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angelofthenight · 2 years ago

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Children of the Corn: Yandere Alphabet

Characters Included: Isaac Chroner, Malachi Boardman, Micah, Eli Porter

(Gn!Reader)

Overall warnings: Yandere, Dark themes, Swearing, Unwanted/Non-con touching, Forced religion (only in Isaac), Murder, Unhealthy relationship, Violence, Jealousy, Social isolation, Manipulation, Possessiveness, Obsessiveness, Clinginess, Stalking, Spying, Gaslighting, Invasion of privacy, Power imbalance, Mention of sexual assault (only in Malachi), Emotional abuse, Non-con kissing, Mention of sexual dub-con (only in Micah), Brief suicide mention (only in Micah), Guiltripping, Unhealthy mind games (only in Eli), Controlling behavior, Hypersensitivity

( This was supposed to just serve as a writing exercise to get me back in the groove for another yandere book I’m still writing, but I kept going with this so I just decided to post it. )

( Also idk if the Children of the Corn fandom is either underground or so underground it’s dead but I hope like the two CotC fans on tumblr will enjoy it😭 )

Isaac

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Isaac’s main display of his love and affection is through caressing your face or cheek and cradling your head as he speaks to you. Other than that he’s not super affectionate. Although when you’re on super good behavior then verbally demonstrating his love is more common. He can be quite a devout, as if you were his religion, when it comes to you if you let him.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

It depends on the circumstances. Most of the time he’ll keep it clean and just use them as sacrifices, but making their deaths more slow. But sometimes if it’s in the heat of the moment he’ll hastily slash someone’s throat in a fit of rage depending on what they did.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

He wouldn’t abduct you but the basic equivalent to that is after all the adults have been butchered. He’s smug at heart but his attitude when he finally has you is like he won a game and you lost. He’s extremely smug and cocky about it all. But he does treat it like it’s for the best, that he’s done you a favor, as you look at him completely mortified at what he has exactly done.

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

Yes. He’s the only one of the four characters who forces you to join his religion, even when he knows you’re a nonbeliever, and makes you pray with him.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

He doesn’t get emotionally or sentimentally vulnerable with you but he does talk you through a lot of his thoughts. He doesn’t keep very many secrets from you, if not very many then none at all, and is typically very open about his life with you. The day he would cry in your arms is the day pigs would fly.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

Isaac would be very annoyed above all else. He absolutely hates when anyone, not just you, tries to lay a violent finger on him. This is one of the few times he’ll get furious with you, and it scares you out of fighting him. You’ll throw your fists at him knowing you could overpower him but then he’ll either grab onto your shirt or your throat (depending how violent you are) and scream into your face about how ungrateful you are, giving you mental whiplash due to how calm he is most of the time with you.

“How DARE you have the audacity! I am the one keeping you alive! You’re lucky I don’t throw you to the vultures to RIP OUT YOUR EYES!”

He doesn’t mean what he says when he’s angry, but you don’t know that.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

This is most certainly not a game to him but he doesn’t show much care when you try to escape since you never succeed. If you do it repeatedly then he’ll get vexed and annoyed with you, your relationship is most similar to a mother and her rebellious toddler. But overall he’ll just be disappointed and confused as to why you would want to leave such a “happy place”.

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

Isaac was loudly lecturing you, something about how He Who Walks Behind The Rows will not tolerate your insolence and how much you owe Him. You, at your breaking point and finally snapped, cursed and mocked his beloved god. He shoved you to your hands and knees in the dirt and forced you to pray to that very same god. Everytime you would try to lift yourself up he would slam his foot on your back, forcing you back down as he never ceased his screaming down at you. This was in front of everyone who watched in silence. Embarrassment embraced you as the public dehumanizing humiliation burned tears from your eyes.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

In his ideal future, you have finally converted to the cult and lead beside him. I think he would think he’s an exception for the “death at 19” rule due to being the giver of His word and you would get to live with him.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

It’s quite obvious when he’s jealous. If he notices you purposely standing next to someone in a close proximity or looking at specific people (for whatever reason, it doesn’t even have to be attraction), he’ll get very snappy and grumpy attitude-wise. He’ll aggressively interrogate you over it, blowing things way out of proportion and making the biggest deal out of it.

