Children of the Corn (1984)

I have seen Stephen King adaptations both great and small and I have figured out that the best of these are playing at a very human level.  I am thinking of Carrie, Christine and The Dead Zone.  His best work brings out the fears in very real characters, those that we can stand next to and identify with.  The worst of these fail at that level and that’s what happens with Children of the Corn.

Where is the humanity supposed to come from?  Here is the story of a couple of highway travellers who arrive in a town that seems abandoned except for a few children.  Then slowly the couple comes to realize that the children are part of an evil cult that worships He Who Lives Behind the Rows, an apparent demon spirit that shakes the stalks and moves around like a puppy running under your living room rug.  This is an actual spirit or demon or monster.  It’s real, and therefore the spell is broken.

Perhaps if it turned out to be something all-too-common then we could have a healthier pay-off.  But this is a movie about kids murdering and maiming and sacrificing each other or a demon-spirit that we never really get to see or understand.  This is a vicious, bloody little movie that then arrives at one of those Jump Out of the Backseat endings that feels like a cheat.  For this movie, it’s par for the course.