16 Corny Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Children Of The Corn’
When Stephen King’s short story Children of The Corn ran in the March 1977 issue of Penthouse, the acclaimed author had no idea that his 16-page tale of a corn-worshipping cult of creepy children would still be with him in the 21st Century. But it is!
It was first reprinted in his 1978 book, Night Shift, but what brought it into pop culture was the 1984 adaptation made for New World Pictures. This was the post-Corman era of New World, and the seventh movie made from King’s work.
Tuff Turf director Fritz Kiersch shot the film with a cast of unknowns, including Linda Hamilton and Peter Horton as the protagonists.
On a romantic road trip to Seattle, Vicky and her boyfriend Burt find themselves trapped in the ghost town of Gatlin, Nebraska, where every adult has been murdered by the children. They’re led by Isaac, a young boy who runs the town as a bizarre religious community. There are elements of The Wicker Man and Lord Of The Flies, with a dash of Who Can Kill A Child (Quien Puede Matar A Un Nino?), which came out a year before the short story.
With a wonderfully creepy John Franklin and Courtney Gains as the sect’s leaders—Isaac and Malachi, respectively—it introduced ‘He Who Walks Behind The Rows’ into the vernacular. Film critic Roger Ebert joked, “By the end of Children Of The Corn, the only thing moving behind the rows is the audience, fleeing to the exits.” In the original short story, ‘He Who Walks Behind The Rows’ is an unseen demonic entity. But in the film, he’s a crude rotoscoping effect you would expect to see in any early MTV video of that era.
Now check out 16 little-known facts about the long-running franchise!
1. Shockingly, it’s Stephen King’s longest-running film adaptation, with 11 films spanning four decades.
The rest of his adapted work doesn’t even come close. Pet Sematary got a paltry four films, The Mangler got three films, Carrie got three films and a miniseries, Salem’s Lot got three films and two miniseries, Sometimes They Come Back got two films and one miniseries, and It got two films and a miniseries.
The Stand, Firestarter, The Dead Zone, Lawnmower Man, Trucks, and The Mist only got two adaptations each. Plus, King sued Stephen King’s Lawnmower Man, to have his name removed because it had nothing to do with his story.
2. Linda Hamilton launched two franchises in 1984, Children Of The Corn and Terminator.
3. Set in Nebraska, the first film was actually shot in Iowa, which arguably has better, taller corn!
4. The actor playing evil teen Isaac, John Franklin, was actually 23—four years too old to be in his own cult!
5. John Philbin, who played cult member Amos, went straight into another long-running horror franchise after Children Of The Corn.
He played Chuck, Jewel Shepard’s nerdy, would-be boyfriend, in Return Of The Living Dead!
6. Children Of The Corn screenwriter George Goldsmith also wrote the ‘70s martial arts epic Force: Five, the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s fictitious Fox Force: Five in Pulp Fiction.
7. In the short story, the couple are unhappily married on their way to California and hate each other.
They’re both crucified at the end of the story, with Linda Hamilton’s character getting the added bonus of having her eyes gouged out!
8. A copy of Night Shift is seen on the dashboard of Horton and Hamilton’s car.
9. After Children Of The Corn II: The Final Sacrifice played briefly in theaters, every other film in the franchise went straight to video or cable.
10. Charlize Theron is an Extra in Children Of The Corn III: Urban Harvest.
When I asked her about it, she smiled and said, “No comment!”
11. Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Nicholas Brendon appears in Children Of The Corn III: Urban Harvest as ‘Basketball Player One’.
12. Naomi Watts’ first top billing came in Children Of The Corn IV: The Gathering.
13. Eva Mendes made her acting debut as Kir, in 1998’s Children Of The Corn V: Fields of Terror.
“It was the first thing I ever did,” she laughs. “And I really sucked in it!
14. South Park parodied Children Of The Corn in their Season Four episode, “The Wacky Molestation Adventure”.
15. A year after Corn, Courtney Gains almost prevents Marty McFly from being born by trying to cut in on Loretta and George at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance in Back To The Future!
16. King himself has a love/hate relationship with his unkillable franchise.
In his book Stephen King Goes To The Movies, the author opines that “the movie version is a kind of avatar of ‘70s horror movies even the spilled blood looks ready to snort coke and disco at the drop of a BeeGees tune…”
But, he also added, “But awww, c’mon, it’s not s’bad. To me, it had a Wicker Man-ish feel (the first Wicker Man, the good one), and Linda Hamilton, who would go on to Terminator glory, certainly gave it her all.”
He prefers his short story, “simply because one’s imagination is never on a budget. I think the written version is spookier because the corn is spookier. On film, it just looks like … corn. On film, corn is never going to give Dracula a run for his money.”
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