Children of the Corn

Children of the Corn

The murder rate is as high as an elephant's eye in this flaccid adaptation of Stephen King's short story. While driving through Nebraska en route to a new job, medico Burt (Peter Horton) and his wife Vicky (a pre-Terminator Linda Hamilton) nearly run over a mutilated boy who staggers from the cornfields. Seeking help, they enter the town of Gatlin, whose under-20 residents have butchered their parents per the decree of junior-grade holy roller Isaac (John Franklin), who preaches the word of a being called "He Who Walks Behind the Rows." King's original story (from his 1978 collection Night Shift) was a lean and brutal mélange of Southern-gothic atmosphere and E.C. Comics-style gore, which scripter Greg Goldsmith effectively neutralizes by adding a youthful narrator (a grating Robbie Kiger) and putting an upbeat spin on the story's morbid conclusion. Fritz Kiersch's direction is TV-movie flat, with the sole inspired moment (hideous religious iconography glimpsed during a bloody "service") delivered as a throwaway. Aside from Horton and Courtney Gains (as Isaac's hatchet man Malachai), the performances are dreadful, and the depiction of the Lovecraftian monster-god as a sort of giant gopher inspires more laughter than terror. Amazingly, the film spawned six sequels; Franklin (Cousin Itt in the Addams Family films) later appeared in and wrote 1999's Children of the Corn 666. --Paul Gaita

Genre: Horror
Production: New World Pictures
  1 win & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
5.6
Metacritic:
45
Rotten Tomatoes:
36%
R
Year:
1984
92
17,745 Views
And a child shall lead them...
An adult nightmare.
In their world adults are not allowed... to live.

Share your thoughts on Children of the Corn's quotes with the community:

0 Comments

    Quote of the Day Today's Quote | Archive

    Would you like us to send you a FREE inspiring quote delivered to your inbox daily?

    Please enter your email address:

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this movie page to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Children of the Corn Quotes." Quotes.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <https://www.quotes.net/movies/children_of_the_corn_quotes_2079>.

    Know another quote from Children of the Corn?

    Don't let people miss on a great quote from the "Children of the Corn" movie - add it here!

    Quiz

    Are you a quotes master?

    »
    Name the film "I've seen seambeams glittering in the darkness near Tannhauser Gate"
    A The Abyss
    B The Big Blue
    C Bladerunner
    D All Quiet on the Western Front