Children of the Corn: Genesis

There has been a spate of movies of late it seems that want to take us back to the origins or beginning of a successful series. And so here is another. Before this, I only saw one in the series and I don't remember it. All I remember is that there was a bunch of grungy looking kids with no sense of humor and a corn field. Well in this movie they're still grungy-looking and trying their best to look evil.

A man and woman are stranded out in the middle of nowhere because their car broke down. They see some telephone lines and reason that they could follow it to a phone. It takes them to a dusty old shack. They knock and world weary Billy Drago as the "Preacher" eventually comes to the door. At first they are refused help, and as she is storming off in anger and frustration while her boyfriend is trying his best to placate her, the woman mentions her pregnancy and the preacher --being a man of God-- takes pity and invites them in.Things are a bit strained once inside; the couple are trying to have polite conversation seated across from the Preacher but he's oddly uncommunicative. Just sits there thinking WHO KNOWS WHAT while the couple look at each other nervously, desperately trying to fill the silence. A younger woman enters at some point with an accent and we learn later that she's from the Ukraine and that it was kind of a mail-order-bride kind of situation. She takes the man to a phone in another room and charges him almost everything he had in his wallet to use it while imploring him not to tell the Preacher.

After a meal where the Preacher continued his silent ways and it was time to go to their rooms the Preacher breaks his silence and tells the couple in essence to respect his privacy; that they shouldn't go wandering around beyond the outhouse in back. Thus warned, they repair to their room where they feel free to communicate the strangeness of their situation. Shortly the woman indicates that she needs to use the outhouse. At this point reader you're probably saying "Oh-oh!" Well your're right.

Well she goes out and pauses in front of a dingy outhouse a moment, hesitant. Her business is pressing so she puts her reservations aside and goes in. After a nervous p!ss she exits. She hears something; a cry of some kind. She decides to play Nancy Drew and investigate. Later, she frantically reports the findings of her investigations to her boyfriend who seems a bit incompetent to me. He challenges her; wants to make sure there is no mistake. She's miffed and challenges him back. The guy relents as if the last thing he wants is for her to lose it. She sort of towers over him like Wonder Woman dressed in shorts and combat boots so I don't blame him.

Things begin to happen; psychokinetic events. Possibly precipitated by Nancy Drew a.k.a Wonder Woman's investigations. The couple are in a panic and wanting answers. From the preacher they get something about an "evil seed" and that it wants the woman's baby. This movie is not particularly scary, or innovative, just so you know. Notwithstanding, it's not too bad. If it were a TV movie I'd give it a 7 or 8. A good movie if your're home in your socks and underwear, then. But as it is, I can only give it half that. Love, Boloxxxi.

We start about 20 miles from Gatlin, Nebraska in 1973. A man from the military is returning home when he finds his parents and girlfriend murdered by what appears to be children. We fast forward to present day 2011 in the middle of the Californian desert and meet a couple named Tim and Allie (Allie is pregnant). When their car breaks down, they decide to walk to the nearest house which is where they meet a grumpy and mysterious man who goes by preacher and his wife Oksana.

After finding out that their car can't be fixed until the next day, Tim and Allie decide to spend the night at Preacher's creepy run down house. At first they suspect preacher is a pervert, but once they try to leave the house they discover that there is something far more sinister and supernatural going on. When Tim drives to open door to leave it slams shut on it's on. It appears that a spirit connected to He Who Walks Behind The Rows is trapping them in the house.

I feel very conflicted about this COTC sequel. On the one hand it's a sad and lowly entry to the series bringing nothing new except a very weak ending On the other hand, it gave viewers a new story idea involving telekinesis and the thought that a newborn baby could be possessed by He Who Walks Behind The Rows. A positive in this film is the acting. Kelen Coleman was brilliant as the "final girl" Allie who was a strong female character that took no one's nonsense the entire time. Billy Drago was effective at the preacher character and Tim Rock who played Tim was pretty food as well.

Serious story flaws caused this movie to be a rating of three for me. First of all, they didn't go into enough detail as to how the connection between Nebraska and California could happen. I know that COTC 3 took the series from the cornfields to Chicago, but that movie did a good job explaining how it all connected. This ninth film did little explaining of how it all added up and didn't feel like a COTC film. The ending also pushed me to give it a lower rating. I was on the verge on ranking it a four, but the ending was super ridiculous and unsatisfying for someone who spent an hour and a half trying to be invested in the characters.

Children of the Corn 9 started strong. I enjoyed the Gatlin connection at the beginning and when Tim/Allie first get to Preacher's house. But the movie fizzles out half way through and ends on a confusing and ridiculous note. No cornfields and not a lot of killer children leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth when you're watching a Children of the Corn film.

3/10

I have to admit, I haven't followed the Children of the corn series up close, so I can't tell you, if this actually makes sense in the series. Than again Dimension doesn't seem to care, if they put a movie out there that isn't that connected to previous entries in a successful series (see Hellraiser for that). But this movie is nicely shot, has some interesting twists (though you can see them coming even before the scriptwriter put them down on paper).

In the end this doesn't add much to the horror genre, has the typical erratic character behavior (it's the grown ups who act like children, doing stuff they've been told not to do). The ending is weird too. You wonder why a certain character would accept "help" like that. But until that point you will probably have shut down your brain, just to save it. Good thinking ...

Children of the Corn... what a bizarre franchise. The first 3 followed a set storyline, and the rest (aside from 6) were just their own stories ala Halloween 3, sometimes with very minor mentions of previous entries. 'Genesis', the 8th film in the series, is quite good for the first half. Intriguing storyline involving a couple's car breaking down in the California desert, and they seek refuge from a weird preacher and his hottie Ukrainian wife. There's a child locked up in a shed behind the house, and it seems like a bizarre entity doesn't want the couple to leave the Preacher's house. For the first 40 minutes or so, the film tells a good, straightforward creepy story. Acting for the most part is good and credible. But then, things get extremely messy and confusing. Nothing is explained, the last half will have you scratching your head. Should I mention the horrible stock footage car crash? Yeah, that was hilariously bad, and makes a film that did a good effort of covering its' low production values for the whole film look EXTREMELY cheap. Good start, messy and confusing middle, horrible conclusion.

Right, well I am not on to the eight movie in the franchise, as part of my "Children of the Corn" marathon. I had never actually heard about this 2011 movie from writer and director Joel Soisson. But then again, I haven't been actively keeping up with this franchise, as it never really had much appeal with me.

But as I had the chance to watch the franchise here in 2023, of course I did so.

And I have to ask, why is this 2011 movie titled "Children of the Corn: Genesis"? A more fitting title would be "Adults of the Corn: Genesis", because this movie really steps further away from the lore and core essence of the franchise than any other movie have done thus far.

The storyline in "Children of the Corn: Genesis" was pretty straight forward. However, it wasn't a storyline that appealed much to me, especially since the whole killer-possessed-religiously-obsessed-children aspect of the franchise is nowhere to be found in writer and director Joel Soisson's 2011 movie.

"Children of the Corn: Genesis" goes one step further in terms of supernatural elements, and when the police officer was catapulted into orbit, I have to say that I was good and ready to call it quits. Yet I opted against quitting and carried on watching. And having sat through 80 minutes of this ordeal, I have to say that "Children of the Corn: Genesis" is a very weak addition to the franchise.

The acting performances in the movie were good. I was only familiar with Billy Drago, and he was actually the one carrying the movie with his performance as the very creepy and disturbing preacher character.

This 2011 movie just strayed too far from the essence of the franchise and hardly feels like it belongs in this particular franchise at all.

My rating of "Children of the Corn: Genesis" lands on a three out of ten stars.