Anna Daniels
Children of the Corn, the Stephen King story that spawned approximately ten zillion movies, is heading to the screen yet again. Kurt Wimmer, director of the Christian Bale gun-fu flick Equilibrium, is helming a Children of the Corn remake in Australia, and has actually managed to keep filming even though most productions have been shut down due to coronavirus.
THR has a story about how certain film productions across the globe have found ways to keep shooting, even while the majority of film and TV work has been halted as a result of the coronavirus. And buried in the story is a surprise – there’s a remake of Children of the Corn in the works:
On the outskirts of Sydney, producer Lucas Foster (Ford v Ferrari) and director Kurt Wimmer have managed to quietly continue their shoot on The Children of the Corn, a remake of the 1984 horror classic, despite lockdown measures imposed across Australia on March 23.
The film’s outdoor locations, its local cast and crew, and its status as an independent production have meant it was not subject to studio-based furloughs and shutdowns that have hit other film shoots across the country…Children of the Corn “significantly reduced its cast and crew size and is implementing health and safety protocols in line with government restrictions for workplaces … and is keeping local police informed on their operation.”
Stephen King’s Children of the Corn was first published in 1977, and then ended up in King’s short story collection Night Shift. The tale follows a married couple with a rocky relationship. They’re driving across the country to California, and pass through the town of Gatlin, Nebraska, which appears deserted at first. Exploring the town, they discover all sorts of creepy stuff, and end up encountering a group of kids brandishing weapons. Things deteriorate from there, and the story ends on a rather bleak note.
It is by no means a great story, but it has a nice ominous atmosphere, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. The same can’t be said for the Children of the Corn film franchise, which has inexplicably spawned ten movies, none of them very good. In fact, most of them are downright terrible. And yet, people keep returning to harvest the story for ideas.
I don’t quite know what to make of this new production. No cast members are mentioned, and Kurt Wimmer isn’t exactly a hot director. He hasn’t directed a film since 2006’s forgettable Ultraviolet. Beyond that, he’s written scripts for the Point Break remake, the Total Recall remake, and Salt. Not exactly the best resume. But hey, maybe Wimmer will be the filmmaker who finally cracks this Children of the Corn thing, and delivers a good movie! If not, we’ll always have Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest.
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