Children of the Corn
2/4
Starring: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, John Franklin, Courtney Gains, Robby Kiger, AnneMarie McEvoy
Rated R for Horror Violence and Gore (I guess)
Burt (Horton) and Vicky (Hamilton) are on their way across the country. They are taking the back roads (as every horror movie character does) and while they are fighting over a map, they run over a young kid. But they weren't the ones who killed him. He was murdered. Unable to find a way out of town, the two look for help in the nearby town of Gatlin. But this is no ordinary town; the adults are gone and the children are crazed killers who follow the word of Isaac (Franklin), a young prophet. And he has a plan for the adults who wandered in.
There are two problems with "Children of the Corn." The acting is awful and the film fails to really deal with the idea of killer children. Of the cast, the only one who gives a decent performance is Linda Hamilton, whose star-making role in "The Terminator" would come out later that year. Hamilton is good until the script lets her down towards the end. Peter Horton is uneven. There are times when he is convincing, but he's usually flat. The kids are awful. John Franklin is terrible as Isaac. He's so stiff that he becomes cartoonish; he's impossible to take seriously. Courtney Gains, who plays Isaac's henchman Malachai, at least has skill at non-vocal emoting, although speaking kind of ruins the effect (in all fairness, Franklin's make-up job is terrible). The two sympathetic kids, Job (Kiger) and Sarah (McEvoy) border on being too cute.
I think the film missed a great opportunity here. At no point do either Burt or Vicky really mention that these killers are kids. They never talk about how this changes things as opposed to killer adults. It doesn't make much difference to them, apparently. Nor do the kids ever act like kids. They're like lobotomized psychos. Having them act like children would have made the film a lot creepier. Perhaps director Franz Kiersch was too afraid of exploitation. If that was the case, he didn't go far enough to give the film much of an edge.
While the film is too problematic to recommend, there are some high points I should mention. The film does have its creepy moments here and there, and the score by Jonathan Elias is creepy (if strangely reminiscent of John Carpenter's "Halloween" theme...but as they say, "if you're going to borrow, borrow from the best").
This isn't a terrible movie by any means, and it's certainly watchable. But one can't help feeling that it should have been better. It certainly had the potential.
Starring: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, John Franklin, Courtney Gains, Robby Kiger, AnneMarie McEvoy
Rated R for Horror Violence and Gore (I guess)
An Adult NightmareThat's what "Children of the Corn" was billed as. The idea of fanatically religious children killing all the adults in town at the behest of a cult leader (also a child) is chilling. Unfortunately, the film doesn't exploit this effectively. It's a gimmick, really.
Burt (Horton) and Vicky (Hamilton) are on their way across the country. They are taking the back roads (as every horror movie character does) and while they are fighting over a map, they run over a young kid. But they weren't the ones who killed him. He was murdered. Unable to find a way out of town, the two look for help in the nearby town of Gatlin. But this is no ordinary town; the adults are gone and the children are crazed killers who follow the word of Isaac (Franklin), a young prophet. And he has a plan for the adults who wandered in.
There are two problems with "Children of the Corn." The acting is awful and the film fails to really deal with the idea of killer children. Of the cast, the only one who gives a decent performance is Linda Hamilton, whose star-making role in "The Terminator" would come out later that year. Hamilton is good until the script lets her down towards the end. Peter Horton is uneven. There are times when he is convincing, but he's usually flat. The kids are awful. John Franklin is terrible as Isaac. He's so stiff that he becomes cartoonish; he's impossible to take seriously. Courtney Gains, who plays Isaac's henchman Malachai, at least has skill at non-vocal emoting, although speaking kind of ruins the effect (in all fairness, Franklin's make-up job is terrible). The two sympathetic kids, Job (Kiger) and Sarah (McEvoy) border on being too cute.
I think the film missed a great opportunity here. At no point do either Burt or Vicky really mention that these killers are kids. They never talk about how this changes things as opposed to killer adults. It doesn't make much difference to them, apparently. Nor do the kids ever act like kids. They're like lobotomized psychos. Having them act like children would have made the film a lot creepier. Perhaps director Franz Kiersch was too afraid of exploitation. If that was the case, he didn't go far enough to give the film much of an edge.
While the film is too problematic to recommend, there are some high points I should mention. The film does have its creepy moments here and there, and the score by Jonathan Elias is creepy (if strangely reminiscent of John Carpenter's "Halloween" theme...but as they say, "if you're going to borrow, borrow from the best").
This isn't a terrible movie by any means, and it's certainly watchable. But one can't help feeling that it should have been better. It certainly had the potential.
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