CHILDREN OF THE CORN: A Bleak Gruesome Story Trapped In A Boring Movie

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ABOUT THE SHOW:
This show celebrates Ryan's love for film, games, art and entertainment through personal retrospective analysis that aims to explore what made them so good.
MUSIC:
Elegy by Wayne Jones
Breakfast Alone by The Whole Other
Ether Oar by The Whole Other
Don't Look by Silent Partner
Heartbeat of the Hood by Doug Maxwell/Media Right Productions
Blank Holes by Jingle Punks
TIME STAMPS:
00:00 - The Short Story Is Better
07:37 - The Nightmare Setup
11:09 - The Mysterious Cult
15:17 - The Grand Reveal (Spoilers)

[@RyanHollinger]

*What do you think? Leave your thoughts and requests below!* Go to buyraycon.com/ryan and use code EARLYBF for 20% off sitewide! Brought to you by Raycon.

[@boobootittleman7299]

Good work as always, Ryan! I’d love to see a video on “Midnight Mass” & “Storm of the Century”.

[@d.l.parham157]

I think, between this and Sleepwalkers, King has an issue with corn.

[@andieallison6792]

Angel Heart is a little known supernatural mystery/film noir and it's NUTS. I love it.

[@solemnlament9757]

I'd love to see your take on Halloween Resurrection! 🤣🤣

[@celestedivinity2178]

I would love a video on the sequel to Suspiria, Inferno. It’s actually my favorite Argento movie so far.

[@msjkramey]

Fun fact John Franklin (Issac) was 23 at the time of filming. He just had an issue with his hormones that stunted his growth and kept him younger looking. I think that's part of why he was so scary. There was something subtly older about him that made you feel the power behind their religion Apparently he also played Cousin Itt which is cool

[@tarakennedy707]

He was in a sequel as well some time around 2000 I think. Was still the same size.

[@dop01]

Another fun fact: He grew up to be Lindsey Graham.

[@TheTubePoweredOne]

@@dop01 Not sure how fun that fact is.

[@CoOlKyUbI96]

But here’s a fact that is fun. Graham Crackers with jelly works well with various other different ingredients. From peanut butter, to cream cheese, etc ​@@TheTubePoweredOne

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

@@CoOlKyUbI96 Too true. But for me personally, not pairs better with a graham cracker than a roasted marshmallow (it's gotta have that gold/brown scorch mark to *really* seal the deal), and a big square of a Hershey chocolate bar! 💋🤌🏻 Also, a favorite past time of mine from high school: Sticking a marshmallow directly into the fire and pulling out a flaming mallow, blowing it out (extra cool points if you did it in one big breath like you were a professional 😎), and the marshmallow had to have a charred black layer on the outside, sliding it off the mallow perfectly and eating it, and then putting the marshmallow back into the fire again to roast once more, blowing it out and then eating the whole marshmallow.

[@celestedivinity2178]

I still remember cackling when the male lead pushed down one of the children. The movie failed at making the children believably threatening.

[@blakeharris58]

That’s the point. 😂😂

[@thefanwithoutaface8105]

I mean, they're kids. The max age any of them can be is 18 and most of them spend all their time quoting scripture or the like. They don't have combat training and only killed the previous adults thanks to the element of surprise. Kicking their asses would be easy.

[@TheWarmotor]

I always felt like it mirrored a zombie movie... one or two of them could be dispatched easily, but in a large enough group you'd get surrounded and picked off. And if you let them catch you off guard you're in real trouble.

[@merchantfan]

Which was especially odd because the Children of the Corn have plenty of teens in their midst so really size should be less of an issue than many creepy children (like Devil Times Nine). But like with the scene where the kid gets hit by a car and the protagonists seem mostly confused the directing decisions were off in a lot of places

[@pompousbastard4902]

Oh the ending of this movie is undoubtedly one of the funniest horror movie endings of all time

[@aengusk3313]

It's crazy how it's one of Stephen Kings shortest short stories yet it spawned so many movies

[@garretphegley8796]

Alot of people sympathize with living around a bunch of weirdos and corn.

[@madelinekurtz2243]

@@garretphegley8796 this is SO true 😂

[@aengusk3313]

@@garretphegley8796 Good point, Iowa does have a huge population

[@lucretiamaggio6154]

I think that his short stories are, for the most part, better than his novels. Just my opinion, though.

[@firstnext5482]

@@lucretiamaggio6154 I dunno man, whenever I hear people put his short stories over his novels I always remember his short story about a industrial laundry press getting possessed by evil spirits. There's an accident, blood is spilled in the press, and the industrial laundry press awakens the evil within it before literally going on a rampage through the city killing more people. It is quite literally the Family Guy joke where he goes "this story is about a haunted -looks for item- LAMP! Boo, bah, ahh!". I'm not saying it isn't well written- it's written very well- but it's Looney Tunes man. His short stories can be amazing but they can be reeeaaallll fuckin' goofy.

[@fannyalexander5906]

90s kid here. When sleeping, we sometimes forget to turn off the tv so at times you’d wake up past midnight and find yourself watching whatever’s on. One night this film was on and it did terrified me as a kid, it was disturbing.

[@Tickerchicken]

I’ve seen posts about people doing that with youtube and woke up to ‘6 hours of kebab meat rotating’

[@tarakennedy707]

It was terrifying when it came out. I just think movies have evolved so much (special effects, acting, screenplay, story lines, etc.) it just doesn't work today. There was a remake of it but it was just low budget and terrible. I think it could be really well-done with the right director and writers.

