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Children of the Corn (1984)
45 Plays11 months ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris head into the cornfield to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Children of the Corn, which originally hit theaters on March 9th, 1984.
One of several 80s adaptations of Stephen King works, Children of the Corn stars Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton as Burt and Vicky, a couple driving to Seattle who get waylaid in Nebraska when they accidentally run over a boy named Joseph who stumbles out of the cornfield outside of Gatlin. Looking for a phone to get help and contact the authorities, Vicky and Burt find that Gatlin has been taken over by a cult of children led by Isaac (John Franklin) that worships a demonic entity called "He Who Walks Behind the Rows".
Zach and Chris talk about the ebb and flow of quality for Stephen King adaptations over the years, Burt's hilarious reprimanding of the kids of Gatlin, what the kids need with hundreds of gallons of corn-based fuel, Malachi dragging Vicky all over town for most of the movie, the differences in the new reboot that released last year and more.
Next week the guys are watching True Lies in honor of the James Cameron classic finally arriving on 4K (along with Aliens and The Abyss)
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview of 'Children of the Corn'
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com. Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast podcast for the week of March 4th, 2024. I'm your host Zach. I'm your co-host Chris.
00:00:27
Speaker
And yeah, this week we are heading into the cornfield to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Children of the Corn, which came out March 9th, 1984. So if you're hearing this, it's this weekend is the big, the big 40th anniversary of Children of the Corn. Yes. Make your sacrifices to he who walks among the rows.
00:00:52
Speaker
or walk behind the rows. And yeah, this came up right smack down in the middle of the 80s cycle of Stephen King movies. Right around the same time, you had Christine and Kujo and Dead Zone and Firestarter.
Stephen King's Career: Peaks and Valleys
00:01:09
Speaker
Stand By Me was a couple years afterwards. Running Man was a couple years afterwards.
00:01:15
Speaker
One of the peak Stephen King times, and also he was also directing his own movie. He directed Max Momodrive around his time. Silver Bullet came out, which he wrote. Cat's Eye, which he wrote segments for. So lots of Stephen King stuff going on in the mid 80s. Would you say this is peak Stephen King? Well, there's definitely peaks and valleys of Stephen King eras.
00:01:44
Speaker
80s was definitely, I feel like a pretty great, if you look at Cujo, Deadzo, and Christine, stand by me, those are all fantastic. And then it kind of dipped into early 90s to mid 90s. It was kind of like maybe a lower tier. And then we got mid 90s, we could ramp back up because it was Shawshank and Green Mile were late 90s. And then maybe early 2000s, we ramped down again because it was Dreamcatcher and Secret Window and 1408.
00:02:16
Speaker
So I feel I feel like it's like these like it's like really a very like it's like a roller coaster. It's like it's constantly going up and down as far as like the quality of Steve King adaptations. And they were definitely in like a like recently we've been like a pretty like really solid kind of, you know, Stephen King era. We got like, you know, the movies and Gerald's game and Dr. Sleep and. It comes back in waves. Yes.
Origins and Publication of 'Children of the Corn'
00:02:47
Speaker
But I mean, it's it's you know, every it's it's been since like like 1976, it's been like every at least every two or three years has been the Stephen King adaptation. So sometimes multiple ones a year. So but children the corn, I think it's like ever since the first movie told the late 90s was like every four years there was a children quarter movie. Well, I think yeah, I think Stephen, I think children the corn is like the
00:03:17
Speaker
like the Stephen King adaptation has like the most sequels, which like none of the most sequels that anything Stephen King wrote is just like these like other weird like continuations of Chilling the Corn. I think only the ties together is that people came from or go back to gambling. Yeah. And the and the original and the original story came from Night Shift, which is like a pretty, pretty big
00:03:45
Speaker
Uh, Stephen King, uh, anthology collection, you get tons, tons of Stephen King annotations have come from night shifts, um,
Film's Cast and Characters
00:03:53
Speaker
totally corn. And then also like the boogeyman, which, you know, we got last year was an annotation of boogeyman, uh, the mangler, uh, graveyard shift, uh, trucks, which became maximum overdrive. Uh, the lawnmower man was in night shifts. So tons of, uh, tons of stuff that like kind of got adapted into like, uh, movies or TV shows came from night shift.
00:04:15
Speaker
And Chilly Corn was one of the stories in there. But also weirdly, Chilly Corn started out and it was published in Penthouse. And then it got- Nothing for adult content or about murderous kids to really set your fire when you're getting a Penthouse book.
00:04:36
Speaker
Yeah, it was published in the March 1977 issue of Penthouse. Then Night Shift came out in 1978, collected like a bunch of other like Stephen King. Because Stephen King was like publishing a bunch of stuff in like other all these different magazines, all these different kind of like horror magazines or like sci-fi magazines. And like they were all kind of just like shorts and then they got collected in Night Shift and then that kind of like kicked off. Like he started like doing like more of his like longer novels and everything, everything kicked off in there.
Plot and Themes: Children Take Over Gatlin
00:05:06
Speaker
But yeah, show the corn. So we've got Pierre Horton, who was in 30 something is like probably one of his biggest claim to fame. And Linda Hamilton, who in the same year, show the corn came out was also in the Terminator. So so a big so a big, a big little Hampton year was 1984.
00:05:28
Speaker
I, I always thought this was like a year or two before. I didn't know it was the same year. Like literally, literally like, I think probably a couple months after the show, the court came out, it was like, it was a terminator came out. So that's good. Cause she does not do much in this movie. Oh, yeah, terminator was the fall of 84. So it was good. So like, so obviously I chose the course March. So like, like end of the year was like the big, like the Hamilton, like, you know, star turd. That's good.
00:05:58
Speaker
Yeah, she's definitely not quite up to like, you know, Sarah Connor levels in the corner. But yeah, but yeah, the basic setup is that there is a town in Nebraska called Gatlin where all the kids have decided to kill all the adults and they've taken over town. And then Linda Hamilton and Peter Horton are driving through Nebraska to get to Seattle. And then they end up in Gatlin and, you know, wacky hygiene to sue.
00:06:33
Speaker
And it's it's uh, the opening scene of this movie is actually like I wish there was more in this movie that was like the opening scene because that's kind of like the only kind of like mayhem from the kids that we get like like full-on like you know, like murderous mayhem is like the opening scene. It's like an organized attack, which in the book it's actually more of that. It's like how they rise and the horrific nature of these like innocent
00:07:00
Speaker
hometown kids who inside are just murderous and very well organized. Yeah, all organized by Isaac, who is a very creepy, just like, just like an Amish kid. And it's like, like, I don't know if he's like the son of a preacher, or he's just like, he just is very religious. But like, he's like, kind of like, he's, he's been preaching to the kids and basically like, like, kind of like,
00:07:26
Speaker
like brain Washington to like to follow this demonic entity in the cornfield who is the true God. And then all kids in town are like, yeah, that seems good. Like we'll kill the adults. Yeah, these kids without much proof are just ready to like do these horrific things.
