Children of the Corn (1984)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Melvin W

  
  Isaac: Malachai! He wants you too, Malachai. He wants you too!  "And a child shall lead them..." Children of the Corn quite possibly might be the worst Stephen King adaption I have ever seen. You know a movie is terrible when an hour and a half feels like three days.… More
  Isaac: Malachai! He wants you too, Malachai. He wants you too!  "And a child shall lead them..." Children of the Corn quite possibly might be the worst Stephen King adaption I have ever seen. You know a movie is terrible when an hour and a half feels like three days. Everything about this film is amateurish and cheap. A film like this should live off of atmosphere and mood, but the director and the cast do little to achieve that.  The plot revolves around a religious cult of children who terrorize a couple. It may sound really stupid, but I guarantee that it's even stupider than you imagine. I haven't read the short story by King, but I would guess that it is much different than this sorry piece of shit. Bad horror movies are at least somewhat interesting or entertaining to me, most of the time. Children of the Corn is a notable exception. I couldn't have been more bored or less interested. I don't want to even imagine what the sequels are like. As for that ginger Malachai; I'm nominating it for the worst performance I have ever seen. Fucking terrible!

• Anthony L

  
  The general rule of horror films is that it's what you don't see that really terrifies and leaves it's imprint in your mind. Children of the Corn is the exception. I didn't really feel there was any pay-off. I haven't read the book but often when I see a… More
  The general rule of horror films is that it's what you don't see that really terrifies and leaves it's imprint in your mind. Children of the Corn is the exception. I didn't really feel there was any pay-off. I haven't read the book but often when I see a Stephen King film, I can relate to his tone and style, here I just couldn't. I'm sure the book is much better but then, that is often the case, especially with the King. I also got distracted by the fact Issac looks just like a kid I went to school with.

• Joshua W

  
  I think this film is very under-rated by critics. I hear this film is cheesey and not scary when the opening scene was one of the coolest scenes I've seen. I hate how people think that films arnt scary unless there's cold blooded hack job fake blood surging from every… More
  I think this film is very under-rated by critics. I hear this film is cheesey and not scary when the opening scene was one of the coolest scenes I've seen. I hate how people think that films arnt scary unless there's cold blooded hack job fake blood surging from every angle typical horror scene. This film had great set up and freaked me out. And now, unless I know the kid, I think all chrildren are evil devil henchmen.

• Jeff "

  
  Children Of The Corn is an often overlooked horror film. Based on the Stephen King story of the same name, Children Of The Corn is the story of a boy preacher who arrives in Gatlin, Nebraska and convinces the local children to murder the adults. After noticing an injured boy running… More
  Children Of The Corn is an often overlooked horror film. Based on the Stephen King story of the same name, Children Of The Corn is the story of a boy preacher who arrives in Gatlin, Nebraska and convinces the local children to murder the adults. After noticing an injured boy running from the corn field and into the street, young couple Burt and Vicky (Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton) travel to Gatlin to find help. When they get there, they find that the town is empty and is only habited by children. Soon the new arrivals know what really went on, and find out that Isaac, the boy preacher has brainwashed the children into killing their parents. Children Of The Corn is not the best Stephen King adaptation, but the filmmakers do a pretty good job in creating tense, horrifying moments. Sometimes the film seems a little sloppy, and cheesy, but this is what makes it a fun film to watch. The fact that we never quit see "He Who Walks Behind The Rows" (the god that the children worship) adds to the eerie atmosphere that this possesses. We are only given a brief scene with He who walks behind the rows, and when it happens, it reminds you of the shark from Jaws. The payoff of the film was decent, and entertaining, but it was also disappointing. Children Of The Corn is still a very entertaining horror film despite it's flaws. Just watch it with an open mind, and you may not feel too disappointed.

• Bruce B

  
  Remember seeing this one when it first came out. Think it was at a drive-in in Maine. The first film where children are killers and creepy. Come this fall if your kids are bugging you about going to the corn maze, throw this on Friday night and your weekend will be corn maze free.… More
  Remember seeing this one when it first came out. Think it was at a drive-in in Maine. The first film where children are killers and creepy. Come this fall if your kids are bugging you about going to the corn maze, throw this on Friday night and your weekend will be corn maze free. Actually a good movie, better now then I remember it when I first seen it. Set the bar for many Crazy Killer Kid movies of the future. Good for a Halloween Movie Marathon. Worth every bit of 4 stars.

