Children of the Corn review by Bobby Blakey
In 1984 Stephen King’s short story Children of the Corn that was featured in the Night Shift collection got the big screen treatment. Over the years the film has become a cult classic spawning eight sequels and a remake in 2009. Now Equilibrium and Ultraviolet director Kurt Wimmer is taking on the classic tale with a new entry to the franchise, but this time a reimagining of the original film starring Elena Kampouris, Kate Moyer, Callan Mulvey and Bruce Spence. Could this latest entry bring something special to the franchise or will it get lost in the maze?
Children of the Corn follows a psychopathic twelve-year-old girl in a small town in Nebraska who recruits all the other children and goes on a bloody rampage, killing the corrupt adults and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won't go along with the plan is the town's only hope of survival.
While I love all things with creepy kids and am a big fan of the kids in the original film I was never really into this series. It has its moments with the original film still standing above them all with Isaac and Malachai stealing the show. This new entry is pretty much different in every way outside of the kids and the corn. While still not as strong as the original there are elements that surprisingly worked well.
The film wastes no time getting to it and setting up the insanity that we all know is coming. The biggest difference this time around is that the cult of corn kids are being led by a young girl played by Kate Moyer who does a good job at being creepy, cute and all around insane. She’s no Isaac, but she’s not trying to be and
this isn’t the same story. While there are plenty of creepy kids here none of them really stand out as anything other than background followers and that kind of hurt the flick for me. We had Malachai in the original that gave us two personalities to contend with and made for a more interesting dynamic. Here is just her and her followers.
Where this film does raise the bar is in the creature of the corn itself. This time around we have a cool monster to deal with as opposed to that weird shining light effect. The creature design was pretty cool and matched up well with the story they are telling and really brought a different vibe to the film despite it still being generic. Sadly it doesn’t get as much screen time as you might want once it arrives, but enough to make it something fun to watch.
I wish there had been more scares, gore or something to help elevate this film to what it could have been. There is something there, but it just needed something more. It does have an ending that lends itself to possible more entries into this story which wouldn’t be surprising because the corn in this franchise seems to keep growing through the years no matter what.
Decide for yourself and check out Children of the Corn available now on digital and then on Blu-ray and DVD on May 9th from RLJE Films.