00:07:48
Speaker
Well, it's weird because it doesn't seem like he walks behind the rows. It's not like he's brainwashing the kids or possessing them. It's just like Isaac is primarily talking to him and then Isaac commits all the kids to... Isaac talks to the kids and they're like, yeah, that sounds cool. I'm down. I'm down to kill adults. So yeah.
00:08:17
Speaker
There's the thing about the corn that we still can't figure out. And if you remember, it was like... They started sticking it everywhere. They started jamming it in cars and jamming it in windows and jamming it all over the place. No, no, no. That matches the corning. That's fine. It's stupid, but I like it. It's because something kids would do is, well, there's a lot of corn and they'll just do that. I think when we went to the commentary, I said,
00:08:43
Speaker
Every time there was corn, I shouted that. Remember when we did the commentary track of this movie? I don't think we did a commentary track for killing the corn. We did. OK, I thought the look at the work. I don't remember that at all, but maybe. So did you do that maybe in the site or something? I don't think we did an action one. Maybe you did that with another site or something. Really? Yeah.
00:09:11
Speaker
But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah remember us do we get free of the action but uh, I know you've done some all that like guest commentaries for other places so I don't think so
00:09:32
Speaker
The thing about the core monster is the core monster is selectively okay with every once every year or so every few months gets sacrificed from the own kids. Yeah, so he's gonna deplete his own cult. You know, they're not recruiting more people to replenish his cult. It's sort of like, as soon as anyone hits 19, they get sacrificed. So that's just the rule.
00:10:00
Speaker
And then it's weird that like, you know, like older kids are just like, I'll also take it to my Isaac of like, like, like there's like 16 or 17 year olds. There's like, yeah, it's like 10 year old kid is like making a
Cult Dynamics and Character Motivations
00:10:12
Speaker
lot of sense. Like, yeah, that's the crazy part. That's the like, uh, he's just spewing out like sort of religious things like Malcolm, like Malachi, Malachi seems like way older than Isaac, but Malachi is like a true believer. Like he's like a hundred percent like, yeah.
00:10:30
Speaker
but he might be 18. So he's sort of like, I don't know. That's the thing. Malachi in the beginning seems like he's already like 18 and it's supposed to be three years later. So now he's like 20, but he's just like, no, no, no, doesn't count. Yeah. Well, one of the craziest things is that, um, uh, the actor who plays Isaac apparently was 24 when he made this movie. Yeah.
00:10:57
Speaker
So he's like, he has that condition that makes him look younger. Yeah. Yeah. No, Isaac is not like a kid. That's why just he, he looks way too, um, I don't want to say normal, but it just way too mature for kids to just understand, you know, it's not like he is easy for everyone to get his, his like communication.
00:11:22
Speaker
You know, like, he speaks in old English, too? Well, the security system, too, is, like, so after they take over town, they, like, you kind of get the backstory. After the initial, like, kill, like, they attack, like, everyone is diner, and they, like, poison the coffee, and they're, like, slaying people's throats, and, like, shoving, like, the guy who runs the diners, like, hands, like, a meat grinder.
00:11:42
Speaker
Um, but after that, you get all these like, these like, uh, kid drawings from, uh, is it Sarah who's like the, like, uh, who has like the, she's like the Stephen King psychic child who can like, she has like premonitions. She has the shining. Yeah. I mean, it's just like an easy page. It doesn't explain how she gets it. Like it's sort of like in the same time she has that fever. And then when everyone's having like lunch, she gets her first vision.
00:12:11
Speaker
And I don't know if that's like, you know, there's gotta be a balance and there's evil, there's gotta be good. So her good is that she can see things, she has a gift. But is that from like, I don't know, what's the, what's anti-corn? Like, tomatoes? Like a tomato pod? You know, it's like... Is the turtle from it? Just communicating to her?
00:12:35
Speaker
I mean, you can still say that this is something in that Stephen King universe where there's just an entity that lives in this cornfield that is fucking around and just yeah, I'm sure I'm sure there's like a like Dark Tower or some sort of like reference like that like references like the whatever the demon is in this movie or something. I don't mind that this is a demon and it doesn't mean it's like just because it's in the corn. It just happens to live in the cornfield and get these vulnerable kids.
00:13:05
Speaker
And that's the scary part. That, I think, is like, Steam King nailed the idea of these small town people who pretty much lose to these kids that are passionate about this corn monster. And I mean, it doesn't have to be a corn monster, it has to be a demon in their town. And build a crazy society around it. But I do like that the neighboring towns know that something happened, and they want no part in it. And this movie, it's just like,
00:13:33
Speaker
For three years, no commerce came to this town. No one checked on anything. How's the electric company not going to pay these bills? Well, apparently, Isaac told him you can't have any modern... Basically, Isaac turned him into an Amish community where they can't have any electronics or any new things. One of the pictures that Sarah draws is them throwing all the TVs and stuff into a fire. They got rid of all electronics, but then
00:14:00
Speaker
Like Sarah and her brother, Joe, like still have like a record player. That's what is like heretic thing. OK, that makes sense. Yeah.
Plot Logic and Supernatural Elements
00:14:09
Speaker
Yeah. Because like all kind of modern stuff is like that's like, you know, anti like that's like anti-religious to the group or whatever. And then their one defense mechanism is they left the crazy old man who runs the gas station outside town alive to like dissuade people from coming in. But also see the one paying taxes and stuff like.
00:14:31
Speaker
You know, like they needed him a lot and as the one adult, so they can still function a town. That's why, that's why it's like, um, oh, well, I know you said you saw the new one, but like, that's, that's, it's like, if, if a move, cause like, then they changed a bunch of stuff for the new one. Like if a movie came out like today, there was like more like, you know, in line with this, uh, 84 version, it would just be like, like, how, how is this not like, like,
00:14:58
Speaker
You know, like Google Maps, like how they, because like people would drive to town all the time. And then it's like, you know, people would be like, like calling people on their cell phones, like tweeting things out of like, these kids are going crazy. Like, hey, we need to send defense here. There is obviously like a Jamestown situation. People would be like live streaming like that, like the kids are going crazy and killing people. Well, that's what happened in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. Oh, like the Netflix one.
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, basically they were talking about it. And it's just like, well, it's just so far away that anyone can help you. Like no one can. But the local town is corrupt so they don't want to help either. And also like like Linda Hamilton and Peter Horton would like have no reason to even like try to get to town because they would have a cell phone. No, it's like a perfect time of just these people, no communication, listening to car radios and just like on a road trip. Yeah.
00:15:59
Speaker
They're going to Seattle because Bert is going to be a doctor in Seattle. Gotcha. So they need to drive through Nebraska for some reason. But yeah, then they get like, I can't tell those like good directions or bad directions by the gas station guy.
00:16:20
Speaker
Well, that was like before they even get to the gas station, they run over the one like Joseph, the kid who's trying to escape from Gatlin, who got killed by Malachi. And it's like like probably the craziest scene in the entire movie where he stumbles in the middle of the street and then it gets like fucking demolished by the car. OK, so you think that's going to be something haunting and sort of kind of pivotal? Nope.
00:16:45
Speaker
I think that it's like Linda Hamilton has the one bad dream and then the movie tells you to forget about that.
