The Children Of The Corn franchise made generations scared of kids and the Midwest - and for good reason! The Stephen King short story turned into a successful horror franchise chronicling a group of children in Nebraska that is possessed and influenced by a malevolent entity known as "He Who Walks Behind The Rows." The entity brainwashes them into killing the adults in the podunk town, creating a cult-like family that will harm anyone who stands against their values. The newest installment in the franchise was released theatrically earlier this month and has just hit Shudder, so you can keep up to date on the franchise from the safety of your own home.
11. Children Of The Corn (2023)
The most recent entry in the franchise, Children of the Corn (2023), originally premiered back in 2020 but only got a theatrical run and streaming release this year. The eleventh installment is our least favorite on the list and serves as a prequel of sorts. Straying from the original path that Stephen King wrote, the newest film in the series no longer takes place in the original town of Gatlin, Nebraska. The film focuses a little more on environmental toxins and how those might be altering the minds of adults and turning them into horrible people. The adults in the film make the viewers almost root for the inevitable slaughter that will be induced by the children under He Who Walks' influence. The overall plot of the film is lacking a lot of scary elements and ultimately fails to captivate the audiences and develop the original shock factor from the premise. The premise of the environmental toxins tries to make a more meta-storyline that doesn't end up reflecting the horror of the original Children of the Corn plot. Elena Kampouris plays Boleyn, the main character who is trying to get out of her hometown, Kate Moyer as Eden, the 12-year-old who develops a plan to kill all the adults, and Callan Mulvey as Robert, Boleyn's dad.
10. Children Of The Corn: Revelation (2001)
Children Of The Corn: Revelation is another film in the franchise that takes place outside of Gatlin and also lacks a bit of the fear that audiences may be looking for. When Jamie Lowell (Claudette Mink) travels to Omaha to visit her grandmother, she finds the apartment building overrun with children who have appeared from the cornfields. Jamie must set the souls of the children who are being held captive there free and escape with her life. With a very loose and non-threatening storyline, Revelation didn't hit the mark and audiences agreed. Its low-budget appearance and very little actual involvement of the killer kids. He Who Walks, and anything other than zombie-like children who infiltrate the apartment made it feel like it didn't even belong in the franchise. The film is incredibly slow-moving and only gets to the suspense in the last 20 or 30 minutes. This installment is corny, and not in the way this franchise should be.
9. Children of The Corn V: Fields Of Terror (1998)
The fifth movie in the series had the most star-studded cast, but that couldn't make up for the poor execution of the plot. A group of teenagers, Allison (Stacy Galina), Kir (Eva Mendes), Greg (Alexis Arquette), and Tyrus (Greg Vaughan) arrive in the middle of nowhere to save Allison's brother from a deranged cult and are confronted by the leader of the corn, Ezeekial (Adam Wylie). After that, it's hard to follow a distinct plot line. Because of this lack of direction, Fields of Terror belongs near the bottom of the list. This was Eva Mendes' film debut and despite her and the rest of the cast's acting ability, there was no disguising the lack of originality in a lot of the scares. The saving grace in this film is the cameos by Kane Hodder as a bartender, Fred Williamson as a sheriff, and David Carradine as a prophet. Having the cast that it did makes the fifth installment of the franchise a little more tolerable to watch, even if it was lackluster in execution.
8. Children Of The Corn: Genesis (2011)
After the flop of Revelation, Genesis was released, and it was definitely an improvement. Genesis follows a couple who seeks refuge at a deserted farmhouse, and they eventually learn it belongs to a cult that worships a possessed child. The plot was set up well and had the promise of being the redemption film in the franchise, but the ending was ultimately rushed and confusing for viewers. Genesis doesn't entirely work because there is very little related to the plot of the original and even less corn. The plot in itself is solid and could be very promising as its own possession film, but linking it to the Children of the Corn franchise feels a little confusing in keeping the theme. Kelen Coleman and Tim Rock play Allie and Tim, the couple who seeks refuge at the farmhouse. Billy Drago plays the preacher and leader of the cult, and he delivers a good performance, but the strange off-theme plot docks it down on the list a little bit.
7. Children Of The Corn (2009)
The 2009 version is a modern remake of the original Children of the Corn. Following a couple, David (Burt Stanton) and Vicky (Kandyse McClure), who encounters a group of children that worship a hidden cornfield entity known as He Who Walks Behind The Rows. We got some more modern effects for the remake and it had a lot of promise to reboot the series. However, the campy nature of the film makes it seem more like a horror comedy than the deranged child killer plot from the original film. The acting is relatively subpar in this remake and the ball is dropped in terms of improving the original and amping up the scares or suspense. Isaac (Preston Bailey) is a little hard to take seriously as he doesn't command the screen or have any adult-like qualities that the Isaac (John Franklin) from the original film has. Not the worst in the series, but definitely didn't do the original any justice.