[@LABOUMDECADANCE]

@@tarakennedy707 Rob Zombie would be a great director. Lol

[@jackroberts2704]

This movie also scared the shit out of me as a kid, the sacrilegious stuff creeped me out too.

[@joannesuzieburlison7128]

I'm a 60s kid, I know what you mean! I loved that, tv providing the best shows in the middle of the night. I need a channel based on that.

[@MorriganAtwood]

The kids in this movie are so much fun to watch. Half that cast went: I have no speaking lines so my only job is to take the few seconds I am on screen and make sure I am the most interesting thing in the frame by ANY MEANS NECESSARY. Whether that means pulling a face or screaming comically over-the-top while sprinting headlong at a target. I salute all of them.

[@magpye4212]

The thing that works about the couple hating each other in the original short story is that it adds to the paranoia and fatalism. His wife becoming more and more manic makes the story way more intense in the pages before the children appear, and his realisation that if it wasn't for his pride and he had listened to her they would have left Gatlin intact is so effective

[@lorelig]

Growing up in a small Midwestern town in a home surrounded by cornfields, the idea of something in the corn watching and waiting was absolutely bone-chilling. I agree with the short story being much better, but seeing the movie as a child made it terrifying, even if as an adult I can pick it apart.

[@MyLadyAbsinthe]

yeess we had corn and soybean fields everywhere and it was so very creepy as a kid

[@Angie-Pants]

Yeah, I first saw it when I was about 10 when I spent the night at my sister's house, which is surrounded by cornfields. Creaky old house + pitch black country darkness outside + early summer midwestern thunderstorm + 8ft tall cornstalks in every direction + a freak lightning strike to the transformer right outside the window x Children of the Corn = me not even trying to watch it again until I was in my 30s.

[@BEEEELEEEE]

One night I was driving home from my grandparents’ house and passed by a large cornfield. The owner had placed a wooden silhouette of Bigfoot at the edge as if he was emerging from the corn and it scared the shit out of me at first.

[@ArkaeaFCL3]

Yes! Same here in Ohio! This is why this movie scared me so much as a kid! Lol I honestly had no business watching these kinds of movies as a kid 😅.

[@Moonewitch]

It's a very scary concept! Could you imagine being in a Starbucks and everyone around you started dropping dead after sipping coffee or tea, then have younger people approaching those of you who didn't die with knives and farm tools? That's scary as hell and it's something that could happen. Religion makes some people do strange things. Religious based cults breed psychopaths. It definitely traumatized me as a child and I didn't live in the Midwest.

[@boobootittleman7299]

I could always tell when I first watched it that this was a SHORT story. Maybe this would’ve been an excellent 40 minute episode in a Stephen King anthology series.

[@romankotas448]

Or a short film

[@chrisnelson6663]

Yes! I think his short stories would do so much better in the hands of invested producers to make an anthology series. I’m thinking like Love Death + Robots or even more recently, Guillermo del Toro’s, Cabinet of Curiosities.

[@andu1854]

Or a masters of Horror type show

[@wallcity318]

Thats actually a really good idea.

[@Rikrobat]

As a note, Shawshank Redemption was a short story-only 79 pages, if I recall-so it is possible to make a long, compelling film out of his short stories. However, the screenwriter / director / etc. need to reframe how the story is presented in order to accommodate the change.

[@heidifedor]

There’s another short story that was written by Shirley Jackson called, “The Lottery”. It too is about a town that preforms human sacrifices to ensure a fruitful corn harvest. But it really isn’t revealed until the end what is actually happening. All the reader starts out knowing is that there an annual lottery that takes place every June 29th. It starts out as more off an annoyance for the towns people, but the situation starts to get more ominous as you continue to read. It’s a good story, but the reasoning for the lottery is even more ambiguous. The reader is never told what the towns religious beliefs are, or why they believe an annual human sacrifice will ensure a fruitful harvest, but this is a quote from one of the characters. “Lottery in June means corn’s coming soon.” There was a short film made in 1970, that featured a then unknown Ed Begley Jr.

[@anubusx]

The Supernatural episode Scarecrow sounds similar to it.

[@kirajenmystic9955]

When I was in middle school, my class took a field trip to see another school's performance of the live theater version of "The Lottery". This was decades ago and I still remember the stoning scene. It was one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen to this day.

[@heidifedor]

@@kirajenmystic9955 what’s interesting about the author is that she wrote short horror stories for The New Yorker, and short comedy stories about her family for Good House Keeping.

[@Passions5555]

​@@heidifedor I heard she suffered from depression and committed suicide

[@ArkaeaFCL3]

Marilyn Manson's music video for his song Man that you fear was an homage to the Lottery! Very well done!

[@JillLulamoon]

The movie is kinda goofy, but the idea of He Who Walks Behind The Rows has stuck with me for years honestly. Some eldritch monster who lives in the cornfields is really frightening to me.

[@Angie-Pants]

Cornfields are the original liminal space.