00:16:50
Speaker
Well, I love that like, like Burt is like, well, he was, he was stabbed, someone slit his throat before he, someone on the road. So he was basically dead before he, like, he's, he's dead in the middle of the road. So like, we didn't kill him. It's sort of just that quick line and then Linda Hamilton and Burt, Burt already forgot about it and he's the one who drove the car. They shove him in his truck, shove him in the body of the trunk and it's never referenced or like acknowledged again.
00:17:20
Speaker
Do you think the body's still in the car throughout the whole movie? Oh, 100% it is, yeah. They never take it out. They never do anything with it. They're just like, that body's just sitting in that truck forever. Because at the end of the movie, they just leave the car in town and walk away. And that's the part of the movie, yeah. But yeah, the movie just kind of ends like a TV movie where crayons are rolling, and then they're just walking away. That is very anti-climactic.
00:17:49
Speaker
But before we get to that, so we're not talking about the society of these kids where anytime anyone enters, they're just like, well, we have to murder them or feed them to corn people. But I feel like they don't want to feed them the corn exactly. Like they, well, Malachi is all straight up. Let's murder anyone that isn't us. Yeah. I think it's presumed that I think all of the people that they murdered in town have been thrown in the cornfield.
00:18:20
Speaker
Well, they are lying around the only body is like the police officer, like the blue, the blue man was a blue suit man or something or blue like they call him like some some like weird kid day for him. But it's like a blue man because he had a plan. And then he left his body like a like a corn crucifix. But yeah, everyone else they murdered and then they left the deal, the old man deal who was the gas station.
00:18:52
Speaker
Well, Malachite comes back and then they just do like an ambush scene, but he goes out swinging at least. I mean, he pumps himself up. There's a, there's like a sad moment where his dog's killed and there's really no reason to kill him. It was more like Malachite is just like, well, I wanted to kill him. Yeah. I'm just, I'm just crazy. Yeah. And again, did Isaac, how does Isaac interpret the corns well?
00:19:23
Speaker
Because at least he's sort of religious, so he kind of talks crazy to the corn who's already crazy. Well, but then Malachi just sort of know like I'm leading like, you know, later on, it's like you could see the seeds or Malachi wants to be in charge. But yeah, I don't think he's ever talked to the corn monster. Yeah, I think I think Isaac is like the only person who's actually like can like is like communicating with like the demon monster.
00:19:51
Speaker
Maybe. I don't know. The movie spends no time to try to explain that. It happens. That part happens so quick. Yeah. And then, like, Isaac, he got a bunch of rules, which you kind of see, like, written in blood across all the buildings. There's, like, oh, is there rules they need to follow? And then, yeah, we get stuff like, if you turn 19, you have to, like, sacrifice yourself to the cord. Was that Isaac's idea? I think that was the corn monster.
00:20:19
Speaker
I mean, I think that was like, I guess that was one of the laws that the corn monster, like he walks behind the rows, like said, like, I don't want any, I don't want anyone over 18 in town. You gotta, if you turn 19, I'm gonna walk into the cornfield, I'm gonna eat ya. You're not kidding anymore. Yeah. You gotta do adult things, like get fucking carved. I kinda grabbed my chest, yeah. And everybody's gotta drink your blood from a corn bowl.
00:20:49
Speaker
That was wacky. The fact that they still have like a church thing going on about the religion that they made themselves about corn, that scene where it's like how much corn products they can cram in there was hilarious. It's like corn knife, corn bowl, probably corn paper. And then like, I think the town's run on corn diesel. It's something where I think it's put away line.
00:21:15
Speaker
That's what it's like. Yeah, I forget what they call it. They call it like it's not it's not corn all, but it's like it's some sort of like there's like a yeah, it's a corn based gas, like like alcohol gasoline kind of thing, which how are the kids manufacturing this? Like how do they build the distillery? Yeah, you just can't do that. Like, I mean, I guess you can if you know how to build like a distillery.
Relationship Dynamics and Absurd Moments
00:21:40
Speaker
But I mean, because there's no other 15 year old know how to do that.
00:21:44
Speaker
Because at one point, like, Isaac's like, we almost have enough, uh, you know, ethanol or gas and all the whatever to like, uh, for our plan, which I don't know what their plan is, but nobody either. I forgot about that. What was their plan? Was the plan to burn the corn? Cause I feel like that's not what the poor monster wants. Yeah. Find out like if you burn the corn that kills the demon. So it's like, were they gonna like fuel up cars and like spread that sort of like, you know, going around other towns and killing people or something?
00:22:19
Speaker
No idea, man. It's a giant tank of this corn-based fuel in this bar. My theory is that they were going to take over another town? Yeah, it's got to be something they need. For some reason, they need all this fuel to go somewhere. Go somewhere, yeah. Because I feel like what they were going to do is plant more corn, because the corn monster can only
00:22:48
Speaker
Sort of travel through corn fields.
00:22:51
Speaker
Maybe. If that's the case, he's a pretty weak demon, even though he's eating kids. That's the point. He doesn't want to be a global-dominated force. He just wants to keep him alive by getting human sacrifices. At least that makes sense. If you're a monster that's at least this smart enough to do this, you know you can't take on the human world single-handedly. You have to build an army, and then you have to
00:23:22
Speaker
I don't know, not just have like your vulnerability be fire. Like, you know what I mean? Like it's not like you need a magic ruin. You need a special sword. It's like your weakness is the thing people do to start their cars, like just sparking an engine. You know what I mean? It's just, yeah, it's not, not impossible to kill this monster. Cause that's what the, cause that's what like the cop was trying to do before they like, yeah.
00:23:48
Speaker
Yeah he just couldn't do it because I don't know he didn't have the power of Job with it. Yeah the kids killed him. So I want to go back about Job and Sarah. So Sarah has the power of The Shining. Yep. And Job is taking care of her but
00:24:10
Speaker
If you say this is three years from when the events, the first part of the movie begins where they're basically now like in a post-apocalyptic situation, why are they still like having fun? I mean, fun. I get it. But I mean, they're upbeat kids for what's going on because it's basically just like a quiet place happening in that town. Yeah. They also they also never explained like why like those two are not on board. There's like we don't care. Yeah. It seems like. Yeah.
00:24:38
Speaker
And now the kids seem to care. They're like, oh, those two aren't part of our cult, but we don't care. They're fine. Isaac did say, don't kill the girl because she has the sight of her. She has a sight. And now men. She made a drawing of Burton Vicky coming into town. So it's like, oh.
00:24:59
Speaker
This is a warning about the outsiders, the Outlanders. So we can like, uh, so that was not to try to kidnap like Sarah. Like I, I, again, that's how I'm like, he's not that evil where you can try to hold her hostage to say like, Oh, give me more drawings. That's like, that's bad guy. One on one. You have someone in your group that can predict the future. Yeah. You're definitely kidnapped in that.
00:25:26
Speaker
predicting the future person. It's like this plot of Swarping King was that. So yeah, they sort of let Sarah do her thing. And then these kids built like, I don't know, underground, like, they went home just to hang out, but then they live somewhere else, which they show you like near the end of the movie, their hideout home. Well, it's, it's, it's, it's like a fallout shelter, their dad built before he got murdered in the dire.
