‘Children of the Corn’ Turns 40: 5 Fun Facts About the Horror Film You May Not Know
Can you believe the classic horror flick Children of the Corn came out 40 years ago March 10, 1984? Based on one of Stephen King‘s supernatural short stories, which first appeared in the March 1977 issue of Penthouse magazine before being collected in several of his anthologies, the film takes place in a small agricultural town in Nebraska where a group of children form a cult dedicated to killing all the adults they know as human sacrifices. Creepy!
Here are some things you may not know about this classic.
1. Terminator‘s Linda Hamilton plays one of the main characters.
New World Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Hamilton starred as Vicky, one half of the couple who travel to the fictional town of Gatlin to discover the cult and then burn the cornfields to the ground. Children of the Corn came out just months before Terminator.
2. The movie was shot in Iowa.
New World Pictures/via MovieStillsDB
Although it is set in Nebraska. Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska. It’s all the same, right?
3. Eight sequels have been made since the 1984 film.
RLJE Films /Courtesy Everett Collection
The most sequels of any Stephen King story, of course none of them were as popular as the original, but they’re out there! The last one came out as recently as 2023 but rather than a sequel it was a ‘reimagining’ with a female named Eden (Kate Moyer) taking the lead as the head creepy child.
4. Stephen King had a cameo in the film.
Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
The author appears in a brief cameo as a character named Job, a gas station attendant. His book Night Shift also makes a cameo on the dashboard in a scene where Burt (Peter Horton) and Vicky are driving a car.
5. John Franklin, who played child cult leader Isaac, is still recognized for his role.
New World Pictures/via MovieStillsDB
Although 23 when he played the creepy leader, he claimed in an interview that years after the film’s release a woman sitting at a table near him at a restaurant recognized him and ran out of the building screaming. She then returned and demanded to have her group moved to another table. Perhaps she didn’t understand the film was fictional?
Children of the Corn is streaming on several platforms, click here to find out the current availability.
1980s Top Summer Blockbusters
July 2019
Celebrate the biggest summer movies of the ’80s, when moviegoing morphed from mere entertainment to blockbuster events.
Buy This Issue