Les enfants de l'horreur

Maybe not so scary, but pretty cool horror movie after the short story written by Stephen King.

The children of Gatlin, under the influence of 'priest' Isaac, kill all their parents as it is the wish of the Lord who apparently lives in the corn. 3 years later a couple (Peter Horton and Linda -Terminator- Hamilton) are stranded in that same place. The kids, led by Isaac and his first man Malachai, set up a plan to sacrifice them to their God.

The movie gets a great start with the children killing their parents, after that it isn't much horror but more of a suspence movie. You got to see this only for the Malachai kid. Great casting!

6/10.

This is the tale of a young couple (Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton) stranded in the deserted little town of Gatlin, Nebraska and stalked by a pack of adult killing children worshipping a demon living in the surrounding cornfields.

This very atmospheric piece is a rather humble b-movie that boasts an unusual and interesting premise (thanks to a pretty good short story by Stephen King) and delivers some decent performances from its cast (which is rare with children in general).

Although soft in its depiction of violence, the movie offers some creepy moments (especially in the still effective opening sequence). John Franklin, excellent as the child-preacher Isaac, makes for one odd and creepy looking kid and Courtney Gains inhabits his psychopathic Malachai character with obvious delight.

The cornfields are beautifully shot and the overall is boosted by a pretty efficient score by Jonathan Ellias. And to top this all up, R.G. Armstrong makes here an appearance (albeit a too short one) as a recluse gas station owner.

Don't be fooled though. The movie is far to be a masterpiece. At leading endlessly its main characters around cornfields and then through the deserted town (direct effect of superficially expanding a short story to feature film length), the movie ends up suffering from its slow pace ("Things just aren't happening fast enough" even says Horton at some point) with the characters taking what seems like an improbable amount of time to realise what is afoot.

The danger of young and impressionable minds blindly following extremist religious leaders is certainly an interesting theme but is here barely tapped into.

Finally the climatic sequence, with the manifestation of the collieflower looking "He Who Walks Behind The Rows", is a bit of a let down to say the least.

Those (not so minor) details however are not enough to warrant the bad press the movie gathered upon release (and Stephen King's severe criticisms). "Children of the Corn" is a well performed little soft core horror b-movie that surprisingly enough spawned a franchise and still provides eerie ambiance and creepiness that even, at times, make the few cheap scares work.

Maybe if those kids in Gatlin, Nebraska had gotten a visit from Professor Harold Hill and a boys band out of it, maybe they might not have killed all their parents. This Stephen King view of the mid-west sure makes one nostalgic for The Music Man.

It's one strange place that married couple Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton have come on their cross country journey. It reminded me of driving through Pennsylvania and the Amish country where you cannot get off the Pennsylvania Turnpike for ages, but on either side of the roads, nothing but woods and on the overpasses, Amish carts.

Here it's nothing but corn and when Peter Horton thinks he's hit a child on the road he goes for help and there's none. The town has been taken over by the devil himself working his evil through a young child preacher played by John Franklin. All the adults have been killed and the children are his disciples.

Of course some of the older ones are reaching puberty and the guy who was the high school bully Courtney Gains chafes under Franklin's leadership. He tries a palace coup d'etat, something along the lines of what old Lucifer himself did in heaven and everybody pays.

Children of the Corn is a good adaption of the Stephen King novel, it will please his legion of fans and maybe convert a few others.

Children of the corn is a 1984 film based on the short story by Stephen King. The story is that a couple who go to Gatlin, Nebraska find themselves in a living nightmare as they are hunted by a cult of children who have been taught by their "preacher" Isaac that everybody over the age of 18 must be killed.

This film starred: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton & John Franklin

In my opinion this is an entertaining film and doesn't deserve all the stick it gets, it isn't great by any means however it's a good film too watch when your bored also a good film to watch with your friends on a night in. I do recommend this film if you have read the short story or if you are a Stephen King fan also to all you 80's cult fans.

***/***** Good film.

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs. Revisited it recently.

I found the film very atmospheric n surrealistic during the 80s.

The movie hasn't aged well, specially the lousy effects n lousy climax. Rather than showing the lousy entity, they shud have left it ambiguous.

One of the best part is that almost the entire film is shot in broad daylight, a thing getting rarer in today's horror films. Today's horror films r laden with shaky cam, flickering lights stuff.

One thing the series is noteworthy is for the new faces which later got much recognized.

This one is Linda Hamilton's second film.

The plot ain't original n never utilized properly. For more creepy n sinister kids, one shud check out Who Can Kill a Child?

Now lets start the marathon of the entire franchise.