Children of the Corn (2020) User Reviews

Humph... 😑 I didn't HATE it..

[tdwillis-26273 · 5/10 · 8 April 2023]

The acting,camera/cinematography,sets,costume,score/music and sound was all well done. For me, what brought the suspension of disbelief to screetching halts were several little things in the building of the STORY. I personally didn't care for the special effect of the cornman... I'm of the old school where slow and creepy can be more frightening than abrupt and obvious. The other special effects tho, were well done.

Not even a NOD towards the original story teller, Stephen King.

Most impressed with the acting and camera work.

I didn't HATE this movie. And You can tell a lot of money went into the making of it. I think the screenplay is where it went wrong.

It was just a leeeetle bit less than a "meh" for me.

Evil Groot

[kevin_robbins · 4/10 · 3 March 2023]

Children of the Corn (2020) is a movie my wife and I caught in theatres this evening. The storyline follows a small Midwestern town whose crops aren't producing and the townspeople are ready to enroll in a government program and destroys their land. The kids don't agree and take drastic measures to change their minds.

This movie is written and directed by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium) and stars Elena Kampouris (My Big Fat Greek Wedding II), Kate Moyer (The Handmaid's Tale), Callan Mulvey (Batman vs Superman), Bruce Spence (The Road Warrior: Mad Max 2) and Alyla Browne (Nine Perfect Strangers).

This movie reminded me a little of the Evil Dead remake where they switched up characteristics from the first film and some of the concepts worked but most of them didn't. The storyline is essentially a modern prequel to the original with a few twists on the original characters. We also get to see "He who walks behind the rows," aka Evil Groot. The child acting in this is better than the adults. There's a vote scene in this that's awful. The acting by the main character, Kampouris, was painful; however, Kate Moyer killed it as Eden. Every scene she's in is unpredictable and she nailed the mannerisms. Every jail scene in this is a 10/10. I really enjoyed the kill sequence, both by the people and "He who walks behind the rows." I didn't mind the CGI, though I usually do in the horror genre, though I wish "He who walks behind the rows" was a bit more menacing, like the creature at the end of Smile.

Overall, this is an uneven horror movie with some worthwhile kill scenes. I would score this a 4/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Nowhere near as bad as people are saying

[myignisrules · 5/10 · 6 April 2023]

The kid actors are better here. The original movie is fondly remembered by fans due to the outstanding performance by John Franklin as Isaac, but a lot of people aren't aware of the fact Franklin was actually an adult when he played the role - he was 24 years old at the time of filming. This time around the role of mini cult leader goes to an actual child in the form of Kate Moyer as Eden and she absolutely nails it!

Check this one out for yourselves. It's got some inventive kills, decent pacing and the leads do a substantial job of keeping you invested all the way through. The ending might be the weakest element of the entire movie but as remakes go, I've seen worse and this one is a lot better than people are giving it credit for.

Really really bad. "Insanity...I mean, just so insane"

[bigbadbassface · 2/10 · 5 March 2023]

Don't even know where to start on this movie. I remember reading the guys from Riff Trax said they could never do 50 Shades of Grey because it was already so ridiculous and laughable on its own. This movie is like that.

Nothing makes sense, and I mean nothing. The adults never fight back in any way whatsoever. The logistics of how anything at all is done is never shown. I love horror so am an expert at suspending disbelief, but this was to another level of illogical.

No character is likable and the storyline is basically nonexistent. I already had my expectations set really low and this was even worse than I thought it might be. At least I figured I'd get a couple laughs but there is nothing.

Absolutely awful

[crjh-92952 · 1/10 · 21 March 2023]

This is the tenth iteration of children of the corn since the original, and God this is by far the worst. The acting is appalling, the special effects anything but and the score just as bad.

The whole thing feels like a kids lazy attempt at movie making over the summer holidays.

The story makes no sense whatsoever, the writing is shambolic and the acting is laughable.

Several scenes have actors looking for the camera, and those that find it look dazed and confused, which is apt for the movie.

I'd advise everyone to stay well away from this pile of garbage, and I beg the production companies of the world to please, please stop giving Kurt Wimmer money to make these abominations.

Absolutely God Aweul

[xshanex-54161 · 1/10 · 22 March 2023]

If anyone ever tells you that this isn't bad, they are either lying through their teeth or they have the worst taste in the world and you need to disregard them entirely! This has to be one of the worst films that I have ever had the displeasure of trying to sit through.

It's acting is bordering on being unwatchable, the story revamps are laughably bad and it just drags on endlessly... getting worse and worse by the second.

