Plot: In a small town, a twelve year old girl gets all the other children to stand up to the adults who are threatening their future.
We have seen small girls in horror movies being tricked and possessed.
The whole first half of a movie is usually dedicated to the side characters in the movie, wondering if that little girl is really possessed or not.
There will be glimpses of the girl doing something she wouldn't have if a demon wasn't possessing her.
CHILDREN OF THE CORN shows how terrifying little waylaid girls can truly be.
Based on Stephen King's short story, Children of the Corn has been adapted several times, and none of them have truly hit the mark.
The newer version is perhaps the eleventh attempt to adapt the short story.
The movie serves as a prequel to the events leading up to the children turning against the adults.
The story adds logic to this story about the children, sick of being treated like children. It is their future, and they want a say.
While the story holds up a little, it is the portrayal of adults as helpless dominoes that doesn't make sense.
A whole bunch of adults are shown to be no match for the kids who want to overthrow their rule.
And then there is the plot point of the soil being contaminated with chemicals that can cause hallucinations. Why bring that bit in and not use it for a grand twist?
The movie had the elements all in place. Unfortunately it doesn't get to use them efficiently.
CHILDREN OF THE CORN Plot
The movie opens with a boy called Boyd sitting outside a home for children with a girl called Eden.
In the next instant, he begins stabbing every adult he comes across. Eden is shocked by this but doesn't say a word.
Time passes and Boyd's incident is now a news article. He was brought down by releasing gas into the home that ended up killing the other kids.
Eden is questioned about Boyd's motives but she doesn't reveal much except Boyd's remorse at not getting everyone.
We then meet Boleyn who is roaming around the fields with her brother Cecil. She is a student of microbiology and boring her brother with how the soil is contaminated with chemicals that can cause hallucinations, and is also ruining the crop. She explains that the labels on the fertiliser should have been read carefully.
Cecil is barely interested and plays with the crops. Boleyn then shows him a letter she received. It is her acceptance letter for further studies. Cecil is hurt that she is leaving him and this town to make a better life for herself with education.
They then hear a bell ring and go explore further to see a bunch of kids playing near a silo. They're kids and showing just how much they really hate fruit by bashing it up with a sledgehammer.
There's a car there too, and the kids smash up the windows because it is so cool.
On the top of the silo tower, there is a boy made to walk the plank. Boleyn is horrified by the way the kids are behaving but Cecil thinks they are just having a bit of fun and she should lighten up. Plus, since she is moving, it is time he made new friends and if that means it has to be with delinquents, then so be it.
Boleyn then spots Calder who is pissed that his grandma's car has been brought into the middle of the fields and trashed. He also tries to stop the kids from behaving badly but gives up fairly quickly. He even walks away from the car.
Boleyn follows him and renews her friendship with him. At home things are tense to as Boleyn's father Robert prepares for the speech to address the townsfolk of Rylstone.
At the community hall, Robert gives a speech about how destroying crops can bring in money as the government will give them subsidies for the Corn not being grown.
Boleyn enters the hall to give a grand speech about how they should fix the soil because of which crops are not growing.
Robert commends her bravado and speech but tells her it is not practical and destroying the crops is the way to go.
The rest of the kids raise their voice too and want to be able to vote in the decision.
The townsfolk heckles them while Robert unsuccessfully tries to get them to stop insulting the kids.
The kids finally leave and Eden goes to have a cry in the fields. Luckily, the stalks are there to console her.
Boleyn hasn't given up on getting her voice heard and rallies up the other teens. They consider calling news reporters to cover their story.
Eden has come up with a plan of her own to stop the adults from ruining her future. She sure sees it in this way.
She gathers up all the kids to do unspeakable things like gutting a pig and using its blood to paint the pit.
Boleyn approaches Eden after some days and is shocked to see what her and the other kids are up to. She tries to keep her comments to herself and enlists Eden's help in getting the reporter to the hall.
Eden shrugs and agrees to pick up the reporter.
Later that night, Boleyn can't find the adults or the reporter and wonders what is going on. She approaches Eden who has an evil smile on her face.
She tells them she has something amazing to show them.
CHILDREN OF THE CORN Ending Explained with Spoilers!
Eden explains that they now have nothing to worry about because she and the other kids had a meeting and a trial all on their own.
The teens enter the hall to see Calder's father hanging from a noose. It's too late to save him and Boleyn realizes that the kids intend to take over the town.
All the adults are put in cells and no doubt a terrifying fate awaits them. Calder tries to be a hero but he is beaten up until he dies.
Some of the adults are taken into the fields and dropped into a pit. Boleyn's mother is in the pit too and she has no choice but to helplessly watch the kids man a bulldozer and dump soil inside the pit, thereby burying those adults alive.
Boleyn's father is still alive and so she comes up with a plan to pretend to be understanding of Eden's delusions. When Eden uses the term "He-who-walks" to describe her friend in the fields, Boleyn wonders if the twelve-year old is suffering from hallucinations.
The rest of the adults are told to walk into the fields so that Eden's friend can have something to eat.
Boleyn whispers to her father to run for it and he totally thinks he will succeed at that.
Eden then reveals she kidnapped the reporter and intended for her to be a sacrifice for her friend too.
Boleyn is horrified to learn her friends have been killed. She tries to make Eden see reason only for the reporter to be dragged into the fields and ripped in half by
"He-who-walks". The monster is real since Boleyn saw it. Or did she hallucinate it too considering her brother had blown dust at her in the beginning of the movie?
Maybe they are all mad at this point.
The kids turn on Boleyn who tries to avoid being killed by telling them how the grain dust and the gasoline that was doused on her may end up burning the whole field.
Boleyn makes a run for it and ends up creating a track of gasoline right up to the middle of the field where Boleyn's father is laying dead.
Eden's bestie attacks Boleyn but she manages to escape by using a machete.
She finds Calder's grandmother's car and luckily it turns on even though the fuel is still leaking from that time when the kids bashed it. The fuel has been leaking for so many days now.
Eden somehow manages to make it to the backseat like a villain and has a gun with her. Boleyn says she wants a cigarette as her dying wish.
Eden is feeling generous and allows her. She even sets up the car lighter for her.
The second it does, Boleyn heads out of the car and tells Eden that all her running around caused a trail to form because of the gasoline the kids had dumped on her.
She uses the car lighter to start a fire. Eden is aghast when she sees the trail go right into her beloved fields. Everything goes up in flames and the barn explodes.
That one scene actually redeems this movie.
Eden looks on the verge of a tantrum as she huffs and puffs with closed fists.
She walks into the fields and her new bestie is on fire. It crumbles and the whole field burns down.
Boleyn goes for a walk in the fields the next day and picks up a flower that belonged to Eden. She is surprised by it and then shocked when she sees Eden, all melted and burned.
She seems to have Corn powers, and uses the stalk to pull Boleyn to her and kill her.
The movie ends, suggesting that Eden is the new "she-who-walks" on the burnt fields.
Children of the Corn had an interesting idea to provide a backstory of why the kids chose to go after the adults, but then it loses its way in the maize maze.
However, the acting is passable and helps elevate a tired script.
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