It used to take decades for schlocky genre movies to receive the critical analysis and deconstruction that they deserved. It would take decades for classic ’50s horror and sci-fi movies like The Blob, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Godzilla to receive credit as brilliant sociopolitical allegories.
In our modern days of so-called ‘elevated horror,’ however, the intellectual response to a genre film is fast and ferocious. Weird, solemn, and atmospheric horror films, such as Hereditary and The Witch, are endlessly analyzed, while the traditional kitsch of slasher films and gross-out splatter horror are met with rolled eyes. Perhaps some of these scary movies (the ones not directed by Jordan Peele, Robert Eggers, or Ari Aster) will have to wait for their comeuppance, because many of them, like the kooky ’50s genre exercises before them, deserve closer attention.
The newest version of Stephen King’s classic horror story, Children of the Corn, is a great case in point. Kurt Wimmer’s film has been unapologetically slammed with negative reviews referring to it as superfluous or dull, but in a few decades, maybe some audiences will appreciate the film’s bold cultural relevance. The story (a quasi-prequel) of children in a rural town who far a murderous cult and kill the adult citizens certainly has the cheesy charms of silly B-movies, but it’s far more intelligent, meaningful, and disturbing than critics have given it credit for.
The Story Behind Children of the Corn
Children of the Corn has had a somewhat odd history. The King story seems almost directly lifted from the classic Twilight Zone episode, “It’s a Good Life,” and spawned a poorly-reviewed 1984 film. While few people would put the film in their top five favorite Stephen King adaptations, it somehow birthed a franchise of 10 movies, way more than any other King story. What could be the reason for this? Is it simply less self-contained that the story is conducive to multiple films unlike, say, The Shining or Carrie? Are they specifically cheap to make? Or is there something more?
Watching the new iteration of the story, it makes a bit more sense. Like the multiple versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, each serving as an allegory for different contemporaneous world events, Children of the Corn does seem capable of reflecting different issues depending on when it’s made. The 1984 version definitely reeked of the Satanic Panic that was sweeping the nation, along with the economic hardships of Reaganomics. The new version uses the story in the most relevant and interesting way possible, though.
After an eerie prologue, Children of the Corn centers on a small and very rural Nebraskan town in which its corn industry, and thus its economy, is dying. The adults are a bickering bunch, angrily arguing over their future and ignoring the suggestions and sentiments of their children as either unrealistic or downright dumb. Those kids seem adrift in the world, untethered from the care and attention of the adults, playing morbid games of make-believe out in the cornfields. Sounds a bit like a euphemism for the modern world.
An Illogical Plot and a CGI Corn Monster
RLJE Films
Boleyn (a plucky and committed Elena Kampouris), though, is getting out, leaving her brother and family behind in order to pursue school in a less hostile and bleak environment. Bo is one of the few likable characters in the film by design, old enough to not truly fit in with the unruly children but too young to be respected and listened to by the adults. The older citizens have their town hall, but so do the younger ones, holding court in the corn and listening to young Eden (Kate Moyer), a transplant to the town who holds a special kind of power over them.
Related: Best Stephen King Books and Stories That Haven’t Been Made Into a Movie
Eventually, the kids rebel, violently taking over the town. Of course, it’s all a bit ridiculous; how these pre-teens managed to corral and imprison all the grown adults and tough farmhands is an illogical mystery, and like the bare-bones story on which it’s based, there isn’t much in the way of exposition as to why. Acting out rowdily against adults is understandable; somehow stringing up a 300-pound farm worker and hanging him in front of his daughter a bit less so.
Perhaps it’s the spirit of the corn which compels them to do so (and gives these twerps superhuman strength). The film’s odd sense of logic and misplaced rationality extends to the corn and the monster which lurks within it, which is literally made of corn husks. The CGI plant beast, which would work well as the new mascot for Green Giant frozen vegetables, is ridiculous and unexplainable, though its murderous rampage is pretty fun in a sick, over-the-top way.
Kate Moyer Is a Scary Child of the Corn
RLJE Films
While the monster isn’t especially scary, the kids actually are. Children of the Corn gets surprisingly grisly from the moment of that aforementioned hanging, and when two kids bash the face off a teenager with a baseball bat, revealing his exposed jawbone and teeth, the viewer realizes that the film isn’t kidding around. Of course, horror has always had creepy kids, and Children of the Corn is one of the most popular stories in that pedigree, but this latest cinematic adaptation takes it to a surprisingly gruesome and effective level.
Related: Horror Movies That Are Actually Scary
Kate Moyer is very good as the ostensible leader of the kids’ cult, refraining from the more cringe-worthy, awkward overacting of many children who play villainous psychos. She can be funny in a chillingly nonchalant way, and her temper tantrums are uncomfortable; she’s genuinely unnerving here, despite being roughly 11-years-old at the time of filming.
Deeply Appropriate Meaning Beneath the Corniness
RLJE Films
Beyond the good (Moyer, the visceral violence), the bad (the highly unbelievable narrative of events and the illogical ending), and the ugly (corny CGI), Children of the Corn speaks to contemporary socioeconomic issues in a way that few horror films do, especially the fun, ‘non-elevated’ ones.
The generational differences between the adults and the children, the ways in which they disagree about the future and who’s to blame for the present, and the radical anger of the kids all feel highly reflective of today’s culture. Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha have become increasingly angry at Boomer and Gen X for the state of the world, and older generations are sometimes contemptuous of youth or, at best, apathetic about their complaints.
Anger against capitalism, exponential climate change, and corrupt politicians is now commonplace among young people, many of whom have become fatalistic over it all. This film, like a kind of Occupy Corn Street, is an explosion of righteous anger against past policies, what industrial farming has done to the planet, and the economic ruination of middle America and small rural towns.
The same way we pick apart the symbolism and subtle references in The Blob, we could also pore over Children of the Corn and find some very important and prescient ideas among the scares, schlock, and silliness. Produced by Tiger13, Anvil Entertainment, and Digital Riot, Children of the Corn is now available in theaters from RLJE Films.
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