It's so bad that it's not even comically bad. It's just not at all worth watching! Stay far away from this horrid piece of crap.

I'd rather watch a bowling ball coming to crash into my Nuts at 200 mph than ever sit through this awful mess again.

Nothing ever really dies in the corn

[amandamunozdav · 1/10 · 24 March 2023]

Ever since Stephen King started to publish his novels in the 70s they had been adapted to the big screen. While some of them are successful (Carrie, Misery, The Shining, IT) and even considered classic horror films a few of them doesn't have the same response (FireStarter, Graveyard Shift). In 1984 the first adaptation of King's short story Children of the Corn was released and while that version wasn't well received at the time, today it can be considered the best entry of this failed franchise. Every entry in the franchise is worst than the other making the original look as a good 80s horror movie.

This new remake, that also feels like a prequel, spend three years waiting for been released and it should have been stayed like that. Sometimes bad horror films can still be liked by the audience by their entertaining story, silly dialogues, and decent gore. But not even that happens here as the only salvageable thing about this movie is Kate Moyers' performance as the kid's leader Eden Edwards. But, that's not enough to save this film from being an unjustified addition to the franchise. The worst part of this film can be the CGI and portrayal of "He Who Walks" that resembles Marvel character Groot but with corn. This new version only proves that this story and franchise has no salvation and should be forgotten.

One of the worst in the series. Amateur made

[s_simov · 2/10 · 23 March 2023]

Man, that was bad. Not that the previous ones are masterpieces, but some of them are decent enough or high-end mediocre. This one is in my bottom ranking for the series.

Why? Well, it's a somewhat remake of the original one. Nothing bad with that. The plot and dialogues are similar to that. But the editing and the VFX are terrible, so terrible that it's in your face. It looks amateur fan-made movie. It's 2020, why would you edit it like that - terrible constrast with bad lighting, terrible color tones for the most scenes ... it looked terrible. It looked like someone in the editing room had a broken monitor and didn't set the colors right.

Acting is plain bad. To be fair, acting in the whole series is bad.

With one exception - the main little girl has very good acting for her role and age. Way better acting than the rest of the crew combined. But that's not nearly enough to make it better.

And of course, the worst part, HE WHO WALKS... that vine-corn-plant-thingie they made out of CGI is yuck. In the original, due to limitations they used only dirt moving, not visible demon or whatever it is. But the unknown was part of his scary charm. Here they show you how it looks, and it looks bad.

Last scene is... even worse.

I don't know how do you write 10M budget , when i see no such money spent here. Bad cheap CGI, bad acting with unknown actors, you clearly did NOT spend 10M on it.

And well it's mr. King's short story , which they turned into a soap opera, no surprise it's bad. You can't just turn 50 pages into 50 movies :D.

Ouch

[snowman-31315 · 2/10 · 23 March 2023]

This was a hard one to get through. I don't even know what to say about this abomination. As other reviewers have said nothing makes sense the entire thing is just so unbelievable and laughably bad. Not that the original was great but it being the 80s I can forgive it, I don't know why they made and remade it a dozen times but I guess enough people watched them to make it profitable or maybe at least a tax write off but this one is beyond that. The writing is terrible, the acting isn't much better and the lead girl is just an annoying little punk who no one would ever follow. I watch enough horror to know they like to have ridiculous plots which I can forgive but an entire town of grown men, (farmers who aren't exactly soy boys) who somehow get taken prisoner and killed off by a group of 10 year olds and not a single one fights back lol nope. I never read the book so don't know how it works there but this was just stupid. Please retire this franchise.

I swear I just saw Jurassic Park:Corn

[rjvnatl · 1/10 · 11 June 2023]

I swear I have seen adult films that have more exposition and story Development than this. The opening events just "happen" and there's zero explanation behind them.. That's a theme that pretty much continues. The next 25 or so minutes are pretty much splice a random "adults are bad" scene in with a "lord of the flies kids in training" scene... Theres so little character development with the adults that you honestly don't care when they're killed bc you don't even really know who they are. The "adults are bad" theme is so obviously in your face bc they seem to be paying for the film by the minute so they can't dally with being subtle... There's a whole odd "mom's a prostitute? (they provide zero actual definition for the random scenes) subplot.. And apparently she's so tired from those labors that she can't seem to wake up or show her face until 10 seconds before they kill her off. This makes the "emotional" her daughter mourning her scene shortly thereafter useless bc we barely know who she is.

