Many years ago I started dating a girl and for some reason we were talking about what names we liked for kids. The girl in question said that if she had a boy, she would want to call him Malachai. I was hooked. At that point in my life, any girl who would want to name their kid after the freakiest character in Children of the Corn had to be "the one". Those days are long past but I will always remember that moment when I thought I found my soul mate. But I digress, we are not here to talk about the "one that got away" but are here to talk about cornfields and killer juveniles.

Although this is not one of the better horror movies out there, it has a number of moments that have stuck with me for the last twenty years or so. The biggest of these moments is the opening slaughter of the adults in a small town diner. Similar to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I remember this scene as being overly bloody but after a fresh look, I discovered that the violence was mostly implied which is probably why it is so memorable as my mind had to fill in the gory blanks. After this initial slaughter, we jump forward three years and meet a nice young couple named Burt (Peter Horton) and Vicky (Linda Hamilton) who are driving across the U.S. midwest enroute to a new job for Burt. Along the way, they run over a child (who was already injured). Burt and Vicky proceed into the town of Gatlin, Nebraska to report the accident and try to figure out what happened to the kid. Upon arrival in Gatlin, the couple find it very strange that there are no adults around and slowly learn that the town is run by children who are led by a creepy kid named Isaac (John Franklin) and his evil long-haired sidekick Malachai (Courtney Gains).

This movie has received a bit of a bad rap and it is not as terrible as some people may have you believe. As far as Stephen King adaptations go, you could do much worse and as a suspenseful horror movie, it is pretty good although it does get silly in the final act mainly due to some poorly executed visual effects. Franklin and Gains are perfectly cast creepy young villains with Gains in particular really getting into the role and trying to be as menacing as possible (even though some of his lines are overtly cheesy). It works well and this red-headed sociopath will make you think twice the next time you think about telling off Carrot Top. The character and name of Malachai has stuck with me for over two decades since I first saw the film which is quite the feat in a genre filled with menace and monsters. The whole idea of a group of kids taking over a town is quite scary to me and when you introduce the fact that these kids worship some sort of corn God and gather at crazy sermons led by Isaac and it ups the unsettling factor.

Director Fritz Kiersch followed this up with the classic 80's "bad kid" movie Tuff Turf and has had a spotty career ever since but seems to be working again with The Hunt and Surveillance coming out in 2006. You may remember Courtney Gains as the guy that George McFly pushes down at the dance in Back To The Future and also as one of the leads in Can't Buy Me Love. He has had a fairly steady career ever since with a lot of TV appearances and direct-to-video releases on his resume. Franklin continued to act and returned as Isaac in Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return which he also co-wrote. He is now a high school English teacher in California. Horton is now an executive producer on "Grey's Anatomy" and Linda Hamilton will forever be a part of movie history as Sarah Connor in the first two Terminator movies. Children of the Corn was followed by six sequels. King's short story was first adapted as the short film "Disciples of the Crow" in a direct-to-video release in 1983. (Josh Pasnak, 11/10/07)

Directed By: Fritz Kiersch.
Written By: George Goldsmith.

Starring: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, John Franklin, Courtney Gains.