Children of the Corn (1984)/revisit

There was always a lot to like here: Iowa locations with all that corn and the desolation of Gatlin, Nebraska (Iowa a stand in for Nebraska), with the power struggle of Franklin's diminutive Isaac, who commanded influenced kids to murder all the adults, including some in a diner in that memorable opening, and Gaynes' sadistic, brooding psychopath, Malachi. To be honest, Job and Sarah's story, sort of narrated by Job and given as much interest as adult outsiders traveling through, Burt and Vicky (Horton and Hamilton) was never as worthwhile as the story of the couple with marital difficulty (more emphasized in the story of King's book) encountering the wrong turn that leads them right into harm's way.

The kid being attacked and bled in the cornfields while trying to run away, the helpless situation of being trapped in the cornfield maze, and the eerie cult that worships a deity called He Who Walks Behind the Rows where kids carry around farming shears and knives, saluting to their god while planning to "slay the outlanders" really stood out when I watched this in my youth. Not a favorable scenario to wind up in the empty Gatlin ghost town!