The Cornshukker

Shot in Indiana for peanuts, THE CORNSHUKKER had been nearly impossible to see until recently. It's not much of a discovery, but is possibly worth a look for those interested in regional weirdness.

Centered around the titular creature, an ethereal being that lives in a shack eating corn and can only vocalize one statement, "I know," the film doesn't have much of a plot, but is more a series of encounters. The Cornshukker is first visited by a mythologist, who admits he finds the creature misunderstood and the most interesting among its corn-centric brethren (he lists them, but the film never goes into any detail beyond that). Additional encounters including a girl scout (terrified), a pizza delivery man (accidentally runs over a dog), a fire-and-brimstone preacher (shouts a lot), and a cop working on a missing persons case (says words weird). In between, The Cornshukker battles a crayfish infestation and eventually gets run out of town by the village folk, who turn on him in fear.

The end result isn't very effective, with the film feeling more like it's trying to emulate its influences rather than articulate any particularly unique vision. The director says The Cornshukker is based on a creature he painted, and it's certainly the most interesting thing in the film - a simple but effective makeup job on the guy's brother, who lends it an appropriately gawky, lanky physicality. It's too bad there's not more to get to know with this thing, more that the film chooses to delve into, or we might have a much more compelling, sub-Eraserhead antihero.

Other than that, technical credits are sufficient for a low-budget indie, with effective enough performances from the mostly non-professional cast and an inherently grimy air generated by the cheap B&W cinematography. The film is not without promise, and will surely find some viewers more receptive to its forced eccentricity than I was. May they have at it.