CEREAL KILLERS

IT LEANS TOWARD HOW WE, AS children, deal with our parents and the idea of wanting to be our own identity; our own person. At a certain age we strike out against our parents, we become rebellious and we turn on them. So this was the amplification and exploitation of some of those things,” director Fritz Kiersch tells SFX about his chilling 1984 film of Stephen King’s “Children Of The Corn”.

An adaptation of a 1977 story first published in Playboy, it concerns a holidaying couple travelling through the back roads of Nebraska, who happen upon the eerily adult-free town of Gatlin. The pair ultimately come into contact with the predominantly adolescent population, who, under the influence of a demonic entity known as “He Who Walks Behind The Rows”, ritualistically murder adults to ensure a prosperous corn harvest. For Kiersch, who was making a living producing TV commercials, it was an opportunity to explore new ground with his creative crew.

“One of the guys that worked for us as a freelance accountant/production manager was film in my lap and said, ‘Come on, do this!’”