Children of the Corn: Genesis

source: Children of the Corn: Genesis

This film begins in 1973 with a soldier returning from Vietnam and arriving at his old home town not far from Gatlin, Nebraska. But rather than being embraced by his family he is horrified to discover that they have recently been murdered. Not only that, but within minutes of finding their bodies he is soon attacked and severely injured by several children there as well. The scene then shifts to the present day with a young man by the name of "Tim" (Tim Rock) and his pregnant wife "Allie" (Kelen Coleman) driving somewhere along a deserted highway in California when their car breaks down. With very little money and no tow truck able to reach them that day they decide to walk to the nearest house several miles away. When they get there they are greeted by a very creepy man known simply as "Preacher" (Billy Drago) who reluctantly offers them the hospitality of his rundown home. They accept but they soon come to realize that there is much more to this man than they initially thought-and then the horror begins. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be somewhat different than the other "Children of the Corn" pictures in that it had an adult as the primary nemesis rather than a group of children. And to that effect, I thought that Billy Drago performed quite well in that regard. Likewise, although I would have preferred a bit more horror, I must admit that I enjoyed the manner in which the suspense was kept at a rather low boil from start-to-finish. In any case, while this may not have been the best film in this series, it was good enough for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

We start about 20 miles from Gatlin, Nebraska in 1973. A man from the military is returning home when he finds his parents and girlfriend murdered by what appears to be children. We fast forward to present day 2011 in the middle of the Californian desert and meet a couple named Tim and Allie (Allie is pregnant). When their car breaks down, they decide to walk to the nearest house which is where they meet a grumpy and mysterious man who goes by preacher and his wife Oksana. After finding out that their car can't be fixed until the next day, Tim and Allie decide to spend the night at Preacher's creepy run down house. At first they suspect preacher is a pervert, but once they try to leave the house they discover that there is something far more sinister and supernatural going on. When Tim drives to open door to leave it slams shut on it's on. It appears that a spirit connected to He Who Walks Behind The Rows is trapping them in the house. I feel very conflicted about this COTC sequel. On the one hand it's a sad and lowly entry to the series bringing nothing new except a very weak ending On the other hand, it gave viewers a new story idea involving telekinesis and the thought that a newborn baby could be possessed by He Who Walks Behind The Rows. A positive in this film is the acting. Kelen Coleman was brilliant as the "final girl" Allie who was a strong female character that took no one's nonsense the entire time. Billy Drago was effective at the preacher character and Tim Rock who played Tim was pretty food as well. Serious story flaws caused this movie to be a rating of three for me. First of all, they didn't go into enough detail as to how the connection between Nebraska and California could happen. I know that COTC 3 took the series from the cornfields to Chicago, but that movie did a good job explaining how it all connected. This ninth film did little explaining of how it all added up and didn't feel like a COTC film. The ending also pushed me to give it a lower rating. I was on the verge on ranking it a four, but the ending was super ridiculous and unsatisfying for someone who spent an hour and a half trying to be invested in the characters. Children of the Corn 9 started strong. I enjoyed the Gatlin connection at the beginning and when Tim/Allie first get to Preacher's house. But the movie fizzles out half way through and ends on a confusing and ridiculous note. No cornfields and not a lot of killer children leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth when you're watching a Children of the Corn film. 3/10

The "Children of the Corn" franchise has been very successful in the task of proliferating horror films of dubious quality. This film, made and released directly to video, resurrects the "tradition" of this franchise: films that have no connection with each other and that look very bad and of really low quality. Taking advantage of almost the fame and name of the franchise, this film has little for a more demanding audience. The plot is fragile and full of clichés: a couple who suffers a car breakdown in the middle of the Californian desert seeks help in a decaying hut in the middle of nowhere. Coincidentally, there lives an elderly man who married a Russian hot babe, old enough to be his granddaughter. Of course, everything in that place is strange and suspicious, and alarms start ringing in the couple's head, but they still stay around, decide to stick their noses in the lives of their hosts until they know everything about them... and discover more than they wanted to discover. Honestly, if we want to make a comparison with other films in the franchise, I am sure that this film is not one of the worst. The film manages to build some suspense and the plot, despite their holes (for example, how could that old man, who hardly uses a phone, manage to "import" a Russian girl to be with him?) and their serious problems of logic and credibility, it's entertaining enough that we don't curse all the time spent watching it. It is not a long film, and the fact that everything takes place in a restricted space even paid off in favor of better dramatic construction and more developed characters, in a short time. Still, there is much to be improved, and the dialogues between husband and wife are an example of this, with a lot of forced drama and little content. Also don't expect to see children, corn, heinous deaths or anything like that... The cast is very good, compared to what we have seen in other films in the franchise. As I said, I think that the development of the characters was very happy, and that was truly the great positive point of the film. The actors were able to deal with the characters. I particularly liked Billy Drago, effective and convincing in his character, and Kelen Coleman. Technically, the film is competent enough. Cinematography and effects are nothing surprising, but effects do their job well and the sets and costumes are good, and really help to create the right environment for the story.