The two lead females are ok, though they aren't given much to do.. The little girl Eden pretty much just stands there with an evil smirk on her face and the older Bo just has to look horrified most of the time. The plot is so random you really start to question why Eden and the other kids keep letting Bo live other than the fact that she has to to bring the movie to a close.. In most of the later scenes the character feels like a human hangnail.

The CGI "character" (can't even remember what it's called bc they barely tell you) makes you feel like you're watching Jurassic Park:Corn and they just genetically engineered a corn dinosaur or something. It's SERIOUSLY cheesy.

It's so cheesy in fact that you really don't get why the kids are so devoted to it... despite the two of three random cult like worship scenes that get randomly thrown into the mix as "explanation" You see the denouement coming from a mile away.. You honestly kind of want to shake the little Evilkind Eden for being dumb enough not to see it coming... And then there's the "twist", which is pretty much straight out of John Cusack "Identity" territory... I think I've decided to start writing screenplays... bc honestly if this drivel can make it to the screen, I feel like I stand a good chance with just about any story.

Not as bad as people make it out to be

[Che36 · 8/10 · 13 May 2023]

I will keep saying this, do not take everyone's review and run with it, watch it and judge for yourself. It was not the best to be honest, but, it sure as crap ain't the worst. The acting was good for kids of their ages, the cinematics was good, look the movie is alright. Does it have some questionable scenes yes, however as I said before watch it for yourself. I watched it and when it comes to horrors I am quite picky as these days horrors aren't like they use to be, but, this definitely did more than some of the other crap for horrors out their. I gave it an 8 cause again these kids acted really well, especially the two main characters. I hope they use them again in more upcoming films cause their acting was 10/10.

Not the story I remember but I'll admit I did like it

[ykjdh · 7/10 · 2 March 2023]

The original story by Stephen king was different than even the 1984 movie that I grew up watching. A lot of liberties have been taken with this story which is why I suggest reading it for yourself and coming up with your own opinion. The TV movie that came out after the movie on SyFy was the closest I've seen to the original story.

This new version takes quite a few liberties with the classic story. First, the events leading up to the adult massacre are told from a prequel standpoint. Nothing has happened yet but the kids are starting to arrive to where King's story picks up at. Second, the antagonist is a young girl who leads the pack of psycho kids. Third, our hero is a high school school student and not some adult or even the Blue man from the 1984 movie.

The movie relies heavily on the turmoil relationship kids have with their parents. They become alienated by the adults who are supposed to care for them. So they turn to a young girl who begins to convince the kids it's time for them to rise up and slaughter them. After all, if you can't find love in your own family home then beware of those who will manipulate children into finding love somewhere else.

I'll admit, it's not perfect but I did enjoy this interpretation. The retelling or reimagined storyline may turn off some folks but it's not as bad as people may think. There's character development here as to what builds into the events of the actual story we know and remember. Stanley Kubrick revisioned Shining with characters, I see the same thing happening here with this version of children of the corn.

Lead Actresses Hair is what Really Scared Me

[sheilasalami-21234 · 3/10 · 1 July 2023]

Pretty girl, Bo, has the worst hairstyle ever. That is the real horror. The story is slow. Not enough gore and gross psychotic religion. The little "red queen" is pretty good, although not as scary as Isaac was in the first one. The adults are so obnoxious, that you're ok with them being slaughtered. Don't get the story with their dad and mom. Her mom is a sex worker? Pastor was creepy. The scene with them killing him could have been more fun. They didn't show enough. Sometimes remakes are good and sometimes they're kinda of, embarrassing. Evil Dead Rise, good. Children of the Corn, not so good.

Excels at sucking more than any other CotC remake.

[tobycatva · 1/10 · 23 March 2023]

The chubby little girl is not scary as she fumbles her way through an abysmal plot with dialog your average 5th grader could best playing make-believe in the backyard.

The hero is little better as all the pretty girls had better jobs at the local Dairy Queen where they wouldn't be seen in this train wreck. She delivers her lines with all the enthusiasm of one who is only there to collect a check because even her dim poodle head can figure out this movie blows.

The musical score at times is mundane and forgettable, while at other times it soars to the heights of a cat licking himself while spread out on the piano keys.

It took 35+ minutes to deliver its first attempt at a telegraphed jump scare.

The OG CotC film was disturbing, where the only horror here is in realizing all the better things you could have been doing while this droned on.