• Zach B

  
  Ever sense the dawn of man, there has been one thing that has always scared people. And that will be the influence of religion on young people. Now, with most people, they treat it responsibly. But what if one person who is obsessed with religion takes it too far and starts to have… More
  Ever sense the dawn of man, there has been one thing that has always scared people. And that will be the influence of religion on young people. Now, with most people, they treat it responsibly. But what if one person who is obsessed with religion takes it too far and starts to have everyone above the age of eighteen slaughtered and control all of the children in his town? Well, what you get is a mediocre to non-watchable film adaptation of Stephen King's Children Of The Corn. To be frank, Fritz Kiersch is not that good of a director in the slightest. Under his ruling thumb, this film has a mediocre pace, cliche 1980's horror tricks, and overall poor story telling. Personally, I would have liked it if he was to have, at least, try to have the film have the same amount of terror the original story had. When one reads Children Of The Corn, you have a dread of corn because of what it represents. Here, it represents nothing and just looks like what it is: Corn. Nothing frightening at all. Now, if the corn had a quality that made it terrifying, then the film would have been better off. Acting wise, I was disappointed to be honest. Linda Hamilton (THE TERMINATOR) gives a half done performance in this picture when she should have just tried harder. Peter Horton is mediocre at best in his roles as Burt and he is just not convening. Actually, none of them are at all except for John Franklin as being Isaac. Now, he actually gives a decent performance, but it is not enough to save this film. He has such talent portraying this messed up kid. The script to this film is bad. I am sorry, but it just is. From how some scenes are written out to contradicting to flawed dialog, it is just a mess that leaves me to wonder if anyone ever actually reread the script and edited it. My favorite example is when one of the little boys try to run away from the field, he tells his friend to make sure no one is following him nor watching him. He walks a certain distance, looks around, and yells to him that no one is looking. Yeah, Oscar winning script dialog right there. Now for the only good part in this entire film: The score. I must admit: who ever done the score for this film should have been payed the most. The score is creepy, a little unsettling, and tries to it's best potential to set the tone. *sigh* Overall, this is not that great of a film and should only be seen by those that love religious horror films or cult 1980's films.

• Dean !

  
  I'm very disappointed with this! After hearing of it for so long and from a big Stephen King fan, I couldn't believe how poor this is! Looking very dated, thought it was an early 70's film not mid 80's! It's drawn out way too long even at 90mins. It's not… More
  I'm very disappointed with this! After hearing of it for so long and from a big Stephen King fan, I couldn't believe how poor this is! Looking very dated, thought it was an early 70's film not mid 80's! It's drawn out way too long even at 90mins. It's not scary, just weird. There was a re-make recently not to mention 7 sequels!! Hopefully they are a lot better!

• AJ V

  
  Another fantastic adaptation of a Stephen King story! This classic horror film will change the way you see cornfields. I especially liked Hamilton in this movie.

• Martin S

  
  Very great start...after that I thought it would be a great movie....but after that they started to suck....and the ending was way to random. I'm a fan of Stephen King but I haven't read the book...but I guess it seemed much more logic in the book cause this.....not cool man

• Dead A

  
  What the heck was this all about? They are just wasting their money to make this kinda cheap movie. Stop wasting your money. Donate to the poor people so that they can pray for you to make better movies.

• Luke B

  
  This film stretches itself as far as it can go. It's simply two people walking around and driving around for a very long time. When the kids finally come out to play, they're such awful actors it's hard to take them seriously. By the end the dated effects come into play… More
  This film stretches itself as far as it can go. It's simply two people walking around and driving around for a very long time. When the kids finally come out to play, they're such awful actors it's hard to take them seriously. By the end the dated effects come into play and it's a bizarre mixture of Tron and some animated fire. Kid's are generally pretty scary, but not when they are trying this hard.

• Lady D

  
  I preferred the first half of this film to the second, I feel it started off quite well as a classic Horror and very typically Stephen King, it just went on a little too long. Reminded me of the (much later) French film ?Them?.

• Curtis L

  
  Job and Sarah were cute, and Malachi was the ugliest kid I've ever seen. Not sure if Issac was a midget or an ugly kid or a kid in makeup, but it was odd looking as well. Not sure this movie made ANY sense. It could have been just fine as a stand alone 'child zealot… More
  Job and Sarah were cute, and Malachi was the ugliest kid I've ever seen. Not sure if Issac was a midget or an ugly kid or a kid in makeup, but it was odd looking as well. Not sure this movie made ANY sense. It could have been just fine as a stand alone 'child zealot cult' that killed adults, but for some stupid reason at the end it shifts gears for the worse. All of the sudden some really bad yellow effects crap is everywhere and you half expect to see kevin Bacon running from the mysterious tremors that come racing through the corn. Steven King likes to ruin more movies that way with terrible effects (i.e. the langoliers).