Excellent cinematography and sound. It's hard to make the eighth (ignoring the remake) in a series original and so this just makes it weird. At least it had a big budget modern atmosphere. It looked nice and there were some tense scenes of suspense but the story was really nonsensical. It had a really weak ending and nothing going for it except good technical aspects.

This movie really has nothing to do with children of the corn. I feel like this was a separate idea and they just threw a random corn scene in there to try to make it seem like it was COTC. Don't waste your time watching this if you are looking for corn or kids for that matter.

I have to admit, I haven't followed the Children of the corn series up close, so I can't tell you, if this actually makes sense in the series. Than again Dimension doesn't seem to care, if they put a movie out there that isn't that connected to previous entries in a successful series (see Hellraiser for that). But this movie is nicely shot, has some interesting twists (though you can see them coming even before the scriptwriter put them down on paper). In the end this doesn't add much to the horror genre, has the typical erratic character behavior (it's the grown ups who act like children, doing stuff they've been told not to do). The ending is weird too. You wonder why a certain character would accept "help" like that. But until that point you will probably have shut down your brain, just to save it. Good thinking ...

I liked the trailer when i saw it & was waiting to watch this movie. First of all mistakes have happened even before starting the film: the trailer itself shows you the best 2 minutes that occur almost at the end of the film (main road with cars smashing everywhere) so this kinda sucks. OK now, the movie is REALLY slow! I mean come on, if you have nothing to show us, make this movie shorter. Don't torture us (ex) with 2 whole minutes watching the girl going from the house to the toilet. And there are many similar shots. Also have you noticed the movie is called "Children of the corn"? Well, damn me if you see children for more that 10' & there is no corn field at all! Story makes no sense at all after half of this movie and even before that you'll be bored by its extremely slow pace, things happen just to happen, and acting is not good with the exception of the husband doing excellent job on his role. I was left with one question during & after watching this film: why the heck producers did you even released this? Didn't you saw it first? This movie is terrible and a disgrace to horror films. PROS: First part of the movie is clear enough of whats going on. Really good job by the "husband" actor. Liked the policeman's death & the smashed cars. CONS: The movie's existence & public release. First part of the movie is really boring, second part makes no sense by any means. No corns at all (are you serious???). Slow pace in many parts for no reason. Ending levels up the "no sense" phrase to "i want my 1:30 hour of my life back & first thing if the morning i will sue the producers".

Movie review:Remember in 1984 a scary movie came out called "Children of the Corn"? Keep it that way, this movie will not remind you at all of it and you will be upset that you can not gain back the time lost after viewing this. The movie starts out with a man returning from the military to a dead family that was killed by the kids. The kid stalks him through a hallway and he plunges out a window to his death since he didn't want to shoot. Reason? No idea, they never touch upon that again, so basically for nothing. The movie is about a couple (Tim Rock & Kelen Coleman) that break down traveling in the middle of nowhere. They walk to the nearest house and stumble upon that of "Preacher" (Billy Drago) who refuses until he hears she is pregnant and allows them to use the phone. When Tim (character name, real creative) finds that they cannot get the car fixed until the next day, they decide to stay with Preacher and his nymphomaniac wife (Barbara Nedeljakova, who was in both Hostel movies for some reason). They are warned not to go outside which of course the wife doesn't listen to and she stumbles onto a child locked in a shed and also some ritualistic alter in a barn. Anyway, she heads back and they decide to leave but can't because some force won't let them. Strange things start happening keeping them from getting out such as slamming doors, flying furniture, etc. Preacher explains the evil is outside and doesn't want them to leave, they just want the unborn baby. Well, they try to get away, which doesn't work out so great, and that's the movie. Aside from one very funny line between the couple, this movie doesn't have much good going for it. One dream showing a corn field, which there is absolutely no explanation or reason for (sound familiar?), the usual demon child, whacko cult family....all clichés are present. It was filmed just fine, editing etc. but really, who cares? The movie is just bad, stay away. 2.5/10 IMDb 3.8 Two good laughs, one intentional is about all the points this gets, and maybe a car accident as well. That is about it.

So this is a typical scene in the film. Judge for yourselves whether the actions of the people bear any relationship to normality... You are driving along the road. In front of you is a car transporter carrying about 8 cars. Your wife notices that the top one at the back appears to be not securely held in place. What do you do? Do you change lanes just in case a car falls off the transporter? Or do you slow down so that there is plenty of time to avoid any falling vehicles? Or do you carry on behind the transporter, keeping your speed up, and wondering why all those cars are falling off the transporter? Guess which one happens in the film. Correct. And that is why this film belongs in a garbage can.