Review of Children of the Corn (1984) by Brandon D — 02 Aug 2014

"Children of the Corn" was not one of prolific author Stephen King's best works, but you still bought into it because as a good writer, he sold you on the far-fetched story. A convincing and believable film could have been made from the story with a decent budget and director, so of course all hopes for a decent film were quickly tossed out the window the second the rights were secured by New World Pictures.

They afforded the film version a modest budget and hired an untested director, and the end result is a mostly silly and poorly acted film that has somehow accrued a cult following over the years. There is a creepy score and some unnerving images of corn-inspired religious symbols, and taken a bit more seriously, the cultish aspect of the story could have been very effective in a Jim Jones sort of way. But the screenplay just isn't there. with most of this inspiring more laughs than chills.

The ending is especially weak, with dismal special effects and extreme lapses in judgment within the story. The all-powerful God, called He Who Walks Behind the Rows, looks more like a giant gopher that is inexplicably killed by fire. And while most of the acting is horrifyingly amateurish by the non-actors in the cast, the makers did manage to find two of the spookiest kid actors they could have found in Courtney Gains and John Franklin.

With a more serious tone, they would have been nightmarish. As it stands, "Children of the Corn" is just too campy to take any of it seriously. There's real potential here, but the studio botched the job. This is one rare horror film that could have benefited from a big-budget remake.