• Kylie B

  
  I can't say that I was terribly impressed with this. It seems to be a case of the reputation over-exaggerating how sinister it is. It's not a bad film, just that the ideas it presents are probably less unnerving to a modern audience. It's very rare that Stephen King and… More
  I can't say that I was terribly impressed with this. It seems to be a case of the reputation over-exaggerating how sinister it is. It's not a bad film, just that the ideas it presents are probably less unnerving to a modern audience. It's very rare that Stephen King and I agree about his work, but I am slightly inclined to see his point about this film.

• Bannan i

  
  Watched this is a frightfest marathon...it was so corny....hahahaha forgive the pun.

• _kelly .

  
  This is a primary example of a movie failing to do justice to Stephen King's original work. The best acting comes from the kids, especially the leads of Isaac and Malachai, but there are simply no scary scenes and the only "jump" I had is when the leader kid Isaac comes… More
  This is a primary example of a movie failing to do justice to Stephen King's original work. The best acting comes from the kids, especially the leads of Isaac and Malachai, but there are simply no scary scenes and the only "jump" I had is when the leader kid Isaac comes back as undead. The kids lose whatever scare potential they had when the main male protagonist just starts shoving through them like ragdolls, and the one kid, Malachai, who could potentially be a threat on his own is easily thwarted , and it seems that the most of the kids are not bloodlusty but just follow Malachai who supervises the other kids in a Machiavellian way. This young actor shows promise and adds much to the beginning, but by the end, we have seen too many shots of him with the same murderous face. While it is effective once or twice before a killing, it does not work when it is every other time we see Malakai. I also can't imagine the Isaac character being ineffective on any audience member; the role is rendered in a supremely creepy way more akin to the tone of the short story. If you don't want to be bothered with a whole boring flick, I'd just check out his scenes and you'll feel much more affected than viewing the feature.There's a great concept and a damn great setting here, but the script condescends the audience too much and the scene pacing is clumsy at best after the first reel. The classical American Gothic feel is apparent in the production design but the script and editing render this quality non-existent.

• Emily A

  
  Plenty of movies run with the idea that little kids can sometimes be scary- The Ring, The Bad Seed, The Reaping, Feardotcom... This one takes it another step: Hordes of kids kill all the adults and form their own society. Really unsettling and really good. Pseudo-religious iconography… More
  Plenty of movies run with the idea that little kids can sometimes be scary- The Ring, The Bad Seed, The Reaping, Feardotcom... This one takes it another step: Hordes of kids kill all the adults and form their own society. Really unsettling and really good. Pseudo-religious iconography completes the deal and makes this an all-around freaky experience.

• Film C

  
  one of the most scaryise films i have ever seen

• Dean M

  
  This Stephen King's adaptation horror film is much better a decade earlier with <i>The Wicker Man</i>.

• Cassandra M

  
  Certainly one of the better adaptations of a Stephen King tale, Children Of The Corn, for me, was a goosebump film. But all the more chilling was an unseen, Evil Force who a group of murderous children happily calls "He Who Walks Behind The Rows" (Rows, meaning rows of corn… More
  Certainly one of the better adaptations of a Stephen King tale, Children Of The Corn, for me, was a goosebump film. But all the more chilling was an unseen, Evil Force who a group of murderous children happily calls "He Who Walks Behind The Rows" (Rows, meaning rows of corn in a corn-field) The image you get of this "He Who Walks Behind The Rows" character is simply Satan with a new nick-name. And why old Lucifer has chosen to possess a billion ears of corn in Nebraska {instead of the John Deere tractor sitting alongside of it} is beyond me. Whatever the reason, the fact that he's somewhere within that cornfield gave me the chills throughout this film. More chills than watching these children go on a killing rampage throughout the small town. Anyone over the age of 17 was quickly laid to rest at the beginning of the film, and any kid about to turn 18 happily sacrificed themselves to "He Who Walks Behind The Rows". The film stars Peter Horton and Linda (Terminator 1 and 2's) Hamilton. By accident, they enter this small town and become the towns only two grown-ups. Once spotted, they are quickly labeled "Outlanders" and are pursued throughout the remainder of the film until they are finally caught, bound and prepared for sacrifice. I love this film. Its had a special place in my heart for years. There is not a boring moment in this film that would put you to sleep. There are many jolts, winces and frights. And even though the "He Who Walks Behind The Rows" fella never shows his face, you will definitely feel it's presence. Trust me. Just knowing that he's somewhere in the midst of that cornfield will be enough to creep you out.

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