Children of the Corn

Children of the Corn (1984)

Timing: 1:32 (92 min)

5.7/10
947

6.042/10
29543

5.6/10
62000

All about film

Video 5

Photo 49

Actors and characters

Release date

1984-03-09

Country

United States

Production

Planet Productions, Hal Roach Studios, Angeles Entertainment Group, Cinema Group, Gatlin, Inverness Productions

Genre

Horror, Thriller

Budget

$3 000 000

Revenue

$14 568 989

Website

Director

Fritz Kiersch

Actors

Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R. G. Armstrong, John Franklin, Courtney Gains, Anne Marie McEvoy, Robby Kiger, Julie Maddalena, Jonas Marlowe, John Philbin
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Donald P. Borchers, Terrence Kirby, Earl A. Glick, Charles Weber

Operator

João Fernandes

Composer

Jonathan Elias

Artist

Audition

Linda Francis

Editing

Harry Keramidas
All team (22)

• On Burt's car dashboard lies the book "Night Shift" – a collection of stories by Stephen King, which included the story "Children of the Corn".
• Almost all the filming took place in cornfields; props were used only in a few scenes.
• All scenes featuring R.G. Armstrong were filmed in one day.
• In the original trailer for the film, King's name is misspelled as Steven instead of Stephen.
• The movement of 'He Who Walks Behind the Rows' was achieved using a device called a 'turtle.' This was an inverted wheelbarrow with additional wheels. It was placed on rails in a trench, connected to a pulley system which, in turn, was attached to a tractor, covered with a tarpaulin, and then covered with a layer of earth and vermiculite (a non-combustible insulating material). The tractor pulled all of this along, the 'turtle' moved under the tarpaulin, creating the appropriate visual effect. The trench was dug by local Boy Scouts who were interested in visiting the set and learning how special effects were created.
• In Stephen King's short story 'Children of the Corn' (1977), 'He Who Walks Behind the Rows' is a huge, green monster with red eyes. The original script called for the monster to appear on screen. It would try to save itself by destroying the irrigation system, but would ultimately perish. However, the film's artist couldn't come up with a way to depict the monster, and director Fritz Kiersch decided that, since the film's budget wouldn't allow for anything truly impressive, the audience should imagine the appearance of 'He Who Walks Behind the Rows' themselves.