Description:The murder rate is as high as an elephant's eye in this flaccid adaptation of Stephen King's short story. While driving through Nebraska en route to a new job, medico Burt (Peter Horton) and his wife Vicky (a pre-Terminator Linda Hamilton) nearly run over a mutilated boy who staggers from the cornfields. Seeking help, they enter the tThe murder rate is as high as an elephant's eye in this flaccid adaptation of Stephen King's short story. While driving through Nebraska en route to a new job, medico Burt (Peter Horton) and his wife Vicky (a pre-Terminator Linda Hamilton) nearly run over a mutilated boy who staggers from the cornfields. Seeking help, they enter the town of Gatlin, whose under-20 residents have butchered their parents per the decree of junior-grade holy roller Isaac (John Franklin), who preaches the word of a being called "He Who Walks Behind the Rows." King's original story (from his 1978 collection Night Shift) was a lean and brutal mélange of Southern-gothic atmosphere and E.C. Comics-style gore, which scripter Greg Goldsmith effectively neutralizes by adding a youthful narrator (a grating Robbie Kiger) and putting an upbeat spin on the story's morbid conclusion. Fritz Kiersch's direction is TV-movie flat, with the sole inspired moment (hideous religious iconography glimpsed during a bloody "service") delivered as a throwaway. Aside from Horton and Courtney Gains (as Isaac's hatchet man Malachai), the performances are dreadful, and the depiction of the Lovecraftian monster-god as a sort of giant gopher inspires more laughter than terror. Amazingly, the film spawned six sequels; Franklin (Cousin Itt in the Addams Family films) later appeared in and wrote 1999's Children of the Corn 666. --Paul Gaita... (more)(less)
"As ye sow, so shall ye reap - and for all its initial creepiness, in the end this Mid-western gothic yields a big cropful of corn.
Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette"
raisleygordon added this to a list 1 month, 2 weeks ago
"Katsottu: 13.1.2013
Katselin tuossa yksi ilta DVD-kokoelmaani ja aloin miettiä, miksi minulla on Maissilapset? Leffa on lojunut hyllyssä varmaan kymmenen vuotta, enkä vieläkään ollut sitä katsonut. Päätin korjata asian. Enkä kyllä vieläkään tajua, miksi minulla on tämä elokuva… Maissilapset on varmaan kulttijuttu, mutta henkilökohtaisesti en voi nostaa elokuvaa kovin korkealle King-filmatisoinneissa. Alussa on suhteellisen hyvä kohtaus, jossa kaupungin lapset ottavat vallan, "
portlander added this to a list 4 months, 1 week ago
"
Watched November 5th - Amazon Streaming -
1st Viewing
"There's something very strange about this town"
- Vicky Baxter
I had heard alot about Children of the Corn, but hadn't seen it, or if I have, I forgot I had, which is possible because the movie is pretty forgettable. It does set up the premise of murderous kids serving the demon of the cornfield well and the beginning part of the movie is sufficiently creepy - but then the film starts to fall apart and the ending is dreadful - the act"
ladybellatrix added this to a list 6 months, 2 weeks ago
"Oct. 24th
Where the fuck is Gatlin? Does anyone know the way to Gatlin?! Augh!!
And holy shit, that kid's mouth makes Steven Tyler's look small.
The first 30 minutes start out promising. And then the final, oh, 60 minutes or so go straight to shit real quick. Possibly this was something of a decent flick when it first hit audiences in 1984. But by now, the movie gets stuck in a lot of "been there, seen that"- and seen it far better. With better performances and better direction. The child"
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