My Children of the Corn movie night

A few nights ago, I watched Children of the Corn for the first time. My friend Stacey came over and we had a whole Children of the Corn themed night! We even made snacks to represent the movie's title.

Here are the children...

...and here's the corn:

The sugar cookies turned out to be amazing, even unfrosted. Stacey brought over some coffee and beer. We poured ourselves some drinks and got ready to be scared.

Before watching the movie, I had thought we were going to be watching these kids:

Nope. Those kids are evidently from Children of the Damned. I wasn't the only confused person, though. I found the above picture labeled Children of the Corn on several web sites! It was important that I watch this movie, because I am always making references to it. This is funny, considering I was referencing a movie I'd never seen and was thinking of different children.

The reason I am often referencing Children of the Corn is that many of the kids in my town act strange and standoffish. If you pass a group of them on the street, they'll look down and not say hello. Or just run away. I understand that kids have a lot to be scared of nowadays, and are trained to be scared. Still, it's weird. Every time this happens, I say something like "There go the Children of the Corn." Well, it turns out that I have it pretty good, because if I really lived in a town with the Children of the Corn, well... I wouldn't exactly be living anymore. This is because I'm over the age of 18, and the kids in this movie kill off anyone that old.

I don't want to give much away about this movie's plot, because I really think you should all see it for yourselves. I'll just give you the very basics. In the movie, there's a town in Nebraska, called Gatlin. Only children live there, because all the adults were killed after a child "prophet" arrived. After the death of the adults, the town is a mess. Well, you can imagine how messed up and dirty a town would look with kids running things. Somehow they manage to stay fed and not blow everything up. Still, it's plenty dusty and there's corn stuffed in every building.

The prophet leads the kids into a cult-like lifestyle. At first, it seems Christian based, but as the movie goes on, it's looking more like Satanism. A running theme of this movie is false prophets, and questioning any religion that doesn't involve love.

One child tries to run away from Gatlin, but is killed. When a couple who are driving down the road run over his body, they're left with a problem. This is before the days of cell phones (1984) and there's no pay phone nearby. I wondered as I watched the movie, what I would do in their position. What I probably wouldn't do is load the dead kid's body into my trunk. This is what they choose to do. The movie had a few moments where I was saying "don't do that" but I guess every horror movie has those. I mean, if the characters had common sense, there would be no plot!

Anyway, the couple drive off with the boy's body, in search of a nearby town. After driving through never ending corn fields, guess where they end up? Gatlin! Since they're adults, they aren't exactly welcomed with open arms. I just summed up maybe the first 20 minutes of the film, and I'll leave it there.

I really recommend Children of the Corn. I found the couple to be likeable, and you will care about their fates throughout the movie. Watching this left me with a few questions, and I can see how it could fuel a good discussion. Also, I appreciated how it was filmed. Sometimes the view is through the corn, or a window. I like when the viewer sees a movie through multiple visual perspectives and levels. I thought it was pretty artistically filmed, and the special effects were good for 1984.

As you watch the movie, you might recognize one of the villains, Malachai.

Malachai is played by Courtney Gains, who also played the memorable "Hans" in The 'Burbs. He can definitely play creepy roles, but he has also done some non-creepy work over the years. I was looking at his acting portfolio on his web site today, and was pretty entertained!

Just to take a poll, who here thinks Courtney Gains was scarier as Hans, and who thinks he was scarier as Malachai? If you haven't seen either movie, here are a few samples:

Hans



Malachai



I know that last one was taped off someone's TV, but you get the idea. I think something could be said for either character's creep factor. It's clear that Malachai is a threat, but it's hard to tell what someone like Hans is capable of. Sometimes the quiet weirdo is scarier. I could really go either way on this.

The other villain in Children of the Corn is Isaac (the prophet) who is played by John Franklin. 

He went on to play a character you're all familiar with. You wouldn't have recognized him under all that hair, though...

