Children of the Corn: Runaway

Children of the Corn: Runaway (2018)

1/2 (out of 4)

Ruth (Marci Miller) is a member of the killer children but when she discovers she's pregnant she burns the other children and heads off with her unborn child to give it a better life. Thirteen years later Marci and her son are trying to start over in a new town but pretty soon she begins to feel that the children are after her.

You know, I love horror films and I especially love horror series. Sure, the majority of them don't deliver as many good films as bad ones but I still get a thrill whenever a new sequel is announced to a series. One could really argue that the entire CHILDREN OF THE CORN series hasn't turned out any good films but sadly this one here is without question the worst yet. It's really too bad that this film turned out to be so awful but there's very little here to enjoy.

I'm really not sure what director John Gulager and writer Joel Soisson were trying to do with the picture but it's one of the most boring films that I've seen in recent years. The problem with the screenplay is that we're given a lead character that is downright boring and it's someone that the viewer simply doesn't care for. Another major problem with the screenplay is that there are way too many dream sequences and these just get rather tiresome after a while. Heck, I'd even argue that it seems the two are trying to make something other than a CHILDREN OF THE CORN film but were forced to throw that subplot in to sell the film.

I really hated most of this movie with a passion. I hated the characters, the setting and the story. There wasn't anything here that I really enjoyed and even the short running time seemed triple what it really was. I'm not sure if the director was trying to deliver some sort of psychological movie but it doesn't work. There's a minor issue with the lead character working for a black man and a local principle causing some trouble. What was all of this about?

The one saving grace to the film was Lynn Andrews III who plays the black boss. Again, I'm not exactly sure what the screenplay was trying to do with his character but the actor was very good here and I hope to see him in other projects. CHILDREN OF THE CORN: RUNAWAY has the perfect title because you really should runaway from this film and avoid it at all costs.

When I saw the name Gulager it reminded me of the great old actor Clu Gulager who starred alongside greats like Lee Marvin in The Killers and immediately my interest was perked when I saw his name in the cast list - sadly his son who directed this I beleive hasnt a clue how to make a horror movie.

It is as though he watched the original movie and then went on to make this which in no way has any bearing on the original - there are hardly any scenes where even corn is featured just a little girl running around and patchy flashback scenes.

Totally forgettable; when I start to wish it was all over after 30 mins then you know the film is bad and its bad - The leading actress is the only redeeming feature - sexy and she can act but that is about it and we only see Clu Gulager for a 3 minute scene - what a waste!

The last Children of the Corn remake was a hundred times better than this even though it wasnt all that good either - avoid the tedium and bypass this poor effort!

Perhaps if you like loads of blood-soaked murders, then maybe you'll find some value in this 9th installment of the series, based originally on a Stephen King short story. I was hard pressed to find anything of value here, as the movie was just filled with bleakness and grimness.

Marci Miller stars as Ruth, who escaped from a murderous and demonic children's cult in Nebraska to try and protect her soon to be born baby. Now thirteen years later, she's trying to establish roots in the small town of Luther, Oklahoma with her now teenage son Aaron (Jake Ryan Scott). However, she will soon discover the demon-seed children are there also committing sadistic murders and haunting her with memories of her past.

For me, it all added up to a grisly turn-off, with even the twist at the end fairly well telegraphed. Overall, I would say don't waste your time or money here.

2018 has been a poor year, we simply haven't had very many decent movies and this latest (And hopefully last) offering from the Children of the Corn franchise hasn't helped matters.

For a movie to attain a 1/10 from me means it had no redeeming features at all and Runaway fails to tick a single box.

The plot is baffling and simply doesn't connect to the other films, the pace is an 82 minute sleeping pill and it's hard to even identify this as a Children of the Corn movie.

In fact if I didn't know any better I'd say this was a movie released that didn't do very well so they decided to add the franchise name to it to increase popularity.

At no point did it even remotely engage me, I was bored to tears and waited the entire duration of the film for something to happen or at least something to be explained.

I said several movies ago that this series needed to die, this is the final nail in the coffin.

The Good:

Absolutely nothing

The Bad:

Incredibly boring

Plot makes no sense

Doesn't feel connected to the rest of the movies at all

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I learnt that not all brands of pain reliever will assist in removing a migraine as big as this movie caused!

So disappointed. The movie went no where and was very confusing. It was such a waste of time and money.