Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.0

Children of the Corn Blu-ray Movie Review

Harvest Home, Tiny Tot Edition.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 28, 2017

How does Stephen King come up with his often singular concepts? Who knows where inspiration really comes from, but in the case of Children of the Corn, King’s 1977 short story which perhaps unexpectedly gave rise to a whole film franchise, I’d like to point to a possible antecedent, one which is not exactly identical to King’s premise but which bears enough similarities to engender a certain curiosity, especially in light of a certain linkage which I'll disclose in a moment. Thomas Tryon was an up and coming actor in the fifties and sixties (The Cardinal) who kind of surprisingly gave up his performing career to become a novelist, scoring pretty spectacularly with his first effort, The Other. Tryon’s follow up came along in 1973, two years after The Other’s literary debut in 1971, and while it isn’t as well remembered today, it was a substantial bestseller at the time and led to a made for television movie featuring Bette Davis. Harvest Home posited a family moving into an isolated and somewhat atavistic community in Connecticut where certain shall we say pagan rituals turned out to still be practiced. But here’s an interesting piece of trivia I uncovered while researching background for this review: none other than a certain Stephen King offered some passing thoughts on Harvest Home in a “guest word” article for The New York Times that appeared in 1976 (you can read King’s piece here). While King’s article is really about the disparate amounts of money certain authors make for their work, his comments on Harvest Home are interesting in that he felt an editor could have pruned Tryon’s book of some of its “deadwood”, which turns out to be a kind of ironic statement since the cinematic adaptation of Children of the Corn attempts to pad what was a minimalist and not very lengthy source. Much like Harvest Home, Children of the Corn posits interlopers wandering into a rural environment where the “old ways” still hold sway, though King ups the ante in a certain way by relegating the ancient rites to practitioners who are all under a certain age (Tryon’s take on things involved the entire village, regardless of how old anyone was), as well as including a supernatural element that really isn't part of Tryon's formulation. (The whole murderous children under the sway of a supernatural entity angle may remind some other viewers of a certain Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 3 episode.)

Children of the Corn has had several previous releases on Blu-ray, and I’m assuming that most coming to this review are going to be more interested in a comparison of video and audio quality, as well as an accounting of supplementary material, than they will be in another rehash of the film’s by now well known plot dynamics. For those of you who do want a summary of the film’s story, either of my colleague Martin Liebman’s reviews of the previous versions will suffice quite handily (and both reviews will provide opportunities for screenshot comparisons as well):

Children of the Corn Blu-ray review

Children of the Corn Blu-ray review .

Children of the Corn Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Children of the Corn is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The insert booklet contains the following verbiage, but be aware that virtually all other information provided by Arrow (including on the cover of the release itself) indicates a 2K restoration, not a 4K restoration:

Children of the Corn was exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 5.1 and 2.0 stereo sound.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at EFilm, Burbank. The film was graded and restored on the Nucoda grading system at R3store Studios, London. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques. There are many instances of optical and animated special effects which could only be restored to an extent without creating unwanted digital artifacts.

The original 4 track stereo mix was transferred from the original Dolby mag reels and was remastered to 5.1 by Lakeshore at Deluxe Audio Services, Burbank.

Marty didn't see a whale of a lot of difference between the Starz / Anchor Bay and Image Entertainment Releases, other than relatively minor issues like the difference between 1.85:1 and 1.78:1 aspect ratios, so my comparison will tend to deal with the two previous releases as one entity. That said, I've tried to come close to recreating some of Marty's screenshots from his two reviews so that those interested can do their own side by side (by side) comparisons rather than completely relying on my descriptive powers. There's no doubt that this new transfer decidedly ups the ante in terms of detail and especially fine detail, notably during the many brightly lit outdoor scenes. The restoration has largely eliminated or at least ameliorated some of the age related wear and tear seen in the previous releases, and there's really not any discernable huge damage on display. The palette pops quite pleasingly throughout the presentation, with a few passing exceptions. The Arrow release looks darker than either of the previous releases, something that tends to make the grain field more apparent, which may or may not please individual viewers. There are still some variances in clarity, saturation, and density, as well as intermittent issues with fairly chunky looking grain. I've tried to provide examples of the less pleasing moments in screenshots 16 - 19.

Children of the Corn Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Children of the Corn features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mix. While the surround track is not the most consistently immersive offering imaginable (as Marty discussed in his reviews), there is good surround placement of Jonathan Elias' score, as well as some of the ambient environmental sounds out in the cornfield. The over the top finale also offers some good and relatively robust low end activity. Dialogue tends to be anchored front and center in the 5.1 mix, but is always rendered cleanly and is routinely well prioritized. I found the low end a bit more pleasing on this release than Marty evidently did with the previous releases, and I also heard no distortion in the low end.

Children of the Corn Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has included previously released supplements along with supplements produced especially for this release. I've marked the new supplements with an asterisk (*).

• Audio Commentary with director Fritz Kiersch, producer Terrence Kirby and actors John Franklin and Courtney Gains


• Audio Commentary with horror journalist Justin Beahm and Children of the Corn historian John Sullivan*


• Harvesting Horror (1080p; 36:15) is a retrospective produced by Anchor Bay featuring some good interviews with cast and crew.


• It Was the Eighties! (1080p; 14:07) is another Anchor Bay produced featurette, offering an engaging interview with Linda Hamilton, who seems to waffle between "hey, it was a job" and "how did I get myself into this one?"


• . . .And a Child Shall Lead Them* (1080p; 50:52) features interviews with Julie Maddalena and John Philbin.


• Field of Nightmares* (1080p; 17:19) is an interview with writer George Goldsmith.


• Stephen King on a Shoestring (1080p; 11:18) is an interview with producer Donald P. Borchers.


• Welcome to Gatlin (1080p; 15:29) offers interviews with production designer Craig Stearns and composer Jonathan Elias.


• Return to Gatlin* (1080i; 16:29) features John Sullivan hosting a tour of filming locations.


• Cut from the Cornfield* (1080i; 5:30) offers actor Rich Kleinberg supposedly talking about an "infamous" lost scene, though the conversation is quite a bit wider than that.


• Storyboard Gallery (1080p; 5:31)


• Trailer (1080p; 1:28)


• Disciples of the Crow* (1080p; 18:56) is the first (short) film adaptation of the King story, predating this film by one year.

Non disc swag includes a reversible cover, a poster, and a typically nicely appointed insert booklet.

Children of the Corn Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm actually quite fond of Children of the Corn, despite its hyperbolic tendencies. I've always been fascinated by the performances of John Franklin and Courtney Gains, even if they, too, tip into hyperbolism more than a time or two, and there's a palpably creepy mood once Burt and Vicky wander into the supposedly friendliest little town in Nebraska. Arrow has once again provided a really handsome and abundantly stuffed package for genre fans, one with generally fine technical merits that improve upon previous releases. While the film has issues, this Blu-ray release of Children of the Corn comes Recommended.