00:25:56
Speaker
Oh, I see. So, like, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, Job and Sarah's father, but, like, built a fallout shelter because, you know, it was the 80s. And they were worried about the commies. Yeah, and so, I guess I feel like Red Don just came out. What else? You want to talk about Burt and Vicky's weird relationship? Like, what, what, like, what was weird about it?
00:26:26
Speaker
Okay. Are they married? I don't think so, no. Okay. Vicky keeps hinting how he's not how Bert is not good at commitment. Like so much that it becomes like a running gag between them where she's passively aggressing mentioning all these things to him and he's just sort of like, eh, whatever.
00:26:47
Speaker
When we get to Seattle, we get married maybe, I don't know. It is so weird because I think in the credit, at least IMDb, she's credited as his wife already. It's just like she has the same last name as him. I don't think they do. If you look at Google the movie, Linda Hamilton already. Wikipedia says Burt Stanton and Vicki Baxter, so Wikipedia says the same last name.
00:27:16
Speaker
What? I mean, yeah, Google, like the, the character results are wrong then. So I need to update that. Yeah. I don't, yeah. I don't think they're, I don't think they're like, you know, there's like, you know, boyfriend, girlfriend, and yeah, they did. Yeah. And they're moving to Seattle together. Wow.
00:27:39
Speaker
I was wondering, I was like, what is going on? I googled Children of the Core in 1984 and you will see Peter, Horton, Bert, Stanton, Linda Hamilton, Vicki Stanton. I'm like, what? For all intents and purposes, you've never seen this movie before, you either think they're married already or they've got one weird sibling relationship that is just like no one wants to touch.
00:28:05
Speaker
when, like, Linnehan is, like, singing that, like, whatever that song is in the hotel room. Yep. And then Bert's like, that's nice. Like, all right, sis, put on pants. Which we're like, I don't like, um, like that that song just happened to come on the radio or did, like, because, like, only they had, like, a tape player. It's like, like, they're road tripping. They're like, yeah, you know, so I don't think, like, you carry that with you.
00:28:37
Speaker
Yeah, luckily the song that she went like about like graduating from like school whatever that she wanted to sing to him is like came on the radio Yeah, I think like besides the trauma of hitting that kid and then Driving into town little Hamilton's character just sort of just stands around and then gets kidnapped like a few times and
00:29:03
Speaker
She's kidnapped, and they put her on the corn cross. But then it's really weird. They take her off, and then Melika is dragging her around town, yelling at Outlander. But then they just put her back on the cross later on. And then it's just like, so they're just dragging her around with really not any purpose. I guess to try to just lure her out. But yeah, she gets dragged around just all the time. The second time it's a movie, she's just like, yeah, has nothing to do. It's just like, has a knife to her throat.
00:29:32
Speaker
so yeah like I get it her character is a little weaker in this not as strong as I get maybe the book she does a lot more she has a lot more like resistance but literally she's like oh you're going here okay you're going here okay um but bird bird does like a shitload he's like investigating he's trying to he's trying to unbrainwash some kids he's punching people bird I love
00:29:58
Speaker
I love his just like, he is not fazed. He's just like telling his kids, you kids are fucking stupid. Like, what are you doing? Like, and they all, they all have weapons and he's still just like, like parading them. Just like, Oh, you, you think this in the Bible is stupid? Like, did you read this? Like, so one, what was Bert's childhood like with, this wasn't a problem for him as an adult now. And two,
00:30:25
Speaker
Does Burt not like kids? Because I feel like that was sort of like, I feel like if that was a running joke or some sort of like thing about him where he's not great with kids because he doesn't like kids. And now he faces like a good, good set of kids from the brother and sister, you know, of Job and Sarah.
Climax and Special Effects Critique
00:30:43
Speaker
And then he sees like shitty teens out of Malachi and his followers. So then it's like he's maybe torn between them.
00:30:51
Speaker
I think South Park did a really good parody of this, because I think I remember, I saw Children of the Corn years ago as a kid, right? And then I totally forgot that the episode of South Park where they parodied Children of the Corn is a Children of the Corn thing. It was just completely like, whoa, really? Then once I realized that, I was like, oh. And they make fun of that, because they make fun of the Burt character, who's just like, oh, we're not having kids. Are you kidding me?
00:31:22
Speaker
This is already a lot. This is what could happen with just kids with free will. Well, they do more with like Burt is like just totally just like thinks we're just bullshit because when they're driving to town, the only radio station getting is like is like the like firebrand preacher on the radio. And you're like, they're making fun of it. And then like every time he shows up, it's like the kids just like religion.
00:31:49
Speaker
like you think this is like you like you're worshiping like horn monster you kids are stupid like well he is not just like a horn monster just you wouldn't want to pray to a guy that tells you to kill your parents that was like the line that rings true to these kids but the insane thing is that like no one asked that question in the three years yeah they were all the kids when Isaac was like we have to kill all the parents get to kill all the adults you have to kill your parents they're like all right
00:32:18
Speaker
That's like the mystery of this movie is you don't know already seen the corn monster. And they're like, okay, no, the corn monster is real. So let's do this. Or is it just more like Isaac has just been really that charming? He's so convincing. Yeah. In his weird outfit and his like, his demands and they're just like, on board with it. No questions asked. It is very like, like, like Amish way of speaking, like viral is
00:32:47
Speaker
His love of Verilies and Thais and... I guess not like, oh yeah, this is what happens when you just don't have technology. You know, sometimes it's, you see things like Black Mirror, where it's like the dangers of technology. Yeah. This is what happens when you don't have technology, you believe in corn monsters. They're like, you know, so let's go back to that. Let's go back to like, rural technology, but like, just like these people need the technology. Not like, oh, you have too much technology.
00:33:18
Speaker
Uh, so do you want to get into the, the crazy like sacrifice thing they must do where like they have to do this ceremony at night and then it's like a two for one where they need to burn at 19 year old. And then they want to also crucify Linda Hamilton. Get to that part. Well, yeah, what's weird. Cause like.
00:33:46
Speaker
So every time someone turns 19 they have to have like a ceremony where it's like you do it's the passing where you like walk into the cornfield and like the demon eats you. But then also they need to like they want to kill someone because it's good for the corn harvest or something. I bet. They get they get further than that and I think the book and then in the new movie it's sort of like they explain that
00:34:11
Speaker
dead bodies give the cornfield nourishment. Because the corn monster isn't just like an entity that just walks around the corn. It's like the cornfield itself is the entity. So that's like a slight difference. Where here I feel like it's a monster that just lives under a cornfield. Yeah. I think there's a clue that it's some sort of weird being because
00:34:40
Speaker
What if Sarah's drawing is a dragon with fire coming out to it and like a cornfield? Did you, did you know that one? I don't, that seemed like way too good for a Sarah drawing because that was like a very, like, like very detailed drawing. Maybe she just had it on that day. Yeah. Cause all of our other drawings are like very simplistic, like, you know, very, okay, crayon drawings. And then like, that's like a, like, like a, like a Renaissance painting.
