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Children of the Corn The murder rate is as high as an elephant's eye in this flaccid adaptation of Stephen King's short story. While driving through Nebraska en route to a new job, medico Burt (Peter Horton) and his wife Vicky (a pre-
Terminator Linda Hamilton) nearly run over a mutilated boy who staggers from the cornfields. Seeking help, they enter the town of Gatlin, whose under-20 residents have butchered their parents per the decree of junior-grade holy roller Isaac (John Franklin), who preaches the word of a being called "He Who Walks Behind the Rows." King's original story (from his 1978 collection
Night Shift) was a lean and brutal mélange of Southern-gothic atmosphere and E.C. Comics-style gore, which scripter Greg Goldsmith effectively neutralizes by adding a youthful narrator (a grating Robbie Kiger) and putting an upbeat spin on the story's morbid conclusion. Fritz Kiersch's direction is TV-movie flat, with the sole inspired moment (hideous religious iconography glimpsed during a bloody "service") delivered as a throwaway. Aside from Horton and Courtney Gains (as Isaac's hatchet man Malachai), the performances are dreadful, and the depiction of the Lovecraftian monster-god as a sort of giant gopher inspires more laughter than terror. Amazingly, the film spawned
six sequels; Franklin (Cousin Itt in the
Addams Family films) later appeared in and wrote 1999's
Children of the Corn 666.
--Paul Gaita Creepshow 2
What is it about hitchhikers that makes them such a sure-fire bet for horror? This question is addressed in the final segment of Creepshow 2, another Stephen King-George Romero collaboration. "The Hitchhiker" is the simplest and best of the three tales on display here, with Lois Chiles as a cheating wife who just can't seem to get rid of a hitchhiker... no matter how hard she tries. The collection gets off to a slow start with "Old Chief Wood'n Head," a sleepy story of Native American justice. "The Raft" is a passable teens-in-peril number, but it worked better on the page than on screen. Romero adapted the King stories but emphatically did not direct, which accounts for the drop-off from the kicky fun of the first Creepshow. King appears as a dimwitted truck driver--a foreshadowing of Maximum Overdrive? In any case, this one's for diehard fans only. --Robert Horton
Maximum Overdrive
"I'm gonna scare the hell out of you," intones Stephen King in the trailer for his sole directorial effort, the much-maligned Maximum Overdrive. While the end result doesn't live up to that boast, this sci-fi/horror tale isn't as awful as it's been described. King's script (based on his short story "Trucks") focuses on the patrons of a North Carolina truck stop, which comes under attack by a convoy of trucks and other machines animated by Earth's passage through the tail of a "rogue comet." King's fans, tired of half-baked screen adaptations like Cujo and Children of the Corn, expected a horror home run from Maximum Overdrive and instead got an old-fashioned drive-in movie filled with car crashes, cheapjack gore, and fart jokes. While the film is torpidly paced and often amateurishly acted, it's no worse than any direct-to-video thriller, and King's ear for dialogue occasionally shines through the gloom. Emilio Estevez and Pat Hingle register as a heroic cook and his black-hearted boss, respectively; the cast includes Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson's voice), Giancarlo Esposito, and Marla Maples (!) as a victim. --Paul Gaita
From the back cover
Children of the Corn When a young couple find themselves stranded in the isolated community of Gatlin, Nebraska, they discover that all of the town's adults have been slaughtered by a religious cult of twisted children who worship a mysterious cornfield deity. Can these adults escape the fanatical wrath of these adolescent zealots, or will they become the next blood sacrifices to "He Who Walks Behind the Rows"? Linda Hamilton (Terminator 2) and Peter Horton (thirtysomething) star in this '80s horror hit that spawned five shocking sequels!
Creepshow 2
Join our old friend, the rotting Creep himself, as he introduces this horror anthology which presents gruesome looks at three tales of horror: a hit-and-run driver in "The Hitchhiker," a wooden Indian on the warpath in "Ol' Chief WoodenHead," and four friends whose vacation on a secluded lake turns into a nightmare in "The Raft." Creepshow 2 is a deliciously wicked roller coaster ride that will plunge you into the heart of darkness and to the very brink of madness. Just when you thought it was safe to come back to the movies, along come a frightfest like Creepshow 2!
Maximum Overdrive
When a mysterious comet passes close to Earth, machines everywhere suddenly take on murderous minds of their own. Soon, video games, cash machines, drawbridges, and steamrollers all go on a psychotic killing spree of global rebellion. But when the Dixie Boy Truck Stop is held hostage by a mob of homicidal 18-wheelers, human vengeance goes into overdrive. Who made who? And who will survive the final showdown of man vs. bloodthirsty machine? Emilio Estevez stars in this outrageous, twisted metal epic that marked the directing debut of horror master Stephen King and features a headbanging score of classic hits and original music by AC/DC.
