty cool to actually see the source material on the screen. (Literally, a paperback copy of Night Shift is on the dashboard in front of Linda Hamilton in the opening driving sequence).
The original story is only 30 pages long and a little different from the movie, but again, like the majority of King’s work, it just doesn’t transfer directly to the screen. The story is slightly modified, but not terribly so. One day the children in a small town decide to rise up and kill all the adults in the town in order to worship HE WHO WALKS BEHIND THE ROWS. This plot-line goes back to one of King’s semi-obsessions: the idea that there are small towns out there so remote that no one would even notice when an entire town is massacred and deserted… that is, until a pair of unsuspecting travelers happen upon it.
Rating this movie based on special-effects and film quality standards of today would hardly be fair, and I have a feeling that for the 80′s this was a quality film, but obviously, today the climactic scenes, and some stuff leading up to that are pretty “corny”… I knew I’d have to say that.
I haven’t seen any of the sequels, and I suspect they’re not that great, but this film is worth the time to watch if you’re into horror movies. The kids playing Isaac and Malakai are definitely creepy and poor special effects are forgivable if you have creepy kids backing it up.