Children of the Corn

And a child shall lead them...

Who would have thunk it, that one of Stephen King's short stories would spawn a gargantuan movie franchise? Children of the Corn is one of those movies that horror fans of a certain age, who started to blossom in the 1980s, remember fondly but agree that now it's a bit, well, corny.

Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton get trapped in a village of the damned where the children have killed the adults and established a religious order that gives worship to the devil of the corn. Isaac Chroner (John Franklin) and Malachai Boardman (Courtney Gains) head the creepy kid cult, corn does sway, blood does flow, poor special effects do down the devil, yet it's atmospheric as heck fire and still a bunch of fun if you forgive it its dated foibles. 6/10

Children of the damned in the cornfields of the American prairie

A young couple traveling through the endless cornfields of Nebraska (Peter Horton & Linda Hamilton) visits a town so far off the beaten track its not even on the map. Yet it seems abandoned, except for some kids scurrying around. Horror ensues.

Children of the Corn (1984) takes the remote Plains town setting of The Last Picture Show (1971) and gives it a horror spin based on Stephen Kings short story. The later Husk (2011) used the same template. King, however, wasnt pleased with the results, as conveyed in his statement: "My feeling is like a guy who sends his daughter off to college. You hope she'll do well. You hope she won't fall in with the wrong people. You h...