Children of the Corn (1984)

Director:

Fritz Kiersch

Writers:

Stephen King (short story)
George Goldsmith (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 March 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

An adult nightmare.

Plot:

A boy preacher named Isaac goes to a town in Nebraska called Gatlin and gets all the children to murder every adult in town...

Plot Keywords:

Worship | Cult | Corn | First Of Series | Back From The Dead

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Peter Horton	...	Burt
Linda Hamilton	...	Vicky
R.G. Armstrong	...	Diehl
John Franklin	...	Isaac
Courtney Gains	...	Malachai
Robby Kiger	...	Job
Anne Marie McEvoy	...	Sarah (as AnneMarie McEvoy)
Julie Maddalena	...	Rachel
Jonas Marlowe	...	Joseph
John Philbin	...	Amos
Dan Snook	...	Boy
David Cowen	...	Dad
Suzy Southam	...	Mom
D.G. Johnson	...	Mr. Hansen
Patrick Boylan	...	Hansen's customer

Also Known As:

Stephen King's Children of the Corn

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (CFI)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Ryder Sound Services)

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Spain:18 | South Korea:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | USA:R (certificate number not listed) | Australia:R (2984) | Finland:K-18 (1985) | France:-12 | Iceland:(Banned) (original rating) | Iceland:16 (cut) | Norway:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Finland:K-16 (2000) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Angeles Entertainment Group

Trivia:

On the dashboard of Burt and Vicki's car is a copy of Night Shift, the Stephen King short story collection in which Children of the Corn originally appeared.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Sarah's mother is on the phone with her husband, she says, "I'm worried Dave, the fever's gone from 101 to 104," yet her mouth doesn't move.

Quotes:

Vicky: Can you take us to Isaac?
Sarah: No.
Vicky: Why not?
Sarah: He's scary.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Welcome to Gatlin: The Sights and Sounds of Children of the Corn (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

Runaway

Like it or Hate it

Like many of the Corn movies (seven as of 2001!) I find that either people like this one or hate it. Some viewers despise the plot and say the setting is cheesy and the acting is bad, and that after watching it years later after we've all our bad tastes of horror flicks- let us not forget the Scream series- they find it is not as scary anymore. All I have to say is that if you're open-minded and you're into a plot about what would happen if these kids took over (sound familiar? sounds like my home town...) then definitely see it. I, personally, love this movie, although I started the second one and I couldn't finish it because I was laughing too hard. I'll try the third one, but really, the original horror movies are usually the best and in this case that is very true. On to the plot: This is basically about two newcomers who come to this deserted town and find out that these children are actually killers and worship 'Thee Who Walks Behind the Rows', a demon in the corn fields that speaks to Issac only, the leader of the children. Of course, there's the rebellious Malachai who turns it all around for the children in the end, and then to make matters worse there are now two new adults: things really get busy! I think this is the most appealing because you pretty much find out everything as the adults do, as opposed to the other movies where you pretty much expect just all these adult killings, although I've only seen the 6th one (which should be illegal in the US because it's so horrible). But anyway, a 7th Corn Movie is on its way, and it's on Post Production last time I checked, so maybe things have turned around! All I can see is that a new sequel is coming out every two years, but none will ever match up to this one. So see it! I give it an 8 out of 10!