Rent Children of the Corn on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Stephen King (based on the short story by), George Goldsmith (screenplay by)
Directed by: Fritz Kiersch
Starring: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R.G. Armstrong
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A young couple is trapped in a remote town where a dangerous religious cult of children believes that everyone over age eighteen must be killed.
Verdict
It's an intriguing idea that's better than the movie. Unfortunately, the longer this movie runs, the worse it gets, and the low budget CGI finale only drags this further down. There's so much untapped potential, not that it matters. Children are in a cult, guided by a dark force, but in this movie they just aren't that scary.
Skip it.
Review
I've heard of this movie as the name alone was a frequent pop culture reference, but I had never seen it. Unfortunately the movie in no way lives up to the scares I imagined.
In the opening scene a bunch of people are killed in a diner during the day. Two kids seem to be involved somehow. Then the movie transitions to years later where young couple Burt (Peter Horton) and Vicky (Linda Hamilton) are just driving through the same town en route to their destination and run into a reason to stop. Actually finding the town turns out to be another matter with contradicting road signs and endless plots of corn fields.
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| Linda Hamilton, Peter Horton play Vicky, Burt |
The movie is cheesy, with deaths happening off screen and weapon passing in and out of the shot without showing anything. Combine that with a lack of tension or mood and this comes up lacking. I think part of what made this popular is the idea that kids would do such a thing. The thought of a town run by killer children is not your typical horror movie monster. What I imagined this movie to be is so much better than what I actually saw.
I like the concept of a couple entering this town where children are after them. One child claims to hear voices from a dark presence while another child predicts the future through her crayon drawings. A shadow creature in the corn directs the children. That doesn't amount to as much as I had hoped. The conclusion is kick started by an argument between two of the kids, Isaac and Malachi. Malachi is tired of Isaac's preaching and orders, wondering if Isaac really gets supernatural orders.
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| John Franklin plays Isaac |
I initially wondered if this was possession or an evil spirit, but there really is a presence in the corn as evidenced by a poorly rendered CGI form that engulfs Isaac later. I just don't understand how the corn works or why. To stop this monster lurking in the corn, Burt must burn down the corn fields. He's provided direction from a kid that isn't brainwashed. This is obviously low budget and the movie suffers for it, but with the story we get, it doesn't make that big of a difference.
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