00:35:08
Speaker
I do look like Burt sees that and is like, oh, I should go back. Dragon burning a blonde woman. Vicky. Oh, God. Yeah, it is a leap in logic. I don't know one part if when they're dragging Linda Hamilton around and Malachi screaming Outlander, we have your woman Outlander, is
00:35:34
Speaker
Burt there? Is he hiding or he's just not there in that town? He was like in the fallout shelter for a while and then he was running for a while from the group of kids trying to chase him down and then hilariously failing to corner him. They surround him and then he just shoves one another away and he runs away again and they're like, oh man, he got away. It's just nonsense scenes because
00:36:02
Speaker
This dude is just on foot running circles around these kids. And he has no weapons. They have knives and whatever else they have. He just shoves one on the ground and runs away. And they're like, oh, man, he got away. He's too good. Well, because I know that pisses off Isaac. But yeah, he doesn't confront them when Linda Hamlin is being dragged around town. Yeah. I guess he doesn't care. Let's go back to the cornfield. I think maybe at that point he was trying to, because he got stabbed in the chest.
00:36:38
Speaker
Yeah, and just shrugs it off like he gets stabbed he doesn't even he doesn't just like us Oh, okay, like, you know, like it's like he goes like oh, what's wrong with you guys? I'm like kids He's very patient around these kids with like dangerous sharp weapons anything he throws like a Cappettage on it and then like is like good Good, I think it's like a new shirt
00:37:01
Speaker
you know he just wears the same shirt like it's like covered in blood he puts his shirt back on so yeah the face off is them just all the I guess devoted Isaac worshippers in this cornfield who I think again this this has to mean they've done this before where they've done the well they haven't crucifix they had
00:37:27
Speaker
They have that book in the church where it's like they list all the kids that have turned 19 and went into the passing. So there's a whole list of kids that have already been sacrificed to the demon when they turn 19. Right, so that makes sense why these zealot kids are there because they've seen the core monster, or at least they know that what's in it. Heard it or something, yeah.
00:37:51
Speaker
The kids are just like, yeah, it's our monthly thing we do. We sacrifice a 19-year-old. Supposedly until I run out of 19-year-olds for a while. Until they're all dead. Until every kid in town is dead, and then it's like, well, all right. That's the end of that. Time to move on to the next cornfield. Yeah, when the demon just buries his way to another town or something. After that, I kill all the kids in this town.
00:38:21
Speaker
had to move on to like one of that town that they're trying to get to that like they can't get to like Hardingville or whatever it was, like he'll just go there. I guess so. But that's like, that's logistics. That's the impossible part of the movie. You just have to spend the leaf. That's why when I asked you, when you told me, this movie takes over three years from the beginning to now, I'm like, what? Yeah. So, uh, when Burton's right there to showdown,
00:38:50
Speaker
He just manhandles Malachi. It's not even like a differing action fight. It's literally what happens when you throw a 16, 17-year-old against a 30-year-old man, maybe 28. It's not like a young, young guy. No. But I love that it's not even punch... Bird doesn't even punch him. He's slapping him. And he slaps him into unconsciousness.
00:39:19
Speaker
Yeah, Malachi, the guy that's been in this town terror, who's still a kid. Speaking of Malachi, definitely watching it this time, he definitely has a California accent, like a surfer accent. I got very Malibu from everything I did in his vibes from Malachi this time watching it. No, I know there was some sort of accent, because when he wants to talk,
00:39:47
Speaker
almost like Isaac. It sort of morphs. I didn't get that server bro vibe yet. Yeah. I just felt like every sense should end with like bra. Like we got sacrifice into the corn bra. It's been funny if it was. It was just like some West Coast kid named like sunshine who joined this farming community and then
00:40:17
Speaker
Rosen like in a dumb dumb dumb way You know if this movie was original idea that came out the 2000s there would have been a prequel about the rise of Malachi I could see it right now and understand where Malachi came from where he got his machete Yeah, that'd be like the big scene like he's like picks up this knife from like a like a knife block or something It's like this is my knife
00:40:44
Speaker
I'm gonna make goddamn new terms for all these people. Outlander, I'm gonna start writing down some of these rules. He's gonna be like, I'm secretly 20. We're gonna kill off every 19 year old in this town. We're gonna do this cool thing with the symbol.
00:41:06
Speaker
But it's not like a typical pentagram. I think it's like a little different, right? I think it seems like a, I think, like the kid is like saccharized. I think he draws in a weird way. Like he draws like not the way like people normally draw a pentagram. Like he does like it in a weird like crisscross kind of like, but it kind of, it ends up, it ends up kind of like a normal pentagram, which
00:41:29
Speaker
is like the big red flag of like, if your God is telling you to draw pedigrams on your chest, then it's not a great sign. See, I'm a believer that there's multiple gods existing. It's not just the one. So the core monster is just like a type of God, but not a good God, obviously. He's just like a malicious fucking entity. I don't know. Core monster is kind of like evil Loki.
00:41:57
Speaker
They're fucking around with kids, letting them make new rules. It would have been funnier if like half the things Isaac is spewing, the core monster's like, I never told you that. Like, what are you talking about? He shows up at the end. Like, it's like, what are you kids doing? I asked for one sacrifice a year. This is crazy. You're going to ruin it. You're going to let everyone know I'm a fucking core monster. Yeah.
00:42:27
Speaker
It takes a while to realize what the blue, so like, yeah, the kids mentioned that there's a blue man, the blue man was talking to the preacher to figure out how to fight the core monster. Because I guess in the three years, the preacher and the cop were teaming up to figure out like a good tactic to get rid of the core monster.
00:42:47
Speaker
Again, something probably the books flush out, like the book probably mentioned that really well. I mean, it's not like it's not a full book. I mean, it's a short story. But yeah, I know. But it's sort of like, it's paced better because you kind of forget about that for a bit of it. This, the chill in the corner, there's so many like filler scenes and a lot of just like setup shots. But then there are moments where it just comes to comedy.
00:43:16
Speaker
especially with Burt and Job. Because when Burt tries to figure out, okay, I need to... Okay, before we get to that. So there's that uprise that Malachi has against Isaac that just seems out of left field. That just sort of like, well, we see it coming, but Isaac, he just never thinks about his
00:43:39
Speaker
Dangerous right-hand man Yeah, his insane ginger enforcers gonna like like who's like ten times like five times taller than him and stronger than his knife is gonna like turn against him The betrayal that just like waiting for the moment, yeah Look I just like I could I could just kill Isaac like and I could take over and
00:44:07
Speaker
And then I could be the one who's just making corn gas and then terrorizing neighboring towns. But yeah, so Isaac gets on the sacrifice because for some reason they're like, Linda Hamilton can just hang out at the bottom now. And then they'll try to lure in Bert because Malachi really wants to show that he's in charge.
00:44:34
Speaker
And who easily loses? Yeah, because the shit's left out of him. And then Bert yells at all the kids about like, like, why, like, why would you, like, why would you follow God only has he like kill, like kill people and like, like, you know, sacrifice people when not like, like have like, you love people or like love your parents. And all the kids are like, Hey, yeah, this is bullshit. They're all like instantly just snapped out of it. Like they're all just like normal kids again.