[@merchantfan]

It really is one of his better monsters even though it's in such a short story. It uses religious language very effectively and the concept of how it took over and maintains power is realistic enough that it's perfectly believable within the context of the short story. You could probably remake Children of the Corn focused on a modern home school crazy kind of small town and make it like an emotional statement on how the wrong path for religious zealotry can put everyone in danger

[@eeyorehaferbock7870]

@@merchantfanas someone who’s lived most of his life in small communities like that and has suffered from a lot of issues thanks to a combination of toxic family dynamics and less-than-stellar relationships with others, agrarian/small-town horror fascinates me. I still haven’t found enough works that explore it in a way I’ve found satisfying, though I have read the original “The Children of The Corn” story as well as Norman Partridge’s novella Dark Harvest and thought they were both all right. I’ve especially been scrounging around a lot for music that creates that kind of feeling; if anything, my fascination with that theme was basically thanks to me getting into the band Slipknot not long after I started experiencing mental health issues. The title track of Iowa is my favorite Slipknot song AND one of my all-time favorite songs in general for that reason, and believe me when I say that you’ll never truly understand that song unless you’ve lived in a place like that.

[@merchantfan]

@@eeyorehaferbock7870 Yeah it's a shame it's never been adapted in a non-cheesy way there's a lot of potential

[@Syurtpiutha]

It is always funny to me how King's writing can be so involving, and then when you try to summarize the story it often sounds really, really dumb. Far better that than the other way around though.

[@genera1013]

To be fair, a lot of stories can sound pretty silly when you summarize them. It's actually something I like for creative writing. The premise can be really simple or odd, but it's how you present and develop it.

[@trequor]

I mean it is dumb. He tried to make corn scary... and King is not the most talented of writers.

[@michelegraham1181]

The Bible Belt is a real place in the US. Also how is getting married and having kids outdated?

[@genera1013]

@@michelegraham1181 Huh?

[@vilentman111]

That's what's so good about his books - they're stereotypical horror scenarios that he makes gripping. Even his characters are pretty boilerplate, but the way he writes them makes you so immersed.

[@Qadupae]

"Stay safe, stay away from cornfields..." *looks around self living in rural MN, surrounded by nothing BUT cornfields* Well...shit...

[@cherylmaden5989]

😂

[@evanabbott2737]

Get in that corn!🌽

[@johnnycovenant2286]

Lmao I'm over here in Ne like crap they're even in the cities

[@nopenotme1138]

I only read the story once and sure, it was weird as shit, but it was also pretty damn depressing. The movie had a few moments, but I spent more time laughing and rolling my eyes than anything else. I'd say a film adaptation could work, but honestly? It's best as a short story.

[@thebigwagyu]

The opening scene completely explaining everything instantly killed my interest in watching this movie. The scariest part of the short story is just two people accidentally stumbling upon a crazy situation with no idea what is happening.

[@dihexa7256]

The concept of Children of the Corn is pretty Lovecraftian, and echoes the themes of Old-Gods worshipping cults in Lovecrafts writing, especially in that the corrupting influence of the entity is so powerful that even thinking about it can cause harm to people. The cult members are so insignificant to the entity that they’re basically just livestock for it to feed on, literal “lambs to the slaughter”

[@rk28984]

Never seen the Children Of The Corn, but it sounds like a movie Ari Aster should do a remake of!

[@stevem.o.1185]

Children of the Corn Fucking The Dads of the Corn

[@elleofmusic]

oh god that would be perfect

[@rk28984]

@@elleofmusic To be fair, it seems that he already kind of did with Midsommar.

[@Estorium]

@@rk28984 Midsommar feels more like a re-imagining of The Wicker Man. Not enough killer children 😁

[@hillaryheath220]

That would be amazing!!

[@justacrittic1578]

I remember the scene where the kids kill everyone in the diner feeling really messed up, it comes so suddenly, you can feel the same kind of shock and confusion the adults feel being slaughtered by their own kin. Say what you will about that movie, but I still think about that scene.

[@LaLobita2011]

same! as well as the boy getting killed. it really stuck with me

[@EhrisaiaOShannon]

Totally forgot that Linda Hamilton played in the movie! Lol. Talk about versatility! 💜

[@creaty2852]

Shaun White was so young in this movie, he’s barely aged in the last 30 years it’s amazing

[@Angie-Pants]

The demon tootling around under the dirt is still such a cool effect. I'm glad they didn't try to make an actual physical representation of it, even if it did ultimately leave us with an Acme TNT explosion.

[@kimberlyoldschool]

“Tootling around” - hahaha, the demon doesn’t sound too menacing when you put it that way. I loved the story so much that I refused to ever watch any of the movies.

[@kirajenmystic9955]

I also enjoyed the term "tootling". 😂

[@Canalus]

King's best work will always be in his short stories IMO.

[@jjohnson3469]

I've always wanted an adapatation, maybe an hour tops, of The Sun Dog.

[@Canalus]

@@jjohnson3469 oh hell yeah!

[@mellowyello1478]

His dramas, too.

[@andu1854]

I think his novellas also have led to three high quality movies: Shawshank, Apt Pupil and the Body are all three movies I like to love and would rewatch (apt Pupil is a one and done movie but I was creeped out big time by the whole movie)

[@Silvermoon424]

@@andu1854 Funnily enough, all three of those novellas are from the same book!

[@CheziahKatt]

In the greater Stephen King universe it is heavily implied that He Who Walks Behind The Rows is Randall Flagg -the guy in The Stand, and The Dark Tower series

[@aliensoup2420]

Isn't the It demon also related?

