A couple traveling to Seattle stumble upon a murderous cult of children in Children of the Corn. Adapted from a story by Stephen King, the few things that still work are still terrifying. Children, completely under the influence under a charismatic leader; a brutal, unflinching enforcer who carries out the leader’s wishes; the isolation of farmland in an age without infinite interstate systems and high-speed internet—these things culminate quite chillingly to show what can happen when dogma is followed unquestioningly. Unfortunately, the acting is wooden, the plot unconvincing, the dad jokes too painful. The end is perhaps the most abrupt one I’ve ever seen. This movie made me sleep in my parent’s room for a night when I first watched it, but that was a twenty years ago. Time is cruel.