6. Children Of The Corn: Runaway (2018)
Side-stepping a bit more from the original formula, Runaway had great promise for a one-off movie in the franchise. This time, a pregnant woman Ruth (Marci Miller) escapes the corn cult into a new state with her son (Jake Ryan Scott) but is ultimately followed and hunted by them. We get more of the bloody murders and violence in this installment, but there is still such an incoherent plot line to follow watching this that it is not a fan favorite. Some like the slow-burn aspect of this film as it helped to build the atmosphere and tension of what was going to happen between Ruth and the corn cult. The things that went right with this one to place it higher up on the list are the overall acting, lighting, music, and cinematography being better than the majority of the other installments.
5. Children Of The Corn 666: Isaac’s Return (1999)
Jumping to the top five, it is obvious that the best of the franchise are pre-2000s. Isaac's Return follows the daughter, Hannah (Natalie Ramsey), of the original cult and how she returns to Gatlin to uncover her past and where she comes from. There, she runs into members of the original cult, such as Isaac (Franklin), and havoc ensues. The sixth film is noteworthy in that it brings the nostalgia of the original film as it comes full circle and audiences realize that true evil never really dies off. This film has a great twist and ending in general and following the storyline from the original through to how it affects future generations is what works well with this movie. Where it makes up for the rest of the franchise with a more coherent storyline, it lacks a little in the frights.
4. Children Of The Corn: The Gathering (1996)
The Gathering is about a medical student, Grace (Naomi Watts), who is returning home to Nebraska and discovers that all the children in her hometown are coming down with a mysterious illness. Deducing that it is connected to past cult rituals, she is determined to figure out how to dispel that illness and make her hometown safe again. The fourth film is still terrifying and has much better acting than any of the later films, featuring Naomi Watts in her film debut, making it worth being in the top five on this list. There is no mention of He Who Walks from the first films, which is a refreshing change of pace for the franchise as a whole, but the lack of that also removes the cornfield aspect that built the franchise. So even though the plot, acting, and kills were better than the ones mentioned previously, it still gets knocked down a peg for straying so far.
3. Children Of The Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995)
Taking the terror out of the cornfields, the third film in the franchise follows two boys, Eli (Daniel Cerny) and Joshua (Ron Melendez) who are adopted from that horrific cult in Nebraska into a family that lives in Chicago. Once arriving there, the cult rituals continue to happen and expand outside the cornfields, and we learn that it is not only He Who Walks that can possess the children to fulfill his evil desires. All franchises deserve a solid film that transpires outside the original formula, and Urban Harvest does a decent job of expanding evil to new places. It works well in the way of an interesting script, and eerie atmosphere, and it flows well. Where it doesn't work is how the ending just flops, the special effects being to blame.
2. Children Of The Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992)
Eight years after the original, we finally got a sequel to the original Children of the Corn, and it was great. Two journalists, John (Terence Knox) and Danny (Paul Scherrer) end up in a small Nebraska town where they find themselves face-to-face with the cult that follows He Who Walks. The Final Sacrifice follows the original plot incredibly well and stays true to the guts of the film while continuing to grow the franchise. Having this installment travel outside of Gatlin helped to set up the storyline for other films in the franchise to expand and keep the plot alive. There's some great tension building throughout the film and writing for the story, but it also leans more into the violence and gore than the first film in the franchise. Sometimes, turning up the heat for a sequel can fall short, but The Final Sacrifice manages to let the killing lead the movie almost to the top of this list.
1. Children Of The Corn (1984)
The best film in the franchise is undoubtedly the original, 1984's Children of the Corn. The terror, scene setting, and emotion-invoking plot of the 1984 classic set the precedent so high for the cult and killer children subgenre that it was hard to follow up. A physician (Peter Horton) and his girlfriend (Linda Hamilton) stumble their way into a rural Nebraska town. This town is not a run-of-the-mill Midwestern town but instead a home to a child cult that believes everyone over the age of 18 must be killed. The cult, led by Isaac (Franklin), targets the couple and tortures them with the intent to kill. This movie across the board has good acting, plot, story, and tension. It is the only one that does Stephen King's blueprint justice on screen. The original will forever be a film staple in the 1980s horror period and will remain, appropriately, a cult classic for horror fans everywhere.