Children of the Corn (1984)

A Disappointing Continuation

Blistering performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are different kinds of Stephen King's movie adaptations, and the one about the blood thirsty religious cult of children in some God forsaken village in Nebraska is not one of the milder ones. Pretty gory for its era, it tends to dissipate its script when it comes to credibility of the entire concept, but nonetheless, 1984 version of ''Children of the Corn'' will give you a few goosebumps. Acting will be solid, especially when it comes to children, but much of the true story behind the cult will be saved for the much weaker sequels. ''Children of the Corn'' is still to be considered as one of the more serious horrors of the 1980s.

I can remember renting this out on VHS back in the 1980's when it came out & watching it twice within 24 hours. Don't think that I've seen this, the original, since, until now, having just sat down with my teenage son - who's a bit of a Stephen King fan - and watched it on DVD. Certainly looks dated now, especially the demon effects, and also a lot tamer than I remember (my copy is rated 18 but surely it would now be a 15), though there are a couple of jump scenes. I also recall reading the short story, needless to say that it was better than the film. However, it's still good viewing & I'm giving it 7/10, nostalgia being reflected in my score.

I first watched this movie in its entirety as an adult, but did remember watching parts of it as a kid. It was a pretty intriguing movie about a demonic cult formed of children whose goal is to kill people over 18, and plans on sacrificing a couple who stumbled onto their town, Burt (Peter Horton) and Vicky (Linda Hamilton), to the devil.The plot was fairly fast-paced from start to finish, from the attention-grabbing introduction to the thrilling climax; the concept of a cult with children, them chanting fearlessly and leaving a murderous path in the town, was pretty creepy. The music score was fairly haunting and the acting was quite mediocre - some you might actually find corny and emotionless. But overall, it's a decent horror flick.Grade B

The many, and admittedly mostly very poor sequels to Children of the Corn, already prove that the original movie did something very well for them wanting to revisit this concept. From the incredibly creepy opening scene to the introduction of the actual likable two main characters the movie sets the tone of the suspense to come perfectly. There is no weak acting in the movie and even the children do a phenomenal job. Two of them are actually really high in my list of creepiest characters horror movies. And that soundtrack! It's easily just as eerie and effective as the Halloween soundtrack by John Carpenter. Admittedly, this movie has a few weaker scenes but some are so brilliant it easy to forgive the movie for those. The story is quite simple, maybe even thin, but that in no way hurts the atmosphere and the viewer becoming invested in what happens on screen. The first time I watched it I remember being scared at every corner while walking my dog for quite a while, my imagination making the worst out of my actually very peaceful and somewhat boring village! Maybe by today's standards, this movie isn't that scary anymore but I bet many people who haven't seen it yet will still really enjoy this underrated little gem.