I thought of posting a trailer of the film in this post, but I wasn't too fond of the one I watched. So, instead I'm going to leave you with a fun video I found on YouTube. It's amazing how music can set the tone for a film. Substituting the Benny Hill theme song in place of spooky music adds a whole new flavor to the chase scenes!

 

Cultural Differences Among Zombies

There has been a lot of zombie talk lately in the blogs I follow. Probably, because as I learned from my buddies over at Gravedigger's Local 16, May is Zombie Awareness Month. I'm not too much of a modern zombie fan (unless you consider Night of the Living Dead modern). So I decided to go a little old school with this blog entry.

In Haitian, the word "Zombi" translates to: "Spirit of the dead." In "Vodun" or what you probably know as Voodoo, Zombies are seen as people who have lost all control. They are just bodies who no longer have any free will, because a sorcerer has taken control of their minds. In the Haitian culture, zombies are seen as an empty shell of a person who must work as a slave to the person who made them that way. They aren't thought of as rotten corpses feeding on brains.

In 1932, a movie came out that was heavily influenced by the Haitian concept of zombies. In "White Zombie" Bela Legosi's character controls zombified people who he uses as undead slaves. They may be used to make him more successful, and even at times kill for him, but they aren't really evil. The zombies in this movie are more victims than villains. Here's the "White Zombie" trailer:



In 1938, the book "Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica" was published. The book was written by Zora Neale Hurston (pictured below) and documented her experiences visiting Haiti and Jamaica during the 1930s. Zora was an anthropologist as well as a writer. She was also associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She was very productive as a writer, essayist, theatrical producer, and anthropologist.

While visiting Haiti to gather material for "Tell My Horse", Zora met a woman who was thought to be a zombie. She took a photo of the woman who claimed to be Felicia Felix-Mentor (someone who died in 1907) When Zora met the supposed zombie, it was 1937. Here is the photo that Zora took of her:

 

I can see from this photo that the woman made a convincing zombie. She was seen wandering around a farm where the real Felicia had lived. Felicia's family and husband did identify this woman as their lost loved one. Since she was staggering around and acting strangely, the woman was sent to a hospital. Once at the hospital, she laughed for no reason, spoke about herself in the first and third person, and seemed to have lost all sense of time. Doctors decided that she wasn't the once dead Felicia, since Felicia walked with a limp and this woman did not. However, Zora did state: "I know that there are Zombis in Haiti. People have been called back from the dead." So whatever Zora witnessed in Haiti made her a believer.

If you aren't familiar with Wade Davis, you should take a look at some of his work and youtube videos. He is also an anthropologist who has documented his experiences in Haiti. He provides a modern look at Voodoo and his videos are interesting and even a little funny in places. If you want to explore what he has to say, I found a nice, long NPR interview you can either read or listen to here: Wade Davis Interview about Haitian Voodoo

I admire Zora and Wade for being so fearless in exploring new cultures. I like to read and learn about this topic, but I can't see myself searching out Voodoo ceremonies in Haiti. I think there is power in thought, especially when a group of people focuses their thoughts at once. Watching some ceremonial videos tonight, I'm so struck by how into this people get. Some of these people are in a trance that you can argue is either self-made or a spiritual possession. Either way, it's intense to watch.

Here's a short clip from a BBC special on Haitian Voodoo. It's a little campy, but entertaining.

I was surprised to learn that Voodoo was recognized as an official religion in Haiti in 2003. Millions of Haitians have practiced Voodoo for hundreds of years. That's not to say everyone there believes in this religion; there are many groups of people in Haiti who do not approve of it. Here is a more serious and respectful look at the Voodoo religion. The following video is of a ceremony that is interesting but may be hard for some people to watch. If you think you might have a difficult time seeing someone chew on a live chicken's neck, you might want to skip out on this one. Despite that scene in the video, I thought the ceremony was educational, so I still decided to put it up.

So what scares you more - The modern American concept of a zombie or the Haitian Voodoo concept of a zombie?