[@CheziahKatt]

@@aliensoup2420 not reaaaallllly in this instance unless you want to argue that HWWBTR is one of Pennywise's eggs, maybe? Pennywise has always been tied to Derry Maine but Gatlin is in Nebraska. That being said, Pennywise does show up as a cameo in Insomnia, and Tommyknockers. It's also my theory that he's of the same species as Dandelo in the dark tower, and Tak from Desperation/Regulators. Possibly also the outsider if he was a baby version from an egg.

[@CheziahKatt]

Also both insomnia and Tommyknockers take place in Derry as well

[@lesleyrussell8200]

that worm that crawls underground is none other than stephen king, himself copying everything he finds....

[@CheziahKatt]

@@lesleyrussell8200 you're gonna have a conniption when you learn about the word "trope" and "archetype". Enjoy fifth grade English class.

[@kingbash6466]

Still blows my mind that John Franklin was an adult when he played Isaac here. He looked and sounded more like a crazy kid then most of the actual child actors they had.

[@game_player1345]

probably because child actors are children and have less experience?

[@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose]

I've admittedly only ever seen some of its 2009 remake on the Syfy Channel, but even there, Burt's discovery of his wife Vicky's body crucified into a scarecrow with corn stalks in her eyes was a pretty gruesome find. 🌽👁

[@blakeharris58]

That’s the one where Vicki has on that sexy ass yellow dress? That’s my favorite one😅

[@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose]

@@blakeharris58 Ha ha, yep that's the one. I was surprised to learn later that she played Sue Snell in a version of Carrie (the 2002 TV one), and that she had a major voice role in one of my old Barbie movies (Barbie in a Christmas Carol; she played the Bob Cratchit equivalent).

[@rickrische557]

@@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose She also played a major role in "Battlestar Galactica".

[@sabrinastratton1991]

I liked that version

[@BrookieSmallz]

This movie creeped me out when I was young. It was weird seeing an older movie (I was born in 93) with children being the main threat in the movie. It was like a Lord of the Flies lead by a satanic cult.

[@sirdidymus24]

The actors playing Isaiah and Malachi made that movie. They ate! I mean, the movie’s not great or scary but it’s memorable because of those two committed performances.

[@andu1854]

Didn’t he end up playing Rusty in European Vacation?

[@sirdidymus24]

@@andu1854 pretty sure that was Anthony Michael Hall (at least in the first one). They’re both gingers so they do look similar!

[@staticskeletons7538]

No, Malachi was played by Courtney Gaines. Rusty in EV was played by Jason lively.

[@TheMOVIEMANIAC13]

They’re as much the stars as Linda Hamilton and Peter Horton

[@WTFisTingispingis]

The fact Sarah Connor can't take a bunch of crazy kids in a fight is bullshit.

[@game_player1345]

its a bunch of kids with weapons

[@anarcho-savagery2097]

"I'll be back......with WEAPONS"

[@saga2964]

I swear... the kid who played Isaac is related to the child who played Joeffry in GOT. They have that same strange face and nasal voice.

[@Xehanort10]

He was actually 25 when he played Isaac but he had a growth hormone deficiency that kept him at 5 feet.

[@jordan_roadhouse4798]

It's a disability called cunthausen syndrome. It's hereditary and very infectious too.

[@kirajenmystic9955]

I've always thought the actor who played Isaac reminded me a bit of the actor who played Honeythorn Gump in the fantasy movie "Legend" with Tom Cruise and Tim Curry (the Gump actor was also smaller, slender and had dark hair). At first I thought their voices sounded similar too, but then I found out that actress Alice Playten, who played the main goblin Blix in "Legend", also dubbed Gump's voice. Still, the passing physical resemblance combined with the characters' similar voices gave me a chill!

[@AustinCDavis]

You’re not missing anything with the sequels. The one highlight I remember is that in #6 (which they naturally call 666) they bring back the actor who played Isaac in the original, and he seemingly hasn’t gotten any taller since then. He looks like an adult child, which was super creepy in its own right.

[@ZacHawkins42]

It's a genetic disorder, think the same thing Gary Coleman had

[@andu1854]

He has the same condition as BAby doll in Batman, where you don’t grow up and look like a kid, also Joe C was also the smae

[@elainaswanson4364]

as someone who literally cannot watch scary movies of any kind, I find strange comfort in horror movie analysis and walkthroughs, of which you are one of the best channels for because you cover just sheer enormous breadth of content. So thank you from a scaredy cat

[@ScarletSerenade]

Jesus, Ryan… I sat down to watch this for the first time this weekend, realized I couldn’t sit through it after the first few minutes and then you just HAPPEN to make a full video about it. You’re scaring me.

[@Xehanort10]

If you heard "hoyever" outside your house Ryan's watching you.

[@DinoReviews]

I rewatched this one on Shudder a few weeks back and actually began to enjoy it again for what it was. I feel like I loved this as a child and as I got older I grew to massively dislike it. But right now I think I’ve balanced on it. As a massive fan of Kings version I’m still hoping for a solid adaption some day. There’s a whole world of King works that would be amazing done today

[@EsotericTrash]

It's been a while since I've seen this movie and I was fairly drunk last I did, but I remember thinking 'This Isaac kid is goin hard and I love it'. He really made the movie imo.

[@mandalorianhunter1]

Thanks for this Ryan, I have been waiting for this since your Dream catcher video. You know what's funny despite seeing this movie multiple times since childhood, I never realized the woman was Linda Hamilton. I saw a clip earlier this year that said it was her. I think she looks better then whatever haircut she had in terminator. Funny both of these films came out the same year, she could not get a break that year. Either you get killed by a machine or by children.