00:45:02
Speaker
Yeah, because the other guys are sort of like, hey, hey, like get them, listen to me. And at that point, that's when the the core monster shows up and goes, OK, like it wasn't watching this whole time waiting for them to introduce itself. Well, he ate the one kid who like like turned 19, then it turns to Isaac. And then he goes up in the air.
00:45:30
Speaker
Oh, kind of similar to last week when we talked about Dune, where we were talking about these terrible visual effects of the Shields and Dune. Another 1984 terrible visual effects here. It's like getting engulfed in
00:45:49
Speaker
fire or like whatever whatever that is. It reminded me of Tron. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like rotoscoping the Tron had like cleaner lines. This was just like it's it's all yeah it's it's it's like barely on it's barely covering Isaac's body like it's like they like tried to paint it across the body. It's like it's not covering it at all. It's a standard. This looks like a kid's like movie.
00:46:22
Speaker
And it and it's the weird like ground effect to like really it's like I guess I guess it's like it's like like it's in the ground but it's like it's like yellow black like weird effect to Emphasize that it has tentacles I don't quite know Well, it's weird because it can like later like after all the Isaac stuff, right? Well, so like yeah He explodes into the air on a corn stalk or the corn cross and it comes back
00:46:51
Speaker
And he's possessed by the demon now. But that's at the end. Like, you don't know that he comes back until like. Yeah, I feel like another dialogue or two. And then he shows up and then he goes, he wants you to. He wants you to mail a guy. Yeah, but but it can also it can control all the corn because like when Bert's trying to burn the cornfield down, we realize that we have to burn the corn.
00:47:19
Speaker
He's getting wrapped up in the corn stalks. They're tentacles. And they're flailing him, but it's corned? How is this stopping him? It's as strong as corn is. Yeah. Corn's laying on top of him. He's like, oh my god, the corn! It's too much.
00:47:45
Speaker
And then like, like Joe has to show up, like help him, like, like cutting the corn, like the corn tentacles off of him. Yeah. So I do like how I think at one point they, I think before that scene, they run into a barn and the corn is just yelling. It's like, well, apparently, apparently like, uh, like he walks behind the rows can also like, like conjure like rainstorms or like thunderstorms or something. Cause like it happens like twice the way where like these like dark clouds is like instantly just appear.
00:48:15
Speaker
over town. And so it's causing like a storm or like some sort of like, like a, I don't think it's gonna be a tornado, but like it's some sort of like, yeah, like a thunderstorm or something. And that's like, and then all the kids like take shelter in the barn and they're all, they're all scared and normal kids now. And they're also, and they're also like, just absolutely like super helpful now. Like, they're like, like Bert and Vic are telling them to do things. They're like, yeah, sure. Okay. Yep. Sorry. We tried to kill you earlier. Like,
00:48:44
Speaker
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I was like, oh, these kids are the same ones that tried to murder everyone. And for all we know, we're probably dead. Yeah. And then like, we're just like, hey, you, like, go like, block that door. Like, you like, give me a hose. Like, give me a glass bottle. And we're just like, all right. Yep. Yep. We're fully on board now. But yeah, he makes one Molotov cocktail.
00:49:14
Speaker
out of the but then I guess it is kind of smart idea. Like they're going to they're going to pump like the corn gas into like the irrigation system and they'll they'll spray gas all over the field and they'll like then they'll like what the burn is all. Yeah. So because it makes sense where they replace the water. Yeah. But the corn monster, does that mean the corn needs that daily irrigation to live?
00:49:40
Speaker
It seems like the kids have not turned that irrigation thing on for all three years. Yeah, yeah. So at the end, I'll talk about that and about the differences in the new movie. But in the new movie, because it happens over two days,
00:50:00
Speaker
And also like the corn is rebelling. So it's like the corn is sort of like its own entity now. It's not like it's dependent on the farmers to water anymore. Because it also tried to modify the corn with like GMOs, you said, like herbicides, always like chemicals. So it's like you made it to like a line mutating. They angered the corn. Well, in this one, I think the corn just didn't have a plan. So
00:50:31
Speaker
Anyway, I did like that this action pacing scene gets like dulled hilariously when Bert throws like a mont off cocktail and it doesn't go anywhere. Yes, that's great. I do appreciate that. Like that's the fun humor about that. And then like Job has to be like the hero, like go get it. And then he's like, throw it again right this time, you idiot. Yeah. So that far I did appreciate it. Like this movie,
00:50:59
Speaker
on paper could be a comedy between these adults that like don't take this shit serious these murderous kids that are just like way too crazy for kids there's a comedy to like how absurd it is and it doesn't hit until basically this point of just like this adult man is getting sassed at by this like i don't know feral child yeah
00:51:28
Speaker
Like, if you're not throwing anything your entire life, Burt, like, throw it, like, he doesn't even throw it into, like, the field. He throws it in, like, the middle of, like, the row. The corn. Yeah. Yeah, the dirt is away from anything. Yeah. So, it's like a choice of throwing it, like, nowhere in that cornfield that wasn't a corn, you know? Like, in the cornfield, you could just, any direction.
00:51:51
Speaker
And there's no, there's no gas like building up anywhere near that. Like throw it either. It's like, I'm gonna throw in the one spot where it's like, it's gonna like cause no effects. Also the most dangerous spot for Joe to like run in and grab and like outrun this underground tentacle. Yeah. So burning the cornfield was good. I just feel like
00:52:16
Speaker
in the production of the movie, they didn't really, they can show you like a whole cornfield burning because it was just probably so goddamn expensive to do that, but.
Cultural Impact and Influence on Horror Genre
00:52:24
Speaker
You can see like the cartoon face of like the demon screaming. I'm like, no. I would rather see no demon face in corn burning than see a demon face scream and just be like, what was that about?
00:52:45
Speaker
You might assume production money wise, they can't do the spectacular like real burning scene, but for some reason they had enough with that rotoscope artist too. Well, so this was a New World Pictures movie. So, you know, Roger Corman produced it. So he's all about like, you know, keeping those budgets tight or doing, doing what you can with like a limited budget. So that's true.
00:53:14
Speaker
I mean, it tells it's still like a good story. Don't get us wrong. I still enjoy this movie. It's still a crazier, uh, a horror movie that's very unconventional. Um, but like Bert and, and, and Vicki and the kids, they started just laughing off at the end. Like there's one more jump scare, which I didn't appreciate. You know, they, they burned the cornfield. They're about to drive in their corn car and then unnamed.
00:53:43
Speaker
Rachel Rachel's the character's name Who was like one of like she was in the church with like the guy like the? Kitty was like sacrifice himself and like she seemed like a lot like under Malachi she seemed like the most like like die-hard like I'm absolutely a zealot like Yeah, she's like hiding in the back of the car like she was she wasn't at the like sacrifice for some reason
00:54:06
Speaker
or she like ran away, like she ran away. Yeah. She jumps up because she has to kill Burt. And then like Vicki just slams the door in her face, knocks her out and they're like, Oh, she's knocked out. Oh, all right. We're walking. That's it. Later. Yeah. It's such a non like kinematic ending. And there's no, I don't know. Like, do they just walk to Seattle?
