by In an interview with Deadline(Opens in a new tab) Not long ago, when asked about his least favorite film adaptations of his work, Stephen King said, “I could do without all the The children of the corn It’s hard to imagine the horror writer changing his mind if he ever gets around to watching this new episode.
Writer/director Kurt Wimmer’s adaptation of King’s 1977 short story marks the eleventh (yes! eleventh!) film in the series, reimagining the original story while retaining the familiar setting of murderous children who form a strange cult around a small town with corn in Nebraska. .
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The problem? This bunch of murdering kids isn’t creepy enough, their takeover of the town makes no sense, and the whole thing lacks the shock factor that made Fritz Kiersch’s original 1984 adaptation succeed.
The children of the corn it’s just not scary enough.
There’s no shortage of creepy kids in horror movies — or in King’s work. One of the reasons the trope is used all the time is because it can be so effective and disturbing to see violence and menace in the hands of new people, ranging from old classics. The Exorcist in more recent (and very scary) examples such as G and The Innocents.
The children of the corn you won’t be joining them anytime soon. Despite the fact that the main antagonists of the film are children, the all-important creepiness is sorely lacking, with the film leaning too hard on a scary atmosphere and sacrificing any tension to do so. To be clear, the fault isn’t the acting – the child actors all do a fine job, with Kate Moyer particularly effective as their tiny, psychopathic leader Eden Edwards. The problem is that the script doesn’t give the kids enough to work with. The dialogue isn’t jarring enough, there are minimal jumps, and we pretty much know exactly what’s going on and where things are headed from the start.
Oh, and the monster that all the kids love looks like Corn Myrrh. Sorry.
The movie has a few plot holes.
In the original 1984 film, the opening scene(Opens in a new tab) showed a cafe full of clueless adults being suddenly and brutally murdered by a group of well-armed children and teenagers. The scene was effective because it was shocking but also semi-believable, as the kids a) surprise the adults, b) come armed with scythes and cleavers, and c) include some older kids in their ranks who can handle the adults to the floor. Is that a bit far-fetched? Yes. But it felt that way could have happened.
by Wimmer The children of the cornMeanwhile, it quickly takes a sickle at every semblance of believability, with kids terrorizing adults in a way that’s so unrealistic it quickly becomes noticeable. How do these kids manage to round up all the adults and put them in a jail cell, for example? Why don’t adults try to escape when the cell door opens? How can children move adults once they are captured?
Yeah, okay, the kids are armed, but seeing 10 grown men cower under the gaze of a tiny kid still feels silly.
Are there any good spots?
In the film’s defense, it clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously. The children of the corn it revels in gore and hammy special effects, and if you go into it looking for some light entertainment, you could probably do worse. The acting is pretty decent, too, Wimmer’s direction is solid, and Andrew Rowland’s cinematography includes some undeniably beautiful sweeping shots of seemingly endless cornfields – the kind that’s so expansive you could actually imagine people getting lost in them. .
However, if you want a movie about people getting lost in a field, you’d be better off watching Stephen King and Joe Hill’s Netflix short story adaptation, In the tall grass.
Or, better yet, just watch the original The children of the corn(Opens in a new tab).
Children of the Corn is in cinemas from March 3 and is available to order from March 23.