[@caitlinbrewer4843]

Fun fact: Another King story implies that the corn monster is another version of Randall Flag

[@skylx0812]

_"Weasels in the corn, Lawd."_

[@Spirosbotos]

No way, are Randal Flagg and bob gray/pennywise related

[@wstine79]

"He who walks behind the HOYEVERS!"

[@Molloy2801]

I live for the way Ryan says "hoyeverrr". Big love from Australia ❤

[@wstine79]

I prefer the second movie over this, but Issac and Malakai are so fun to watch. The idea of something in the cornfield was scary.

[@evildoughboy7773]

Fortunately the follow-up sequel was funny as hell. I love all the goofy death scenes, especially the remote control takeover of the geezer's wheelchair that they sent flying into the street, only to have it park in front of a speeding bus.

[@camerondodge2070]

Is that the one where a corn stalk levitates, flies through a windshield, and impales someone?

[@mellow_mallow]

​@@camerondodge2070 sorry a corn stalk does _what_

[@theshadowsolitaire1741]

The power of the original short story and limitations of the film always make me remember something King wrote in the forwards to one of his short story anthologies about how he preferred writing the short stories because being free from the need to give a standard full structure and explanations meant he could just focus on the moments without worrying too much about beginnings and endings

[@MoralsInSongs]

It's a running joke in my family whenever you're looking for someone to say "He wants you, Malaki, he waaaannnttsss yoooouuuu"

[@31webseries]

I always read the story first when it comes to King especially. They always leave so much of the deeper darker stuff out. And they usually mutilate the ending by trying to make it happy in times when he doesn’t. For example, there is no time travel in the story the tall grass.

[@unslaadkrosis9435]

I so relate to this, though the Mist was a nice adaptation with a very memorable and heartbreaking ending IMO

[@31webseries]

@@unslaadkrosis9435 Agreed. Even King said it was the better ending. Man, what a gut punch.

[@kimackerman2183]

I was just watching Ryan's last video until this new video popped up. I remember watching Children of the Corn and finding it a bit boring, but I sorta like the idea of something hidden and some of the kids being truly evil. I just wish it would've been more creepier and focus more on the evil kids and doing more evil and unspeakable things.

[@dragdive]

I don't understand the notion that movies need to be rational. I don't go into a movie about a cult of murderous children and an evil being living in corn thinking it's going to be rational...that's just silly lol. It's one thing if a movie is meant to be a grounded realistic story and it goes off the rails, but some movies aren't meant to be rationalized.

[@brittneemae9986]

The short story is soooooo much better then the movie. I read it after seeing the movie when I was a teenager and couldn’t believe how different they were.

[@xaesalyszimpkee]

As someone who group up in a small farm town in nebraska- it's not exactly a far fetched idea; the kids rebelling that way to have control.

[@dalayneejo]

my mom was born and raised in the christian reformed church. she’s always warned me that when she watched children of the corn, it was absolutely evil and she physically gets uncomfortable talking about it. this is my first exposure to the movie ever out of precaution for her warning 😭 it’s definitely not as bad as she always thought it was lmfao

[@martincann5052]

It could be that King went for the Quaker look because he felt the Puritan look was both too antiquated and too damn on-the-nose, even for him.

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

Yeeeessssss!! I have been WAITING for you to talk about Children of the Corn!! 💗 It's definitely one of my favorite film adaptations of a Stephen King movie-- although if I *had* to pick a favorite, it would be Brian De Palma's "Carrie"! (Speaking of, would love to see you tackle that movie too! As well as De Palma's cult classic "Phantom of the Paradise"!)

[@BrokeProductions]

The original short story has a passage that still affects my writing to this day. It’s the scene where the male lead is first attacked by the children. One of them throws a knife into his arm, and in response he looks down and, in shock, tries to figure out how a buck knife blade grew out of his arm. It’s such a chilling moment and it’s such a shame the film can’t capture that

[@kristennelson3190]

By reading that excerpt aloud, you reminded me just how much I used to Love listening to books on tape! Time to find some SK audiobooks. Thanks for reawakening a forgotten love!❤

[@pleasehelp2446]

"Children of the corn", "the stone boy" and "the terminator" came out the same year. These were Linda Hamilton's 2nd-4th movies the first two released, flopped, and the last one made Arnold and Linda house hold names. Terminator was so popular that it actually made people look for more Linda Hamilton films which boosted the sales of this movie in the home release market

[@jilliancrawford7577]

What's interesting about Bert's death is that it further adds to the ambiguity of what really happened because his interpretation of it is being skewed by injuries, stress and trauma, which is how extreme cultist perspectives can be formed. When it's made int a literal entity, you have to wonder why it only seeks control of children within the cornfield and doesn't expand its territory and control. Maybe it's because I come from a Christian background, but wouldn't an entity that seeks to be worshipped want to be the only thing being worshipped and thus try to expand its domain? Why is it content with just a cornfield and group of children and not the whole world? Is it worth worshipping and fearing if its realm and control ends beyond the field?