00:54:36
Speaker
I think they were gonna walk to that town they kept trying to get to. It's like 19 miles away or whatever it is. Ah, I gotcha. And it's also like they're leaving all the kids, all the other kids behind. They're only taking Joe and Sarah and everyone else is like, well, kids, fend it for yourselves. It's your town now. I know we broke your brainwashing, but it's up to you to rebuild this town. Yeah. Did you get a sense that
00:55:07
Speaker
Like from this movie, this store needed more movies. Knowing what we know now, like you don't think there's more stories to tell. I feel like- I mean, I don't think you need, yeah, I don't think you need like, however, like what five, five sequels, whatever. Six movies, I think. Yeah, two, three, four, five, 666, which is, you know, great, that's a great touch for the sixth movie. And then I think like-
00:55:37
Speaker
I made for TV. What? Yeah. Yes. And then in the 1960 in the 2009 made for TV movie, it's more like a book. There's a sci fi sci fi like original movie or something. Yeah, it is a sci fi movie. Yeah, I'm not interested in seeing it, just because it takes place.
00:56:06
Speaker
In 1963, and I think like, uh, Isaac is sort of like internal, like he's become touched to talk to the core and he's just a figurehead in the town. And it takes place in the eighties to kind of keep it where there's communications low. And then you have, he's out of towners who have never Googled this town before.
00:56:35
Speaker
I'm interested in that one. Well, in the sixth one, like like John Franklin came back as Isaac. So that was like a big one. That was the twist. Well, I appreciate the every movie sort of has to tie into why it's either people, the kids that came from that town who still are kind of crazy or people that go back to the town, which is still like culty. So I do I do like that.
00:57:06
Speaker
I don't know. I can watch all of them, but I like that. No, wait. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. There are nine movies in the official timeline. Yes. And then there's a remake and a reboot. Yeah. And apparently it's just like a short film like Disciples of the Crow, which is what I have no idea. It was like a test movie or like some like just like the first official like
00:57:35
Speaker
adaptation of the book or the short story? I'm thinking that. I think it was just sort of like, hey, Stephen King, can we just use this in a short thing and then film it? And they probably liked it. I mean, because Stephen King, you know, I think he stopped it recently, but like, you know, he was doing his famous like, pay me a dollar for my rights. Like if he writes my book, it's like a dollar.
00:58:00
Speaker
Especially for like, for like, you know, like up and coming like filmmakers. It's like, Hey, like if you're like upcoming filmmaker, like you can get to write some of my novels for a dollar. I mean, it's pretty gracious of them. Cause it's like, Hey, you want to try something? Try my book. Cause it's like, what's going to happen? People are either going to go back to the book and read them to see like how they got things wrong or not. Yeah. It was, it was his dollar baby program.
00:58:28
Speaker
So students, aspiring filmmakers and theater producers could adapt to one of his short stories for a dollar. All right, good program. All right, so children to the core of movies always like a fun place in my movie rental nostalgia because I never rented them, but I always remember seeing the movies lined up. I think up until like the Isaac's return, going to like blockbusters and stuff like that.
00:58:59
Speaker
Well, I mean, yeah, it's always like someone like a kid with like a like a sickle like on or like a like a it was like curved knives on the cover. And so as being for someone who lived in New York, just no one had farming equipment, you know, and then I'm never going to a cornfield. It just wasn't a thing. And then when I moved to countryside stuff, I was like, oh, shit, like cornfields. Like you realize
00:59:27
Speaker
outside of those major metropolitan areas, a lot of cornfields. Well, yeah, especially if we're driving from like, you know, through like Nebraska, like this movie, like, cornfields are everywhere. So I get how Stephen King was able to get some relatable, like, uneasy element because I think ever since then, anytime people have seen cornfields and kids, you just think children of the corn.
Modern Adaptations and Cultural Commentary
00:59:54
Speaker
Yeah, or is it a show the court or a field of dreams because field dreams was like, you know, had like a cornfield famous field of dreams was like a wheat field, but I think it's a cornfield. We feel like it's a sort of field. It'd be hilarious if children, the corn also had a slogan of like, kill it and they'll come. Yeah. They won't kill.
01:00:22
Speaker
And see, you know, it seemed King is still like they're still exploring like he's still exploring like, you know, this like weird fields because, you know, his son, Joe Hill, like they did like, you know, tall grass, which is I is definitely a much more interesting movie than Chilla Decor. I mean, Chilla Decor is fun. But like, yeah, in the tall grass is like definitely much more like interesting with like all the time loop stuff and all that craziness going on in that movie. So. Yeah. I didn't like the tall grass the first time I saw it.
01:00:52
Speaker
I think visually it won me over after just some of the ideas. I still don't know. I always forget the thing at the end. Like the tall grass is also entity god. Yeah, because like does it like it like like forces itself into like into someone's body or something like it like grass like like like shoves itself down someone's throat or something I think maybe. See, I don't know. The core monster just is like a monster. The entity in the tall grass I forget. Yeah.
01:01:22
Speaker
What's it, it's like the entire field is like, you know, it's a sort of like weird, like evil zone or demyc zone or something. So talking about evil plant life, I did see right after this viewing, I did see Shudder's take on, or at least on a Shudder version of Children of the Corn.
01:01:47
Speaker
Yeah, it came out theatrically last year. So it's a 2023 movie. And yeah, I think probably the most famous thing about it is that they filmed it in 2020 in New Zealand because New Zealand had zero COVID. So they were able to film the entire movie in New Zealand. No interruptions, no restrictions. They just filmed a Children of the Corn remake in New Zealand during COVID. And it's critically like,
01:02:16
Speaker
It got like two stars. Yeah, these like 12% Rottomatoes. I can see why. But honestly, it's not that bad. I don't know. I feel very like I watched I was paying like 80% attention to it. Like and sort of just sort of like a blurry but the middle scene I think is really good. It takes a time to explain the town before the kids were about where it's a shitty town from just like a
01:02:45
Speaker
dying town from corn I don't know like corn is their most major export and then it makes it seem like 50 people live in this town and then they all hate each other it's almost like a Dr. Seuss novel about like the Whoville or something and then there's no Isaac but there is a new person who
01:03:16
Speaker
uh sort of interprets the corn monster but then there is a legit corn monster that is group basically and then from there uh but i don't think like oh it's only like two people up in this one in the movie in the first like 10 minutes have seen the corn monster and then it's not really about that anymore and then it switches gears to talk about the townspeople who
01:03:44
Speaker
vote to get rid of the corn and grow nothing because then the government will give them a subsidy to not grow corn and that kind of will kill the town but at least everyone in the town and all the families that have like invested into the farming get a pay cut so then they can get out of the town like that's all actually the plan like they want to leave but then the kids decide they like it there because like it's what they only know
01:04:12
Speaker
and then they say that getting rid of the corn and killing the like corn fields because it's like it's not just like they won't plant corn it's like they promise to like get rid of every living kind of like like salty earth so nothing can ever grow ever again essentially because they said they have construction equipment that is ready to plow and level down the cornfield but i'm like you have i think you have to do that to cornfield just because um
01:04:43
Speaker
how deep rooted the thing is and then you need to like till the crop. So there's no like, I don't know, there's no like mechanical way that isn't like clean. Like you always need like brute force machinery. I also know that basically you remove corn. Like you can't grow the same crop twice in the same field. I think you have to like rotate it. Yeah. I don't know. It's my one on one farming things I heard from you. Essentially like the main character
01:05:11
Speaker
isn't Burt and Vicky. It's a new character that wants to leave that town to go to college to become a botanist, basically, and then come back and revitalize the community and improve the agriculture. But no one believes her. Her father doesn't believe her, her mom doesn't believe her, her brother doesn't believe her, her friends sort of.
