Children of the Corn (1984)

7/25/18

Directed by: Fritz Kiersch

Written by: Stephen King, George Goldsmith (Screenplay)

Starring:  Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R.G. Armstrong

Budget: $800,000

Quote: "And just as he was offered up unto Him, so shall be the unbelievers"

Trivia: In the original ending of the story Linda Hamilton's character Vicki was killed by the children. She joined "the blue man" on a cross and had her eyes cut out.



Watching this last night, my wife asked me, wait, where is all the white haired kids with the creepy eyes while showing me a google image search resulting in black and white movie shots with scary looking white haired children. Nope, those iconic creepy kids are from Village of the Damned. While the children of Children of the Corn's children don't have the same skin scrawling effect on viewers it is one of the better Stephen King movies and has some very memorable scenes. It combines three of the creepier horror subgenres: rural (Deliverance), religious fanaticism (The Wickerman), and creepy kids (Village of the Damned). These three mesh together really well into a twisted film that had to have been an inspiration for the incredibly film Frailty which would also combines these three subgenres sixteen years later.

Little Evil (2017)

July 22, 2018

Directed by: Eli Craig

Written by: Eli Craig

Starring: Evangeline Lilly, Owen Atlas, Adam Scott

Budget: $7,500,000

Quote: That's true, kids are dicks, man. But this is a different level. He's like top of the dick chain.

Trivia: When Al mentions that his stepson always wants to watch the Pitch Perfect movies, everyone reacts negatively. That includes Larry, who's played by Donald Faison, who appeared in Pitch Perfect (2012).




I wasn't sure what to expect from this horror comedy and with full disclosure, it was much more of a comedy than a horror comedy film. It does deal with Satanism and the occult, there are also a couple gory scenes, but it falls much more on the comedy side. That being said, it was a pretty funny movie that does partially spoof the "creepy kid" genre films, particularly The Omen. The film makes numerous references to The Omen while maintaining a light comedic feel to it. This is achieved largely with the help of the main character, Gary's (Adam Scott), friends: Al (Bridget Everett), Wayne (Chris D'Elia), Larry (Donald Faison), and Victor (Kyle Bornheimer).