[@hollyswoods]

The remake is surprisingly good and might be the only other Children of the Corn adaptation worth checking out

[@Evergrey06]

I saw Children of the Corn 2 when I was really young and I don't remember a thing about it except it has some truly goofy kills that are played for laughs. Example: The children terrorize an elderly woman until she tries to flee by crawling underneath her hydraulic-lifted house. The children, of course, turn off the hydraulics and as the house descends, the woman cries "Oh, what a world" as she's flattened from the waist up. Yes, a kill constructed entirely around a blatant Wizard of Oz joke.

[@pong86r]

as someone from Nebraska, let me assure you that we were ALWAYS aware of the corn and this movie did NOT make camping any easier. But, it did make our parents think twice before yelling at us after we watched it

[@toddsato633]

I remember loving the short story as a kid, and tried watching the movie on shudder last night, but bailed about 20 minutes from boredom. Cheers for doing the heavy lifting and sitting through it for the rest of us!

[@sean5558]

They had pretty decent remake on sci-fi back 2012-13 that was pretty close to story, interesting part Burt was Vietnam vet and was actually having flashbacks and hallucinating seeing his teammates and Vietcong sneaking through the corn

[@gatochick14]

I always imagine the corn converging and becoming the physical form of He Who Walks in the climax of the story- and that Burt and Vickie being swallowed by a giant mass of living corn plants is totally freaky!

[@chrisnelson6663]

I remember being somewhat entertained when I first watched it, but something felt off that was keeping me from loving it. Your analysis explains why I felt that way spot on.

[@chrisnelson6663]

Oh, and I’m so glad you did this film cause my wife and I have had an ongoing five year inside joke about the children of the corn who live next door. Like seriously, looks and behaviors and a family of 4-12 kids (who really knows) made me double check our locks 😂

[@tgirl678]

SyFy remade the movie in 2009. The only thing I remember about it was how the couple hated each other. I know the wife died but I can't remember if the husband did. That movie didn't work because the audience had no one to sympathize with. The best way I think to do the story justice would be to remake the first movie, take out the campiness, make it ambiguous to what's really going on, like you suggested, until the 3rd act. And if they want a 'good' child they're trying to save as well change it to the one that has visions. And when they burn down the cornfield have a figure of a man in the burning cornfield watching them as they flee

[@njmfff]

It's impossible to make that movie, because we would all know EXACTLY what's going on, because series has been long time around. It's like when they try to make new Predator movie and keep him unseen, like dude we know what's stalking main cast. It simply won't work for that reason. However, apparently last CotC movie was found footage, and some other was ripping of ghost movies and had Samara-type ghost? What in the?

[@tgirl678]

@@njmfff True. I just read they made another even further from the story. Something about a girl that goes crazy, starts killing people, talks other kids in joining her except for one teenage girl & it's on her to stop the madness

[@sabrinastratton1991]

I hadn't watched the previous ones when I found the 2009 version. Then I found the old series and watched it was meh. Burn dies cause the corn gets him in the end

[@mattmclaren3067]

I have never seen this film all the way through. After seeing an old Lost in Adaptation episode, I listened to the short story (which I think KZbin has removed now ). Now I listen to it every October. It is a fascinating story; there's something about nihilistic Stephen King I find...contrarily very comforting. As for the movie...eh. Might watch it one day. Not in any rush.

[@iwazhere21]

Night shift was the short story collection I read children of the corn in, and the short story format had me hooked. Look at his other short works like the mist, the raft, 1408, the road virus heads north, A good marriage, Dolans Cadillac ect ect fantastic reading that gets you flipping pages. I love a good King novel but his short stories honest have such a place in my heart on how well such a smaller bite sized horror can stay with you years later, the idea alone is creepy enough.

[@FablesTold]

I always recommend reading King's short stories to people who complain about his novel endings. I've found his short stories and novellas to be far scarier in general than his longer works, which usually don't horrify me- minus all the parts with the child SA stuff- so much as feel me with a distant kind of dread. That said, while Children of the Corn is not a _good_ movie, it does have my favorite scene in any of the many King-based movies that have been made: Burt, in front of all the children, going on a lecturing tear about all the atrocities they've committed because they'd been hoodwinked by one of those Hellfire and Brimstone preachers that he'd been so dismissive of in the beginning of the movie, is so proud of himself when he beats up Malachai and decides to be _moral_ and _merciful_ by not killing him, only for *He Who Walks Behind The Rows* to make it's presence known and, without another word, literally just nopes out because oh hey, look at that, there actually _is_ a powerful supernatural presence that is demanding human sacrifice, oops.

[@21stcenturyhiphop]

His short stories are so much nastier than his novels. It's what I prefer to revisit when it comes to his work.

[@lynnbowers4722]

This was my first introduction to King's work when I read it in a "borrowed" copy of my father's Playboy magazine when I was an adolescent. King only had 1 or 2 novels out by then and wasn't the household name he is today, but this story really stuck with me, and I still think it's his best short story.

[@morganophelia5963]

that ending though 😂🤣Malachi just stood there ...lol

[@Clara-ph7my]

I like this movie. It is quite subtle in horror but look at the children cast. Makes me laugh seeing those 80's haircuts! The good old days of really appreciating renting VHS. I discovered one of my favourite songs watching this film, 'Runaway-Del Shannon'.

[@snakesonthismondaytofriday1750]

I watched this in the 4th grade with my mom. I've shown a few friends who don't like horror and they like it because the actors commit and it's not scary. I find it a fun time with good pacing even though it's not that good lol

[@EddoFoxy]

Watching children of the corn is actually hilarious for me because Malachi looks EXACTLY like my dad as a teenager. Down to the haircut/colour. Seriously, I recently saw his school pictures. It's eerie.

