Children of the Corn

 

 Few child killer movies have cemented themselves as securely in the public's consciousness as THE CHILDREN OF THE CORN. It's become a veritable punchline and the go-to title when describing any group with blind, cult-like followers. The fact that the movie is not nearly as strong as it's reputation hardly matters anymore. A twenty-something PETER HORTON and a pre-TERMINATOR LINDA HAMILTON play a couple who find themselves in the eerie town of Gatlin, Nebraska where the child population has slaughtered the adult population and worships an unseen being called HE WHO WALKS BEHIND THE ROWS. A LOGAN'S RUN type clause in the youngin's new found religion also states that when they turn 19, the children themselves are to be sacrificed to their god in order to prevent future adults. It's a frightening concept, imagine a world where happy meals were the only thing on the menu at McDonalds! There's a lot of missed opportunities visually and the acting, with the definite exception of JOHN FRANKLIN as Isaac and COURTNEY GAINS as Malachi, is patchy at best. In fact you could just credit FRANKLIN's work here as solely responsible for this flicks longevity. He could give little MARJOE GORTNER a run for his money. As shoddy as some of this is, (the special effects near the end are pitiable) CORN is still worthy of a rewatch from time to time. It is based on a STEPHEN KING short story and we all know Uncle Stevie is no slouch in the knowing what scares you department. Regardless of the questionable execution, I think we can all admit that the premise is pretty much fool proof as far as entertainment goes. Just put a sickle in the palm of a child and turn on the camera and I assure you… I've already bought my ticket!

INDELIBLE SCENE(S):

• Opening coffee shop massacre
• Hamilton comes face to face with "the blue man"
• Horton gets bitch slapped by a stalk of corn
• "OUTLANDER!"