Get Ready For Isaac’s New Harvest

CHILDREN OF THE CORN (DVD)

Release Date: October 13th, 2010
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 92 minutes

Director: Fritz Kiersch

Cast: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R. G. Armstrong, John Franklin and Courtney Gains

Cinema has had its fair share of creepy kids; Children of the Damned (1964) and The Omen (1976) come to mind, but Children of the Corn offered something entirely different to the horror genre and told us something about following others blindly. Based on the Stephen King story of the same name, the story is set in the fictional town of Gatlin, Nebraska where the children have taken over after being lead a creepy boy preacher, Isaac (John Franklin) to kill the entire adult population.

When Burt (Peter Horton) and Vicky (Linda Hamilton) come driving through Gatlin on their way to Seattle, they run over one of the children in the road, but as they try to get help, they find the town to be deserted apart from Job and his sister Sarah. Shops are closed down and houses are boarded, the unsuspecting couple soon come to realise that all is not well with the town and a group of bible brandishing youngsters lead by a pint-sized Jim Jones might have something to do with it.

As Isaac becomes possessed by the forces of darkness, Vicky finds herself strung up on a makeshift cross in the middle of a cornfield and about to offered as sacrifice leading to a showdown between good and evil.

Although it’s not one of the best King adaptations, possibly arising from the fact that the filmmakers decided to disregard his original screenplay which gave more of a backstory to the Gatlin uprising and had more focus on Burt and Vicky. Instead they went with George Goldsmith’s screenplay. Children Of The Corn maintains a creepy atmosphere throughout which is only heightened by the deranged young preacher Isaac, brilliantly played John Franklin. The young actor, who was 23 years old at the time he played Isaac, would go on to several more roles including Child’s Plays (1988) and The Addams Family (1991) before retiring from films completely after the September 11th attacks.

“After the events of 9/11, I saw the shallowness of showbiz and felt a great desire to leave a greater legacy than just being Cousin Itt. Teaching seemed to be a perfect fit for my theatrical talents and to touch many lives.”
- John Franklin

The film spawned a total of six sequels and a television remake. The Weinstein Company announced a theatrical remake back in 2009 with Ehren Kruger hired to write:

“We felt the New World film was a missed opportunity. If you read the short story, it’s got such a strong feeling to it and there’s this religious overtone to it as well. Ehren wants to hit it hard. It’s popular in Hollywood to say you re-envisioning a project but a lot of the time they’re just carbon copying the original. We are bringing something new to the story.”
- The Weinsteins

A three disc boxset with Children Of The Corn, Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1993) and Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995) was re-released by Boulevard Entertainment on October 13th, 2010 and features a great collection of extras including “Harvesting Horror: Children of the Corn” an all new documentary with interviews from the director Fritz Kiersch, Courtney Gains who plays Isaac’s lieutenant Malachai and of course Isaac himself, John Franklin.