Children of the Corn is a 2009 horrortelevision film directed, written and produced by Donald P. Borchers. It is based on the 1977 short story of the same name by Stephen King and the eighth installment of the Children of the Corn series. Set primarily in 1975 in the fictional town of Gatlin, Nebraska, the film centers on traveling couple Burt and Vicky as they fight to survive a cult of murderous children who worship an entity known as He Who Walks Behind the Rows, which had years earlier manipulated the children into killing every adult in town.
Plot
In 1963, the town of Gatlin, Nebraska, is suffering a severe drought. In a tent, a boy preacher, claims that an Old Testament-era Canaanite god whom he calls "He Who Walks Behind the Rows" has spoken to him in his dreams. He tells the other children that the sinful adults are the reason for the drought, prompting them to kill everybody over the age of nineteen in town. They then establish a death cult with the prime rule that, upon reaching the age of nineteen, one must be sacrificed to the cult's god. Twelve years later, a bickering couple, Vietnam veteran Burt and his wife Vicky, are driving near Gatlin, planning their second honeymoon, when a boy named Joseph stumbles out of the roadside corn in front of their car. After running Joseph over, Burt realizes the boy's throat was slashed. Wrapping and placing the body in the trunk, Burt tells Vicky to wait for him while he looks around. In the cornfield, Burt finds Joseph's bloodied suitcase. He and Vicky drive off in search of aid, not realizing they are being watched by Isaac, the 9-year old current cult leader, and 18-year-old warrior Malachai. After hearing a group of children giving an evangelical sermon over the radio, Burt and Vicky reach an abandoned gas station. Finding the phones non-functional Burt decides to go to Gatlin. While Burt drives, Vicky finds an amulet which she recognizes as a pagan creation. Meanwhile, in the cornfields, Isaac tells the others about Burt and Vicky and that they, like the "blue man" must be killed to appease "He Who Walks Behind the Rows", who demanded Joseph be killed for trying to escape. Reaching the town, Burt and Vicky find it seemingly abandoned, with a calendar in a bar still reading 1963. Coming across a church with a sermon board dated last week, Burt goes in to investigate, ignoring Vicky's pleas that they should just leave. Inside the church, Burt finds various occult drawings, a larger version of the trinket in Joseph's suitcase and a book listing the birthdays of the town's inhabitants. As Burt reads the book, Vicky is surrounded and attacked by Malachai and several other boys. She manages to kill one of them with Burt's shotgun before Malachai stabs her. Burt rushes outside just as Malachai blows the car up. Chased by the children into an alleyway Burt is taunted by Isaac who throws a knife at him which hits him in the arm. Killing two of the older boys, Burt runs off into the cornfields. In the alleyway, Isaac confronts Malachai, telling him that by spilling Joseph's blood in the corn he angered He Who Walks Behind The Rows. Questioning Malachai's faith, Isaac has him pray before they regroup with their followers, who they tell must sacrifice Burt in the clearing where the blue man's corpse is held. Malachai and the children begin hunting Burt through the corn. Malachai is told by Nahum, one of the younger boys, that he had a vision of He Who Walks Behind the Rows, leading Malachai to believe Nahum will be the new prophet after Isaac. Malachai mentions that they must finish the search before dark, as that is He Who Walks Behind the Row's time. Burt begins having flashbacks to Vietnam and kills several of the children, including Nahum. At nightfall the worshipers abandon the search and return to the town. They have a feast prepared by the females, who seem concerned that Burt was not apprehended. Later that night, Isaac holds a sermon in the church based on the tenet of "be fruitful and multiply" and proclaims that the time of fertilization has come. He beckons a teenage girl and boy up to the front of the church and they immediately disrobe and have sex in front of the entire congregation. Burt, lost and delusional, has visions of all those he has killed, and begins wandering around aimlessly, searching for the road as the plant life begins attacking him. He finds the clearing and discovers Vicky, who has been made into a scarecrow. Hallucinating that Vicky's body is talking to him, Burt is faced by He Who Walks Behind The Rows, who proceeds to disembowel him and rip his eyes out in a form of ritual sacrifice. The next day, Isaac tells the children that He Who Walks Behind The Rows is displeased with their inability to kill Burt, who He had to dispose of Himself—like the blue man. Isaac informs everyone that the age of sacrifice has been lowered from nineteen to eighteen as punishment for their failure. After the children leave Isaac stands in front of a pile of the children's bodies and as he sets them on fire shouts "Scarecrow!". The scarecrow is revealed to be Burt. Later, Malachai and the other eighteen-year-olds enter the cornfields at dusk, offering themselves to He Who Walks Behind the Rows. While saying goodbye, Malachai's pregnant lover Ruth, whose faith had earlier been shaken, has a vision of herself setting fire to the corn.
Cast
David Anders as Burt, the main protagonist along his wife.
Casting started two weeks before production began. Unlike in the original film, in which the bulk of the cultists were portrayed by actors over eighteen, Borchers decided to cast age-appropriate actors. Borchers has stated that dealing with the largely underage cast proved to be the most difficult part of making the film.
Bill Barker as the soldier in the flashback scene.
Production
Writing
Having worked on the 1984 film as a producer, Donald P. Borchers was originally content with it, though in hindsight came to believe it was too "Hollywoodized" and not true enough to the original short story. Wanting Stephen King to be involved in the production of the new film, Borchers sent a copy of the script to him, only to receive a letter from King's attorney stating that King wanted no part in the film.
Filming
It was written, directed and produced by Donald Borchers, a producer on the original film, which was filmed in Lost Nation, Iowa and Rural Oxford Jct area. Borchers said he chose the Quad Cities Iowa/Illinois area after receiving a recommendation from the Iowa Film Office in the state Department of Economic Development. Shooting took place in and around the Quad Cities during September 2008.
Release
The film premiered on Syfy on September 26, 2009 and was released uncut on DVD by Anchor Bay on October 6, 2009. The DVD included such features as interviews with cast and crew and behind-the-scenes footage. A Blu-ray release followed on November 16, 2010.
