Children of the Corn

Movie Title--  Children of the Corn

Release Year--  1984

Running Time--  1 Hour and 32 Minutes

Director--  Fritz Kiersch

Cast--  Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R. G. Armstrong, John Franklin, Courtney Gains, Robby Kiger, Anne Marie McEvoy, Julie Maddalena, Jonas Marlowe

A young couple become stranded in a town where they are terrorized by a cult run by children.

Job (Robby Kiger) narrates the story of how his hometown of Gatlin, Nebraska was taken over by a cult run by children.  

The town of Gatlin is based around farming and the crop of choice is corn.  The town is surrounded by cornfields but one year, the crop fails and all the townspeople turn to prayer to try to save their livelyhood.  One Sunday, Isaac (John Franklin), a boy preacher, takes all the children except Sarah (Anne Marie McEvoy), who is at home sick in bed and Job, who's father won't allow him to go with Isaac,  into the cornfield to tell them about a new God referred to as "He Who Walks Behind the Rows".  That day all the children in town kill the adults and take it over as their own.

Three years later Burt (Peter Horton) and Vicky (Linda Hamilton) a young couple headed out to Seattle, Washington for Burt's new job have decided to take the back roads and accidentally hit s boy that is standing in the middle of the road.  Burt notices that the boy's throat has been slashed, so he wraps him up and puts him in the truck.  Burt tells Vicky that they should travel to Gatlin to report a murder and find the boy's parents.

When they finally arrive in Gatlin, they find the town abandoned but soon are chased by the children of the cult and Vicky gets captured but Burt gets away with the help of Sarah and Job.  Burt then decides that in order to survive, something must be done about the murderous children.

I truly hated this film.  It was hokey and very corny (no pun intended) and it felt very much like a made for TV film.  There really isn't too much I can say about it, the acting was not very good, the effects were bad (even for the 80's) and every aspect of it seemed like the production was trying to come in as under budget as they could.  

My recommendation is to just skip this one completely.  Until next time, Don't Forget the Popcorn.