Children of the Corn (film)
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- This article is about the film version. For the short story, see Children of the Corn.
| Children of the Corn | |
|---|---|
 Original 1984 theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Fritz Kiersch |
| Produced by | Donald P. Borchers Terence Kirby |
| Written by | Stephen King (short story) George Goldsmith |
| Starring | Peter Horton Linda Hamilton |
| Music by | Jonathan Elias |
| Cinematography | Raoul Lomas |
| Editing by | Harry Keramidas |
| Distributed by | New World Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 9, 1984 (USA) |
| Running time | 96 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,000,000 |
| Followed by | Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice |
| IMDb profile | |
Children of the Corn is a 1984 horror film based upon the short story of the same name by Stephen King. Directed by Fritz Kiersch, the film stars Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton. The plot revolves around the fictional town of Gatlin, Nebraska, and a demonic force that demands that the children murder all adults.
- Taglines :
- An adult nightmare.-US Theatrical
- In their world adults are not allowed...to live.-Austraian Theatrical
- SWEET DREAMS. An adult Nightmare - VHS release
- And a child shall lead them
- The original that started it all - VHS re-release
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
In the small town of Gatlin, Nebraska a mysterious young boy-preacher, Isaac (John Franklin) and his second hand man Malachi, lead the children of the town in a rebellion, killing all of the adults. The children, controlled by the powerful Isaac, worship a god-like figure who lives in the corn fields, called "He Who Walks Behind The Rows".
Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton play "the outlanders": a couple passing through Nebraska who hit a boy with their car. They think they have killed him, but they soon realize that the boy was dead before the accident. Stopping at Gatlin, the couple find themselves at the mercy of the children's corn-cult and try to escape with their lives.
[edit] Sequels
The film had two sequels on general cinematic release:
Four further sequels were released directly to video:
- Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, 1996.
- Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror, 1998.
- Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return, 1999.
- Children of the Corn: Revelation, 2001.
A script for an eighth Children of the Corn movie was written by Joe Harris, best known for his film Darkness Falls, but seems to be in limbo. The movie is rumored not to be a sequel but more of a re-telling of the original tale.
Joe Harris stated the following back in 2003 when he was first asked to write the script. ""COTC8 will maintain the spirit of the original film and the Stephen King novella. It will be scary with hardcore thrills and disturbing deaths with elements you'll recognize as signatures of the franchise (chases through cornfields, deaths by sickles, teenage sex, sacrifices and the triumphant return of He Who Walks Behind the Rows included). It will take place in Gatlin and will draw on the history of that town as we know it."
When asked about it on his website, Joe Harris said "... with Dimension's structural changes following the Weinsteins' break with Disney, I suppose (from my reasonably uninformed position) anything can happen."
[edit] Trivia
- In South Park episode 416, "The Wacky Molestation Adventure", numerous plot lines follow the plot of Children of the Corn. The show's main characters even call the tourists to their town "outlanders", as done in both the movie and original short story.
- In the theatrical trailer, Stephen King is spelled Steven King. (NOTE: All current versions of the trailer on DVD have been digitally changed to reflect the correct spelling.)
- In the trailer, there are two extended scenes: (1) Malachai fully putting his hand around Joseph's neck before killing him, and (2) the sickle coming all the way around the possessor's leg.
- There was also another beginning sequence not used in the film. There have been copies with this "Alternate Beginning", the other extended scenes mentioned above, and the scene cut from the coffee shop massacre showing Isaac but his hand on the window, on some VHS copies (which have been dubbed the director's cut copies), but limited to 100. By now, these copies have been worn down to a mere population of 25 or fewer.
- Alternate titles: Children of the Corn, Stephen King's Children of the Corn, Horror Kids (France).
- In one Family Guy episode, the bus for the band Hanson breaks down in front of the Griffin's house. Peter pulls out a shotgun and screams "It's the children of the corn!" Then he takes a few shots.
- Unlike a regular poster, the Children of the Corn movie poster has gone through six changes. The first verson of the poster was the one pictured above with the children in the corn having yellow and blue eyes. Then it was changed with the children having only white eyes, then it was changed that the red background have orange mix into it to have a skyline feel, and then it was the original poster without the children. Then the poster was turned blue for the UK release of Children of the Corn 2: The Final Sacrifice, then the blue version had buildings put into the background for Children of the Corn 3: Urban Harvest (On the poster, Children of the Corn 3: The Chicago Massacre). And the poster was altered one last time to have more realistic crops in the background and Isaac's head in the background for Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return, wich copied the main outline of the French theatrical poster. And the last unique poster was the Italian poster, showing detail to the sickle, hand, realistic crops and three children in the middle of the poster.