Another Shudder Masterpiece

[jasonjones-45678 · 1/10 · 21 March 2023]

This was an awful remake of the original. I can see why Shudder is going under, they keep creating horrible movies. Everything they do turns into trash. It was a bad retelling, bad change and the little girl who replaced Isaac was very annoying, she reminded me of Greta Thunberg for some reason. He who walks was also a joke, they should have called this something else not children of the corn. It was more accurate to how adults today think in regards to children in these days, giving them too much power when they still need to mature and grow. A huge climate crisis public service announcement. Hey Shudder, stop making movies and just show other peoples.

I Didn't Know Movies Could Be This Bad

[basilbclifford · 1/10 · 26 March 2023]

There are going to be people who will try and tell you this movie isn't so bad...I don't know, maybe the reviews are written by Wimmer himself...but, please believe me, it is.

The acting is atrocious, the plot makes no sense, it differs from the source material is just about every way and, did I mention, the acting makes you want to gouge your eyes out.

It can't be a coincidence that Stephen King's name is not in the credits, I'd want my name removed from this rolling turd too.

I'd list the numerous faults individually if I could but it would take too much time.

Avoid at all costs. Seriously...watch LITERALLY anything else. You've been warned.

Better Than Expected

[johnnyhbtvs27 · 3/10 · 21 March 2023]

Children Of The Corn (20) is the third movie in the series to bare that title and surprisingly isn't as bad as i thought it would be going in.

Most of the good work is down to the performance of Kate Moyer as Eden. Eden is the first cult leader since Isaac to give off a creepy vibe while also convincing as a menacing presence.

All the beats of a typical COTC film are here and that is sadly where the movie fails. Every corn movie feels the need to show some pathetic CGI creature towards the end and here is no different. He Who Walks is ridiculous and would be better served not shown at all and simply left to the imagination.

The real kicker for the movie is the last couple of minutes. It appears out of nowhere and is just a redundant jump scare (if you could even call it a jump scare) and even more bad special effects.

COTC Rankings: A very bad series with few highlights.

1. Children Of The Corn (84) 2. COTC II: Final Sacrifice 3. COTC IV: The Gathering 4. COTC III: Urban Harvest 5. Children Of The Corn (20) 6. COTC V: Fields Of Terror 7. COTC: Genesis 8. COTC 666: Isaac's Return 9. Children Of The Corn 10. COTC: Runaway 11. COTC: Revelation.

Nothing special

[vassiliskounelis · 2/10 · 24 March 2023]

Nothing special unfortunately the vibe and the atmosphere were missing plus the story was kind of lame the effects were cheesy the actors were really cheap and all the movie didn't make any sense the actions from the elders they were strange as there were so many of them and they did nothing to the children.

Also a lot that happened, for example all the adults were imprisoned in the police station. How the hell can you imprison 50 adults when there only 10 kids and the kids don't have superpowers lol Anyway the movie is traaaash don't waste your time for this one it wasn't even so bad that is good that was just BAD.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should!

[destiny_west · 1/10 · 26 March 2023]

Another abomination in the Children of the Corn franchise. I am struggling to find anything redeeming in this version. The acting was so robotic, the CGI shocking and the storyline pathetic.

How hard can it be to make a decent Children of the Corn film?

Nothing will compare to the original version. They need to just stop now.

The kids were not even creepy in this film. As for Eden the young girl cult leader, she just makes you want to smash her across the head. There is nothing remotely scary about her.

Well, at least I can't say I am disappointed, because I wasn't expecting it to be good in the first place.

The movie that one one liked or asked for. Let it be the last one.

[tossingimma · 1/10 · 13 May 2023]

The only good Children of the Corn movie was the 1984 original and the only one that had decent box office returns and home video sales. All the sequels (including this) were straight-to-video crap.

This garbage ''reboot'' - if you can call it that - has the production values of a home movie and I congratulate anyone who managed to sit through this until the end. You have my sympathy.

It's not scary, it's boring as hell. There's nothing whatsoever to recommend it, which makes you wonder why they even bothered to make it to begin with, considering there are so many better low budget horror films around. Avoid like the plague.

Unfairly judged movie

[vorhees93 · 8/10 · 5 October 2023]

This children of the corn movie is awesome. Great acting from all the children, and the little girl Eden was deliciously evil.

And the protagonist girl Bo did a great job, and look genuinely frightened.

Its a very different and interesting take on the concep.

The movie is really beautifully shot, great imagery.

Its thrilling and very entertaining. Don't really get the hate for this, I really liked the first 3 movies from the 80's and early 90's but this was also really great.

So ignore the hate and enjoy this highly unfairly judged movie, that is actually a great and wonderful little horror gem.

It wasn't that bad ...

