Children of the Corn (1984)

US 92m, Colour
Director: Fritz Kiersch; Cast: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R. G. Armstrong, John Franklin, Courtney Gains, Robby Kiger, Anne Marie McEvoy

Based on the 1977 short story of the same name, Stephen King’s Children of the Corn is a story about a small Nebraska town which becomes home to a demonic force that enslaves the children and forces them kill their parents by way of ritualistic sacrifice. Shockingly, the much feared and frequently ballyhooed entity, known as “He Who Walks Behind the Rows”, is manifest as a ground dwelling creature who generates oversized gopher-like furrows between the rows of corn as he moves about the fields. Despite the film’s low budget special effects, the nonsensical plot and some bad dialogue, the movie is memorable for its portrayal of Isaac, the children’s small-statured and very creepy spiritual leader, and Malachai, his pale-faced ginger-haired murderous henchman (Klaus Ming March 2011).