01:05:39
Speaker
I don't know, it doesn't focus in on that. Eventually what happens is this little girl character just has a point. She goes, hey, they're gonna fuck the environment over for our generation, it's our time to leave because all the adults that done this before is messing up the world and we're gonna have to clean it up so why not clean it up now and start our side early.
01:06:08
Speaker
And then they start like a fucking massacre But they do a whole like trial thing and they start judging
Killer Kids Theme in King's Works
01:06:17
Speaker
the adults and that goes on for a lot like the it's like it's a lot more plot beats, but the point I want to get into is that You kind of understand where they're coming from and it's not just like oh I'm hearing it from the corn god and that would start a religion based on it It's sort of
01:06:35
Speaker
says, like, we need to start somewhere, let's start now, let's, like, let's, like, try to clean this town and rule it our way. They become, like, feral children, and all these kids are, like, very organized. And, uh, yeah, like, that sort of is explaining the beginning of the original movie, where they organized, they just terrorized that one half, like, diner, and that sets off all through your war.
01:07:04
Speaker
I guess three years of it, or like, I don't know, a year and then two years of them trying to figure out how to make gas? But in this one, like, yeah, it happens so quick that they don't know how to establish anything yet. And then it comes to the point where when they need to figure out the corn god, they don't know if it's real or not. You know, they're like, okay, like, this is the first time it's going to reveal itself to everyone, to everyone that isn't like the few people that it's shown.
01:07:34
Speaker
they make a point of saying that. It's like, hey, have you seen the corn god? It's like, no, I haven't. But that wasn't the point. It was everything else up until the corn god. The corn god's like the bonus to this kid rebellion team. So yeah, then you're like, wait, what if corn god on our side? It's like, whoa. So that's a little different. And I don't know. There's a certain charm to it because that makes sense to some
01:08:04
Speaker
some passionate, misguided kids that go on a killing spree and not know the consequences because they don't really feel affected. And then, like, it hasn't hit them what they're doing. And then in this movie, these kids are all about that. And then when Burton and Vicki, like in the original, like, sort of go, oh, yeah, like snap out of it. They're like, oh, yeah.
01:08:33
Speaker
Can someone take me and get ice cream? Like, you know, these kids are going to be like, lost. So I think for the sequels, it makes sense that some of these kids that definitely pray to this corn god, they're kind of want to go back to it because that's all they know. And I think from sequels two to four, it's all about like the kid's consequences, where it's like they either came back and kind of restart the corn god or they want to start a new corn god. I don't know.
01:09:00
Speaker
You don't think about until they start like really scraping the bottom of the barrel for plot, but I don't know. I think it's like a fun idea. There definitely are better movies of killer kids, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Village of the Damned. I think it was like, what was it? Who could kill a child or something is like another one. You don't see a lot. I think the last movie of killer kids I remember that was kind of popular was Cooties, but that was like zombie kids.
01:09:30
Speaker
Oh, my God. I try to type in like other movies like I mean, it's really hard to not get flagged by the FBI or whatever googling like killer children entertainment. You know, like it just it doesn't sound good. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The bad the bad seed. The good son. The good son was just the one kid, though, or orphanage by the biggest one recently.
01:09:59
Speaker
That's not a kid. I'm just talking about, like, you don't see all the movies of young, like, kids going wrong. Not alone. More than one. And if they are, it's like, oh no, it's like a prequel scene and then they become serial killers. So, yeah, I guess I remember there was another movie that was all about, like, kids that just served going on a rampage.
01:10:27
Speaker
But Children of the Corn is like the one that like it had this many movies and basically owns that genre. Well it's weird because like Village of the Dam came out in like the 50s and then like John Carpenter made his like remake in like the 90s. So there's like one before this and one after this and then you know a couple other like I think like
01:10:51
Speaker
Who could kill a child was like 1970s. Yeah. So there were, there were like other like killer kid movies before this one. I think this, this Stephen King, like, cause Stephen King, Stephen King was like so hot in the, you know, the eighties. Like, cause he, he, like, Carrie, like how I exploded him into like the stratosphere. And then like, there's like eighties was like the first like big boom for like him. So that, that gives a lot, like a, you know, cache to show the corn.
01:11:19
Speaker
Oh, I don't know about the village of the dam. They have a very iconic, like, look. Yeah. They're all white. Yeah. They're all white. They have like weird white hair. Like. Yeah. So that one I understand is like, Oh, you adopted one of the village of the dam kids. Interesting. And then why weren't these the same kids in like galleries, the galaxy three? Yeah. Let's see what they did.
01:11:51
Speaker
But yeah, happy 40th anniversary of Children of the Corn. It's still like a upper mid, definitely mid-tier, Stevie King. I don't know. I think it's not top tier. It's not up there with The Mist or Green Mile or Shawshank Redemption or anything. But as far as Schlocky's Stevie King adaptation, like fun Schlocky's Stevie King adaptation, it's still fun.
01:12:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's got enough of like, uh, just like slapstick. It's got like more grounded things where an adult who sees these kids isn't gonna take them serious. And then you have the supernatural element that hasn't aged well, but in the idea it's, it's cool.
01:12:44
Speaker
I still think the core monster is like as silly as it is. It's like, oh, this makes sense why it's only disciples or children because it just like, you know, like it just like kids are it like this is the best I can do.
Conclusion and Teaser for Next Episode
01:12:55
Speaker
I can trick kids. I'm trapped in this quarter field. I can only travel through like the very carefully, you know, plowed out robes between the quarter fields.
01:13:13
Speaker
But yeah, so I think we'll wrap things up this week with Tool of the Corn. Come back next week. We're going to be diving into True Lies, the Arnold classic, because it's finally after, you know, who knows how many years people have been waiting for. It's going to be on 4K next week. So I don't know if we'll get to 4K and watch it, but we'll definitely like watch the movie again and, you know, dive into, like, celebrate that it's coming out on 4K. So come back next week for that.
01:13:39
Speaker
Uh, we're also going to have, you know, in a week or two, we're going to have our commentary on roadhouse to, because the new roadhouse is coming out, it's on Amazon prime. So we're going to, you know, revisit the classic Patrick Swayze movie for this most commentary. So stay tuned for the site for that. And, uh, come back to the site for, check out all of our usual stuff that we got up there. We got reviews. I've got a doing part two review you can read. Uh, we got all of our other, you know, features and news we got up there. So check all the stuff out.
01:14:07
Speaker
And yeah, so for Chris, I'm Zach, and we will see you next week.