[canonsaral · 7/10 · 30 March 2023]

Was it great? No. Terrible ? Also No. Some of these reviews were way too harsh, especially considering how low the horror genre bar has been set the last few years. It had its creepy moments and the child acting from the main protagonist was pretty on point. Don't take it too seriously. Just go into it expecting a decent b movie with a better budget. I wish someone would do a good remake of the original 80s flick. That being said, I still enjoyed this movie. It wasn't my favorite, but was still worth the watch- especially if you are a fan of anything Stephen King. Of course it still does not follow the original story (neither did the original film) but the basic concept was there.

Not the worst one

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 26 March 2023]

I've been waiting for this movie for three years. Principal photography began in New South Wales in early March 2020 -- just when COVID-19 started -- and wrapped that June. While it had a premiere in Sarasota, Florida on October 23, 2020, it was as if this movie were never made. That is, until RJLE bought the rights and released it in theaters this March, with plans for a blu ray in May and an eventual run on Shudder.

The first movie in this series to play theaters since 1993's Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice -- there are ten other movies in this series as well as the short film that predates them, Disciples of the Crow -- none of the movies have ever lived up to the original Children of the Corn.

Does this?

The town of Rylstone, Nebraska -- well, Rylstone, Australia, but let's go with what the movie tells us -- is considered a government buyout for their failed corn. Robert (Callan Mulvey) plans on selling, but his daughter Boleyn (Elena Kampouris) argues it. Then there are the town's children, led by Rylstone Children's Home resident Eden (Kate Moyer), who come to the town meeting to weigh in before being laughed at by the grown-ups.

However, Eden speaks to He Who Walks, the demonic presence within the cornfield and soon the children of the small city have risen up and come at their parents with death in their hearts. Eden learned from an incident in your youth when Boyd (Rory Potter) emerged from the corn and killed every adult in the orphanage and when the cops unleashed halothane gas, all the kids died as well. Now, Bolelyn must figure out a way to stop the carnage when the kids go wild.

I kind of like how this film got in a message about herbicides and GMOs. There's also a scene where Bolelyn's beother Cecil (Jayden McGinlay) Cecil walks through town and notices just how much child abuse -- not to mention his mother cheating on his dad -- there is in this falling to pieces town. He joins Eden, as she claims the entity she serves will help them kill everyone.

While most of the important town leaders are placed in prison, the rest are led to a mass grave, gassed with that same halothane and then buried under dirt. It's a really well-done and rough scene. Other than the shock ending that sets up -- you know it -- another sequel, things work pretty well in this, if still in the shadow of what came before.

The main reason I was excited for this was that it was directed and written by Kurt Wimmer, who wrote Sphere and the remake of The Thomas Crowne Affair before directing two wild early 2000s movies that showed off his riff on Hong Kong action called gun fu, Equilibrium and Ultraviolet.

The results? Not the worst film in the series and one that takes its own path away from the cult idea and presents more ecohorror. It's an interesting idea and just ends up being an okay movie, but when you're the 12th film in a series, okay sometimes is more than okay.

Could've been better

[ashfordofficial · 5/10 · 23 March 2023]

The eleventh installment of the Children of the Corn franchise and the third adaptation of Stephen King's short story. I was planning to start this franchise for a while now, and this one's just dropped this week from the shackles since 2020. Thank you RLJE Films and Shudder.

I loved the cinematography, visuals, practical and visual effects, locations, talented cast (Elena Kampouris, Kate Moyer, etc...) and the overall quality. Unfortunately the screenplay wasn't much to praise for.

The eleventh installment of the Children of the Corn franchise and the third adaptation of Stephen King's short story. I was planning to start this franchise for a while now, and this one's just dropped this week from the shackles since 2020. Thank you RLJE Films and Shudder.

I loved the cinematography, visuals, practical and visual effects, locations, talented cast (Elena Kampouris, Kate Moyer, etc...) and the overall quality. Unfortunately the screenplay wasn't much to praise for.

Do not buy

[jerfowler · 3/10 · 23 March 2023]

Gonna make this short and sweet...just watch the trailer. It looked better than the movie. Oh and beware of the evil corn man!!! Lmao. What a stupid but funny movie. The minute I saw the monster made of corn I laughed my ass off. Poorly made. Never was scared either. Besides that it was filmed in Australia but apparently in Nebraska? Eh don't waste your money. Wait till you can stream it for free. There's other horror movies out there that are actually scary. Not this one. Watch the Saw series or the original COTC. This was plain asinine. More comedy than anything and the actors sucked except the blonde whoever she is. Avoid.