Children of the Corn

Shot in Australia in 2020 and then left on the shelf for more than two years, 'Children of the Corn' is the eleventh film to come out of the short story Stephen King published in 1977. Kurt Wimmer, who directed 'Equilibrium' and wrote 'The Beekeeper', wrote and directed it. It isn't a remake of the 1984 'Children of the Corn' but a fresh adaptation that plays almost like a prequel.

In Rylstone, a Nebraska farming town, the corn is dying despite GM seed and weedkiller. The adults vote to destroy the crop and collect a government subsidy, and the town's children are furious, none more than Eden (Kate Moyer), an orphan raised by the local pastor (Bruce Spence) who hears voices in the cornfield.

Boleyn (Elena Kampouris), a teenage activist, agrees the older generation is stealing their future, but she has no idea how far Eden is willing to go. That night the kids set out to settle the score, and something out among the rows is listening.

Callan Mulvey and Stephen Hunter are also in the cast, and the budget was around $10 million. After a single run in Sarasota, Florida, in October 2020, it got 18 days in US cinemas from March 2023 before moving to Shudder, and it went straight to digital in the UK on 31 July 2023.

Critics tore into it. Some ranked it among the worst King adaptations ever made, and many felt its ecological message goes nowhere. The one thing several of them agreed on is that Kate Moyer is the best thing in it.

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