[@Megaritz]

I knew the director of this movie, Fritz Kiersch, when I was a student at Oklahoma City University where he was head of the film department. He's a really nice guy. He's got a lot of great anecdotes from his time in the film industry. I asked him why Isaac came back from the dead to kill Malachai, saying "he wants you too" or whatever that was about. Fritz replied something like "Ehhh, we kind of did that for shock value. And besides, we made this movie for dumb teenagers, not smart guys like you."

[@MuertaNox]

Isn't He Who Walks Behind The Rows accepted as one of the alternate identities of Randall Flagg? I don't know if that's a fan theory or explicitly stated somewhere. If so, wouldn't that mean things are even worse for those kids than it looks?

[@skylx0812]

In "The STAND" Flagg menaced Mother Abigail a few times while standing out in her corn fields. He sent weasels after her and the incident became the backdrop of a later vision she had after fasting and praying, asking God to show her where she failed. Flagg appears to her as a wolf from out of the corn. Also the dog, "Big Steve" who became Professor Bateman's dog Kojack, battled and killed wolves in Abigal's yard. He hides under her house to recover and senses Flagg moving through the corn, searching for him in the form of a Sauron-like eye.

[@slimmccoy8863]

Pretty sure it's just fan theory, but Skylx08 makes some very valid connections.

[@davidmaez7253]

When this came out in 1984 I was 16, it was good. Sometimes you have to be in that time period to understand. There was no social media

[@TMMReznor]

It was so long ago that I read King's story that I couldn't remember what happened in it before this video reminded me! It also reminded me that it's been a few years since I last read The Long Walk, which is possibly my favourite SK story (only second maybe to Christine).

[@wojciechb8043]

Rarely does anyone manage to wear earbuds like an accessory, but you are really rocking those Raycon s! Looking good!

[@thefanwithoutaface8105]

1:03 Well you know we aren't talking about the movie considering it ends with a weird CGI demon screaming in the field and our heroes sucker punching the last of the Cornies before just walking away in the end.

[@pararalalala6577]

I love how you say “however”

[@Orochimaruswife1]

I watched it as a kid, so I have that nostalgia for the film and a fondness for it.

[@cschulzke26]

Child of the 80's here--movies and stories featuring scary cults were popular back then. You have to keep in mind that Jim Jones cast a lingering shadow in peoples minds.

[@Oldmanyaoiguy]

This movie is so nostalgic, mainly from memories of me and my cousin die laughing at so many scenes. Also I'm suprised Ryan hasn't covered any of the Laid To Rest/Chromeskull movies.

[@clowncampaign7416]

+this was such a good analysis! i've never read the short story, but i remember liking the movie as a kid, so i have the urge to go back and read it and then rewatch the movie again! i would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the other remakes as well! i vaguely remember watching the 2009 movie, but the only part i remember is when Vicky dies and her corpse starts talking lol. and then the 2020 movie is COMPLETELY different, where it feels like they tried to go for a more Abigail Williams-type origin for the cult. i'm rambling now, but i really enjoyed this video! you've earned a subscriber out of me for sure ^^

[@skylx0812]

In King's "The STAND" the author equates corn to a nautural sensual aspect of human procreation (Garrison Kelior did same once in a monologue). I guess you have to be from the US midwest to see the sexyness of corn. That may be why he had the couple in the short story at odds with one another, and the malelevolent being targeting children, a product of procreation, perverted into minions of his corn religion.

[@anubusx]

In Sleepwalkers a corn on the cob is good as a murder weapon.

[@nikkothegoblin]

Frustrating adaptation? Believe me, the Dark Tower series of his is one of my favorite set of books and they are in no way capable of being adapted visually

[@ZacHawkins42]

The movie was crap, agreed.

[@slimmccoy8863]

Wanted to like it so much, but it was a complete adaptation failure.

[@anubusx]

Same here. The movie did not work.

[@affsteak3530]

The worst part is "The Gunslinger" would have been FINE for film adaptation. It's just a weird western! We know how to film those!

[@MccFallen]

I have one experience with children of the corn and it was hilarious. So essentially as a joke one of my friends on a road trip brought children of the corn at a service station, on a road trip. We would then proceed to take this disc out and leave it in the glove box of the car for 6ish months until our next road trip. So this next trip comes around and we watch this scratched up disc. The first 3 minutes were fine, but then the corruption came, it was great, we would just skip around scenes for the next 5 minutes until the movie ends. It was quite hilarious seeing the guy run from a bunch of kids without the context.

[@lennonacid]

I still dig the original 1984 movie. It's still kind of creepy, and it's still better than most horror movies today.

[@masterseal0418]

I always remember the time when my parents said that Children of the Corn is creepy as hell, but the film's unintentionally comical. Not in the same levels as The Wicker Man(2006), but still...

[@hewhoneverdies001]

I watched Children of The Corn 6 once. This may be shocking to hear but... It wasn't very good. But I barley remember it. Isaac has apparently been in a coma since the events of the first film, but then he wakes up, and starts to presume his previous cult leader duties, and nobody stops him, for some reason, even though the events of the first film are now well known throughout the world as kindoff a Jim Jones thing. Also the main character sleeps with someone and and is now pregnant with some sort of prophecy child, Isaac's replacement, perhaps?

