Children of the Corn (1984)

Elevator Pitch: A young couple, Burt and Vicky,  are en route to Seattle and are driving between fields of maise in Nebraska when they run down a boy who has staggered into the road. They put the body in the boot (trunk) of the car and drive inevitably, it seems, to the hamlet of Gatlin, in search of a phone. Vicky, the young woman, is captured by predatory children and crucified. With the help of two children who are not part of the cabal Burt seaks out the ceremony and tries to rescue her.

Content: For starters we see the children massacring their parents before the opening credits. A boy attempts to escape from what we will come to know as Gatlin, but is killed and then run over accidentally by Burt and Vicky. Burt is a doctor and so knows that something is up. In the town there is a lot of spooky music and Vicky is left with the two non-cabal young children, resulting in her being captured and offered as a sacrifice to “That which walks behind the corn”. Eventually Burt is required to take on the children and the supernatural force which controls them.

A View: Well I’ll go to the foot of our stair! How on earth could all the adults in a small town have been killed without anyone noticing? And that’s just the start. Maybe the original story was different. It certainly had a different ending, but this film was lamentable. It was poorly acted, poorly scripted and poorly presented with very cheap special effects. The critics did not like it and nor did I, and just to ensure that no-one who reads this can have greater expectations I am making it a DON’T SEE.

Additional Info:  Despite the fact that this is a really crap film, it made money (covering its production costs on its first weekend) it has a cult following and has spawned two sequels and a new version.