Children of the Corn (2009)

I never been a fan of the first Corn-movie from 1984. It was well made with some nice location and good actors, but lacked inspiration and edge. Then we have the hundreds of sequels following, and I have a very soft spot for them - good or bad. I just like the idea with religious children chopping up people in the name of the lord! It's more or less my own opinon about religion and it seem that Children of the Corn is a very good story about just what religion can do.

In this version the couple coming to Gatlin is on the verge of divorce. Burt (David Anders) and Vicki (Kandyse McClure) spend most of their time (and most of the movie) to terrorise each other with small words, a psychological war that is so common among people that are about to breaking up. He's still obsessed by his experiences in Vietnam and always relates everything that happens to the war. She is a good girl, scarred because of her religious background and is tired of Burts Vietnam-stories. This is their second honeymoon, and their last...

You who have read the book or seen the first movie knows that they are trying to find the police after hitting the body of a little boy. Burt refuses to realise that the Gatlin is a dead town and stays there long enough to be attacked by the children... he escapes out in the corn, and all hell breaks loose!

This is a way more gritty and violent version of the story. It's not a splatter-movie, like some of the sequels, but it has blood, violence and gore - and a quite disturbing scene where two of the oldest teenagers are fucking in the church with all the children in ecstasy around them! All in the name of He Who Walks Behind The Rows! Robert Kurtzman is the man behind the mayhem and offers som realistic and nasty killings. I'm as far as possible from politically correct, but it feels strange to see a grown man killing children and still be the good guy! 

I guess the Vietnam-theme isn't for everyone, but I think it was a nice touch to the story, especially since Burt get's a nam flashback when he's out of the corn and starts believing the children are vietcongs! Nice idea and quite okey executed.

The weak thing with this version is that it's talky. The first half of the movie is one big Bergman-scene where Burt and Vicki is fighting themselves through the story. There's a lot of screaming. The actors are good, but it feels like filling. The same thing with the children, where we have to listen to a few to many religious speeches. It's a gorgeous movie, but the locations (buildings etc) is smaller and not so big and open as in the first movie. The fields are of course awsome, but you notice it's a tv-movie.

Not a bad reboot of the series and I hope there will be silly sequels to this one to.