Movie Review--Children of the Corn

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Neil W

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2008
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Isle of Wight UK
Here's a tip. If you are a couple whose marriage is in trouble, it is something of a mistake to drive through the endless cornfields of Nebraska at night and then
run somebody down near an apparently deserted town where the locals have a thing for blood sacrifice with a view to aiding crop fertility
.

Yes, I know I just spoilered the plot, but honestly. This movie - which spawned a franchise of increasingly poor sequels - illustrates the problem with adapting Stephen King to the screen: the story itself, in terms of plot, is serviceable. But the magic comes from the words on the page. King's prose conveys things which movie conversions do not. Oh, the plot works well enough, but it is simple and, dare I say it, filled with cliché. The short story from which it is adapted - ah, well that is another story!

Peter Horton and Lina Hamilton are fine as the couple beset with problems, and a nice sense of atmosphere is built up. But, as a viewer who has not read the story or seen the film before - well, I bet you can guess what's going to happen.
 

HollyGolightly

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
9,660
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Heart of the South
Well, it scared me way back in the 80s, but I watch it with my 10 year old just a couple of months ago and she laughed at the graphics. The weird static stuff moving across the corn field seemed ridiculous. Now, I'm sure if I let her read the story it would terrify her. Peter Horton will always be Gary from 30something for me, and Linda will always be Terminator's gal.
 

Sundrop

Sunny the Great & Wonderful
Jun 12, 2008
28,520
156,619
I remember watching this movie in the late 80s. I thought it was alright.
The sequels weren't worth watching at all, in my opinion.

Hey @Neil W ..... would you consider giving a title other than "General Assessment" to your threads? .....
it makes me feel like I'm reading a physicians report in a mental ward....LOL :biggrin-new:
 

Neil W

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2008
1,203
2,592
Isle of Wight UK
Hey @Neil W ..... would you consider giving a title other than "General Assessment" to your threads? .....
it makes me feel like I'm reading a physicians report in a mental ward....LOL :biggrin-new:
I am a complete chump, or I would have been doing that from the start (in fact I keep thinking that all of them having the same name is a bit of a trial). Yes, I will do that from now on. I just hated to see all those titles with no threads against them. If I could get back and change the thread titles retrospectively, I would do so. If I can't and Ms Mod is able to do so, it would really fab and groovy if she were to do so, because I can't imagine she has much else to do (satirical wink satirical sympathetic wink).
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
Administrator
Jul 10, 2006
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I am a complete chump, or I would have been doing that from the start (in fact I keep thinking that all of them having the same name is a bit of a trial). Yes, I will do that from now on. I just hated to see all those titles with no threads against them. If I could get back and change the thread titles retrospectively, I would do so. If I can't and Ms Mod is able to do so, it would really fab and groovy if she were to do so, because I can't imagine she has much else to do (satirical wink satirical sympathetic wink).

Have been doing that since yesterday as I come across them in the New Posts. When I first saw the titles in the New Posts queue, I'd thought there had been a double post by mistake. :)
 

Sundrop

Sunny the Great & Wonderful
Jun 12, 2008
28,520
156,619
I am a complete chump, or I would have been doing that from the start (in fact I keep thinking that all of them having the same name is a bit of a trial). Yes, I will do that from now on. I just hated to see all those titles with no threads against them. If I could get back and change the thread titles retrospectively, I would do so. If I can't and Ms Mod is able to do so, it would really fab and groovy if she were to do so, because I can't imagine she has much else to do (satirical wink satirical sympathetic wink).
Nah.....you're not a chump at all. I was just getting confused with where I had been. I'm enjoying your posts, btw :)
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
9,682
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sweden
The first one was OK. But how many followups have they done? Please take mercy. It gotta stop. I have seen at least two more and i could have skipped them and there are at least three more. Sigh!
 
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EMTP513

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2012
503
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I've watched two different ones. Unfortunately I was with Richard when I watched the one where they were driving through Nebraska. He walked out before she was done asking those pointed questions about Vietnam. I didn't want to watch alone so I left. I've watched that by myself before and didn't like it. Now I couldn't if I wanted. What is it with this family and their gd massive interest in people being on fire? Someone in my family died that way. I have no fascination whatsoever with people dying in flames.
 
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Nuther_Wun

Member
Jan 12, 2017
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Not sure what happened to my first missive on this topic, so am re-posting (whether my re-post turns into a "repast" for you is debatable). The corollary between "Children of the Corn" and "The Lord of the Flies" (adolescent and preteen people adrift without adult supervision over an extended period of time, and the devolution into barbarism and madness) is striking. Personally, the story didn't grab me quite as much as many of SK's other works, but we're all different. And since I grew up in a small town "next door" to Nebraska in north central Missouri, I was used to being around some of the isolation depicted in SK's tale. As they say (I've never quite figured out who the nebulous "they" are), we are each shaped by our life experiences. So the openness and cornfields aplenty were more of a peaceful experience for me when I visited some of my farming relatives. But I do admit that when you're out there by yourself deep in the corn rows, and you hear something that's "just a tad different than the norm," you can't help but wonder...
 
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Blake

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Feb 18, 2013
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Am I wrong, but how come I think the Children of the Corn movie is one of the best Stephen King movies, but everywhere on the internet they say it sucks. I love this movie, I saw it when it first came out and have seen it about ten times. This movie has Atmosphere. It portrays pretty well what the short story does. It is a scary movie. The casting is fantastic. In the short story,
I always felt bad how he didn't escape at the end.
 
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GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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Am I wrong, but how come I think the Children of the Corn movie is one of the best Stephen King movies, but everywhere on the internet they say it sucks. I love this movie, I saw it when it first came out and have seen it about ten times. This movie has Atmosphere. It portrays pretty well what the short story does. It is a scary movie. The casting is fantastic. In the short story, I always felt bad how he didn't escape at the end.
....everyone's perceptions are different....
 
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