Children of the Corn

Stephen King is often cited to be the father of modern horror, and this view isn't wholly unfounded. King's stories have had a large impact upon the horror genre, and many of them are very good stories in their own right also. However, when it comes to translating King's words onto the screen; many filmmakers have proved that they are not up to the task. I haven't read the book, 'Children of the Corn', but I'm sure it's better than this movie. While the film isn't especially bad; it's hardly a tour de-force of horror cinema either, and like many Stephen King films; this one could have been a hell of a lot better. Actually, this story isn't one of King's better efforts; it follows a small town whose children murder their parents on the instructions of a mysterious preacher; a little kid calling himself Isaac. The story picks up three years after this terrible event when a young couple drive into town for some reason. They find the village completely devoid of adults and it isn't long until they discover what's happened and seek to put an end to it!

This film has missed several opportunities, the most glaring of which is the subterranean manifestation that dwells beneath the soil in the cornfields. We get several glimpses of this creature, but we never get to see it properly; and because of this, the monster is about as threatening as a bunch of little kids. Oh wait. Anyway, the film draws parallels with other evil kids films such as Village of the Damned in the way it plays out, but it never really gets out of first gear. While the atmosphere of the town is foreboding and well done on the whole, the plotting isn't very exciting and there's very few moments of real tension or suspense, which ensures the film isn't as engaging as it could have been. The cornfields and the corn that inhabits said field's makes for an unlikely horror prop, and some scenes within the fields are genuinely creepy. The kids themselves are rather well done also, with both of the main ones having good screen presence. If you were to pigeonhole King's films into 'good' and 'bad', this one would firmly be in the latter side. On it's own, however, it's not all that bad, and if you're a fan of King's work, you'll no doubt find something to like here. Or you might hate it for not living up to the book, one of the two.

Of course, horror movies are usually not scary. I have an extremely high tolerance for 'scary' movies, and I am usually not scared quite so easily. The most recent film to make me shiver with fear was WHAT LIES BENEATH and I saw that quite some time ago. CHILDREN OF THE CORN, did not really scare me, however, it did have a very good shock factor. It made me jump once or twice and I was generally enthralled with the story.

Having not read the Stephen King short story (I can't find a copy of the book) I found this film to be wholly original and terrifying in the film's idea. I just watched this movie for the first time last night, which is really something because I have already seen most of the classic horror films that people say are really good. CHILDREN OF THE CORN is probably one of the last really *good* horror films of the early 1980s that I have just seen.

I thought the film's ideas were creepy and the execution is done wonderfully. You will never eat corn the same way again. CHILDREN OF THE CORN gets 4/5.

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.

After going through the Stephen King's movies, like Pet Sematary, Christine, Salem's Lot, Carrie, It, The Grave Yard Shift, Thinner, The Shining, Needful Things,Fire Starter, all that stuff! Now, I found Children of the Corn!

This movie had some sick parts, like with the kids sliced up body was found dumped in the road! YUK!!!

Isaac ( John Franklin) was SO creepy how the way he stared! I feel so sorry for the kids in this movie because, they are being controlled by some possessed kid!

I own this movie on video, at home because, I love scary movies, especially Stephen King's films!

Give this gory film 8/10