Children of the Corn 1984 Anchor Bay Entertainment   Buy It Now

This is a truth I hold to be self evident- anyone who makes a movie based on a book or short story written by Stephen King needs to be hit in the head with a shovel.

I have been a fan of the King since I was but a wee lad, and I have not been a fan of the movies made from his works just as long. One notable exception- Christine. It was not, I should point out, much better than any other translation of his works up to that point (although Cujo was fairly well done, and the later Misery was actually pretty good). I loved the book so much that I forgave the many flaws of the movie. The ’58 Plymouth Fury is just a beautiful car, and I am a car guy, so there you go.

I have, however, never read the story Children of the Corn. There are a few gaps in my King library here and there, and that is one I never got to. And I never saw the movie, because it seemed terrible uninteresting.

Now, I have seen the movie, thanks to Anchor Bay and the Sony PSP. Overall, I have to say that I am pretty unimpressed. Not being a big fan of horror flicks anyway, and especially not being a fan of those based on the King’s writings, I went into this movie assuming I wouldn’t care for it, and while it is not as bad as I had figured it would be, it did not win me over, either.

Short summary- religious zealot children have murdered all the adults in the small town where they live and have taken over. Innocent couple wanders into town and gets caught up in all the murderous hubbub.

Those who care to cane check out a more complete review of the movie here. For those who just want the lowdown on the UMD version, here it is- as with most Anchor Bay UMD releases, you get the widescreen version of the movie. That's all. No special features. Not even audio selections. Just the damn movie. As I have said before, I think this is fine. I don’t need special features on a UMD when I am buying it solely for the purpose of having a portable version of the flick.

Audio and visual playback is good, as good as you can expect from a movie this old, at any rate. The PSP screen is unbelievably forgiving when it comes to visual presentation because it looks so good, but that clarity can sometimes magnify small flaws, as well. The transfer of this movie looks as clean as any from Anchor Bay, so that’s a good thing

One other good thing about Children of the Corn- Linda Hamilton. I need say no more.

If you like the movie and want to keep it close to you so you can hold it and squeeze it and call it George, then by all means pick it up. You have no reason not to.
 

-Ed-