Disciples of the Crow
Disciples of the Crow is a 1983 short film, the first adaptation of Stephen King's short story Children of the Corn (1977), although it is very loosely based on the story. It was directed, written and edited by John Woodward, and co-produced by Woodward and Johnny Stevens, with music by Bill Averback, cinematography by Johnny Stevens and art direction by Kyle Sullivan.
Plot
The film begins in 1971 in the small town of Jonah, where a boy named Billy with a distinct birthmark on his jaw is performing a religious rite in front of a rudimentary cross in a cornfield, with a crow looking on. Afterwards, he joins several other children in a barn, where they brew a broth made of corn, herbs and a toad. The children seemingly receive visions from the smoke, and chant together. Later that day, the children are attending church with their parents, where they hold a silent conversation between each other as the image of Christ in a stained glass window transforms into a Death-like figure. That night, the children murder their parents in their beds.
Cut to several years later, Burt and Vicky, a quarreling couple, are driving through Oklahoma. After hearing a bizarre religious sermon on the radio, they accidentally run over a boy standing in the road, only to discover that his throat has been slit, with a knife that has a crow-shaped handle. Finding their way to Jonah, not noticing that one of the scarecrows in the cornfield is made from a human skeleton, the town seems abandoned, though Burt hears children in the distance. Unknown to them, a now teenage Billy has a vision of their arrival, and sends the other children to attack Vicki in the car while Burt is investigating a church, where he discovers a mural depicting a sinister-looking Jesus standing before an enormous perched crow with a stalk of corn in its beak, a pipe organ stuffed with corn husks, and a heavily revised Bible laden with images of crows. He is suddenly startled by the appearance of Billy, and hears Vicki scream outside, as the teenagers attack the car with axes. Coming to her rescue, Burt is attacked by Billy who is wielding a cross with a hidden knife inside, but Burt takes him down, and tosses the car keys to Vicky, letting her escape, though she is forced to kill one of the cultists with the crow knife. The couple manages to escape the town, though the car is damaged by an ear of corn stuffed into the engine as an engine light blinks, and Burt wonders out loud how no one else has found Jonah, unless it really is protected by a cruel and bloodthirsty God. The film then cuts from the car to a tremendous flock of crows flying as the credits roll, implying that the car might have exploded and killed Burt and Vicki.
Differences between film and novel
- The film takes place in Oklahoma instead of Nebraska.
- The town's name is changed from Gatlin to Jonah.
- Removal of most of the named characters, with Billy being a composite of Malachi and Isaac.
- The plot is heavily abridged, and ends with a successful escape from the town.
Cast
- Gabriel Folse as Burt
- Eleese Lester as Vicky
- John Woodward as Billy
