A boy preacher named Isaac goes to a town in Nebraska called Gatlin and gets all the children to murder every adult in town. A young couple have a murder to report and they go to the nearest town (Gatlin) to seek help but the town seems deserted. They are soon trapped in Gatlin with little chance of getting out alive.

Children on the Corn is one of those films that amongst horror fans, has achieved somewhat of a “classic” status. And I am one who hold that belief. But it must be know, that just because it is considered a “classic” by some, doesn't mean it is a good film. Case in point...Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space is considered a “classic”, but it is also one of the worst films ever made; if not the worst film every made. So I'm keeping my personal feelings about this movie out of the review.

The story starts off with this couple traveling to L.A, and they seem to have a nice relationship. Aside from the fact that Linda Hamilton's character, Vicky, seems to have some pent up sexual emotions, from not being able to sleep with Peter Horton's character, Burt. And this is something that plays out a couple of times throughout the film.

The other clever thing, that makes no sense to the story, is that as a gift, Vicky give Burt a Zippo lighter. Remember, Burt is a doctor. I'm not saying doctors don't ever smoke, but I think it is a stupid plot point, because it doesn't come back till the end of the film. And it's use at the end of the film, is the only reason it is in the film in the first place. Useless plot point for a film that lacks in plot all together.

Let's get to the “children”. The children for the most part really ain't that intimidating in my opinion. Sure, John Franklin does an amazing job as Isaac, but he was also 20 some years old when he made the movie. And Courtney Gains is a little bit more menacing as Malachi. So yes, two characters does constitute children, but not to the extend that the title, and the original short story lean us towards.

And that is going to lead us into the acting. I don't think anyone goes into a film like this expecting fantastic acting. Especially from a studio that was at one time run by Roger Corman. But I think the two leads could have given us better performances. I mean, I've seen them both in many other performances, and they are really amazing actors. So to see them pretty much “phone in” their performances was a little disheartening. I expected much more from Linda Hamilton, and she gives us a laughable character. But I will take her portrayal of Vicky over the version we get in the remake. But that is a whole other review in and of itself.

The production value of this movie is really lacking. For the time, they did manage to pull off a lot for very little. But you really see where they lost money for production the time we see “He Who Walks Behind The Rows” at the end of the film. I mean the graphics of this are so bad, it almost looks like they were drawn on the film by a child with a yellow crayon.

When you put all the good and all the bad together, what you get is a so-so film. It really isn't good by any stretch of the imagination. But when you look at it for the time...sure it was probably really state of the art. But when you look at it now, it really doesn't hold up very well. I think if they would have put more time into constructing a proper story, and left out the garbage graphics at the end, then yes, maybe it would've been able to withstand the tests of time. But what we ended up with is just another Stephen King movie that makes me want to read the original story then sit through a viewing of this.

That all being said, I do enjoy this movie...but it's far from a good film. And even farther from a perfect film. If you enjoy seeing classic horror films that paved the way for the films of today, then I highly recommend watching it. But chances are, if you are one of those people, you have probably already seen the film...thusly making the point mute. The majority of audiences will not enjoy this film, unless you have a taste for the B-movie genre. It's hard for me to say this about a movie that I've enjoyed watching this I was a child...but it is something that needs to be said. And I'm trying to give an honest viewpoint for a movie that somehow spawned a whole slew of sequels...that you can read about, as soon as you finish this one.

Till Next Time Kiddies...

-RJ