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Children of the Corn (1984)
Front Cover Actor
Peter Horton
Linda Hamilton
R.G. Armstrong
John Franklin
Courtney Gains
Robby Kiger
Anne Marie McEvoy
Julie Maddalena
Jonas Marlowe
John Philbin
Movie Details
Director Fritz Kiersch
Language English
Audience Rating R (Restricted)
Running Time 93 mins
Country USA
Color Color
Plot
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
Personal Details
Seen It Yes
Index 464
Collection Status In Collection
Links Amazon US
Product Details
Format DVD
Region Region 1
Screen Ratio 1.66:1
UPC (Barcode) 013131125795
Release Date 4/10/2001
Audio Tracks English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Nr of Disks/Tapes 1