Stephen King’s novels and short stories were one a driving
force in the horror genre in the 1980’s. And how could Mr. King pass up the
chance to write about a cult? And staying true to his style (that he had then),
this wasn’t any normal cult, nay, but a story about a cult of children who must
kill anyone over 18 and offer the victim as a sacrifice to their dark god! “Children
of the Corn” is such a story and was one of the few movies that I was forbidden
to see even if it was an edited-for-TV version by my mom. It was a dark and
violent movie for its time but what impressed me the most was the film quality.
This movie was produced in 1984 but looks like it could have come out this
year. It’s a fun movie but the horrible acting by the two evil children Isaac
and his enforcer Malachai are distracting.
The tiny farming town of Gatlin, Nebraska has fallen on hard
times and when the crops fail to grow one year, the townspeople resort to
prayers (sounds a lot like the premise of “Dagon”!”. Their prayers are heard by
“The One Who Walks Behind the Rows” and orders the child Isaac and the other
children of the town to murder their parents in his name, which they violently
do. Not all of the children are “believers”, including Job, his sister Sarah,
and a few others. The story really gets going when one of the non-believers is
killed by Malachi in the corn rows, and the child stumbles into the road and is
hit by Burt and Vicky, two adults who are trying to drive to Seattle for a new
job. Burt and Vicky quickly realize something is wrong in Gatlin as they look
for help and a phone. Under Isaac’s direction, the two adults have been sent as
a sign and must be sacrificed to their “god”. Vicky is caught and prepared for
the ritual, Malachai challenges Isaac’s aurthority, and “The One Who Walks
Behind the Rows” gets really pissed off and tries to kill the adults himself.
Favorite moment – The Southpark paradoy of this film is one
of my favorites!
No comments:
Post a Comment