[@bassvibasics479]

First "hoyevver" drops at 1:08. And The Corn is pleased.

[@joannesuzieburlison7128]

I loved this! I've not seen the movie nor read the story though I've been a King fan for a very long time. Now I want to read it. Thank you for giving us this insight.

[@judgejudyandexecutioner7178]

love the hair color Ryan!! looks great! :)

[@yrn4895]

There’s a short film that the story was also based on that came out a year before this called Disciples of the Crow that felt more like the source material. It’s on KZbin and was an interesting watch. Great video btw👍🏻

[@snorpenbass4196]

...ahem, I think I understand what you mean, but the way you wrote it makes it seem like you're saying Disciples of the Crow came first - it didn't, it was shot and released in 1983, five years after the original King story. Here's how to phrase it better: "There's an earlier short film that is also based on the King story". Hope that helps?

[@cthulhupthagn5771]

Just a couple of random observations, pleaseing the algorithm as well. First, it's not that King has a reputation for failing to deliver on an ending, it's just that it seems he has a hard time articulating it. Some stories are a lot better with their endings than others. Cujo, Tommyknockers are among the best. The stand, despite it being my favorite out of all of his stories, fails to stick the landing though by the time you get to that point I think he might be a little bit forgiven. As for the dark tower, I liked how it ended, but the seventh book does have a few nitpicks that I will avoid saying here to not ruin it for people. Suffice to say the seventh book kind of churns through a lot, and then he ruins the very end because the next to last chapter is an actual letter from him to the reader suggesting to the reader that they don't read the last chapter cuz they might not like how he ended the story. It's not done as a meta thing, it's done as the author actually telling people you may not like how I end my book and I don't like that. Otherwise, his short stories are always going to be better. He punches in, gives you the setup, you hit the punchline, and you're out. Unsurprising when you consider that the author is someone who grew up on and loves EC comics. Regarding the movie and the short story, his use of that particular segment of Christianity has to do with it being different. They are a polite religion, but they're also not necessarily the most welcome to outsiders. They prefer archaic Garb and archaic ways of speaking and they bypass most forms of technology. So he was using them just because for somebody who grew up in the northeast, that was his reference point. I always found the short story to be more chilling than the movie for a lot of reasons, but especially because of how the short story ends. You get the feeling that the demon or entity or whatever it is will continue to find fault with them, lowering the age of consent further and further until eventually the entire town is wiped out. And then it presumably moves on, to devour another small isolated town. It's a chilling, almost lovecraftian visual. It's an entity that has no clear defined motivation, no clear defined appearance, it seems to exist as some kind of horrendous mutation of christianity, almost like a meme brought to life. I'm honestly surprised that the movie did not go with the same kind of Bleak ending as the story, because the sequels as little as I remember them generally keep that kind of nailistic ending

[@cassidyconover776]

Watched this for the first time while babysitting. Definitely added to the scare factor.

[@dominique2o06]

Thanks Ryan of course their are many Steven King movies we like that are very different from the book but honestly I never was crazy about this but never could really say why and thought I should read the story. So I enjoyed you going through all the differences and now I see why the story would be so much more disturbing vs watching kids run around the whole movie. With anything like this its always better to keep it subtle and eerie. Only change I kinda appreciate is for the couple to have a decent relationship not every couple needs to hate each other in a movie or story but they also don't need to be madly in love either. Not knowing what the thing in the corn really is yet it making all the kids suffer for not doing as they should have shift you hoping the couple gets out of it but now after they fail to you feel sorry for the kids who were forced and brainwashed into doing these things.

[@Chicagocanine]

I actually paused this video to go listen to an audiobook of the short story. I know I’ve read it before but I couldn’t remember much.

[@DylanMorrow48]

Thank you! .... this was a childhood fav!😀

[@shroomyk]

I also really recommend reading the short story, even if you've seen the movie. It's actually probably one of my favorite King stories. There is creeping dread all the way through as the couple discovers vague clues as to what happened to the town. Some stuff just doesn't translate well into visual media, and most directors just cannot get the atmosphere right. I'm going to go reread the story myself right now. 👍🏻

[@kimberlyoldschool]

It was genius that King made the couple a genuinely unhappy one. If you’ve ever been in a bad marriage, boy, did that element ramp up the fear factor of the story.

[@HashbrownMashup]

Being of the cornfields myself makes it both more and less scary at the same time so it kind of balances out somehow. Like they have WRONG corn, our corn is GOOD corn.

[@themysteriousdomainmoviepalace]

I always liked how cornfields rustle. They feel eerie and other dimensional when you're in them.

[@njmfff]

Men, I've seen this movie as kid in 90s on VHS, back then it was kinda hard to come by horror movie as kid because VHS had to be rented by adults if horror, so if someone got hold of ANY horror movie on VHS it was like holy grail. That kid was like your best friend if he had some good ass horror movie like Evil Dead, Hellraiser or Night of Demons on VHS. I am not even kidding, the rite of passage to adulthood was "Have you seen Evil Dead?", and there was always that "Little Peter" who claimed he has seen Hellraiser "one night on TV" then he would make shit up, and we use to all speculate what Night of the Demons 1 and 2 was about, because their VHS covers looked scary as shit so no one was brave enough to even attempt to see it. This is why most of use of that age had fond memories of many crappy or mediocre movies from this era, for many it was rite of passage to adulthood.