Kisses: What exactly made them fall for their darling?

Your natural purity.

Love story: How did they meet their darling? How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

When he moved to the small town at a young age, it was extremely difficult for him to make friends. He wasn’t the most pleasant person and naturally became an outcast. You were warmly friendly and was the only one to reach out to him and befriend him, being an outcast of the town yourself as you never really fit their norm. Although he was very unusual and peculiar, it only furthered your fondness of him. He went about trying to court you through creating intimate, tensioned moments with you like lingering hand touches, not elaborating on his specific compliments on you, and fleetingly caressing your cheek with his knuckles. You picked up on his signals easily and sometimes you would return them. But he started to get bolder with his moves when he started converting kids in his little religion. You started to grow distant from him after learning from him about what his religion is truly about.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Not really but he is typically in a happier mood when he’s with you, the most he’s ever smiled is when he’s with you or when watching you sleep. He also goes much easier on you and everyone knows it, he’s basically a mother with her obvious favorite child or a teacher with their obvious favorite student. His favoritism annoys the crap out of Malachi.

Nemesis: Who do they consider a rival?

Kind of no one. He’s a little cocky about how he knows no one would dare take you from him, plus he socially isolates you. He’ll only seriously consider someone a rival if you yourself hint/show interest in someone else.

Obsession: Are they more obsessive or possessive?

Surprisingly, despite how manipulative he is and how much he socially isolates you, Isaac’s much more obsessive than possessive. He isn’t very verbal about it though since he doesn’t believe your bad behavior deserves his romantic words describing what he truly feels about you. He is more reserved and reclused about his worshiping obsession with you. His obsession with you is almost in a religious manner, viewing you as an earth-bound god that deserves to be their own religion. If you were your own religion, Isaac would blissfully suffer from scrupulosity. He puts you on a holy pedestal and often parallels you to religious figures, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

When it comes to your bad behavior, he’s willing to be patient for awhile but if you prove to show signs of never changing then that’s when he finally snaps at you. Just don’t push your luck with how many times he lets you off the hook without punishment when you break rules. When it comes to waiting for you to love him back, he thinks you have no choice but to eventually fall for him back. He’s willing to wait for the stockholm syndrome to kick in. And if it doesn’t, well you better start faking your love for your own sake.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

Isaac is a very interesting story compared to the other characters in this list in the case of your death. Now of course he would be utterly heartbroken, probably dissociate for an hour or two, but he would then reassure that it was His will and that your death was part of His plan. He would bring you up constantly though. If the other cult members aren’t in check or aren’t doing good he would grow furious and internally panic that they were putting your death in vain.

He would never let you leave him, at least easily. He would gaslight the hell out of you and make you believe that he’s the only one keeping you safe and/or looking out for you. He’ll plant the idea in your head that the others want you dead because they know that you’re a non-believer and that Isaac is the only reason you’re still alive.

There’s a very slim chance you’d ever successfully escape. If you go through the corn, you’re either not coming out alive or ending up back where you started, as if you never left in the first place. If you stay on the road, Isaac would send almost everyone after you to bring you back. Being the leader has major perks so Isaac would lie to the others saying that He Who Walks Behind The Rows needs you alive, thus making it much easier to keep you.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

He will never feel guilt and he will never let you go, no matter how much you beg and cry.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

Attachment issues and the fear of losing the one person who cared about him when the whole town was once against him (pre adult massacre). He’ll never forget that rare, angelic kindness he saw within you.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

He finds it agitating and a waste of time. He doesn’t think you deserve to be comforted when you act like a baby. He’ll threaten you out of all three of those things.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

He’s not as bloodthirsty or jealous, plus he’s a cult leader so that changes a lot of variables.

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

One of Isaac’s biggest weaknesses is his arrogant trust in you. I say arrogant because he knows you have nowhere to go, he knows you cannot escape with the corn and the cult surrounding you. So he lets you roam around town without supervision and he also often lets you off the hook without a proper punishment after catching you disobeying him. So you can easily use all of this to your advantage. Plus he can never stay mad at you if/when he catches you. So you’re going to have to outsmart him. And not just him, but the whole cult too. As well as He Who Walks Behind The Rows depending on your escape plan. And actually, you could also use Him as a weakness against Isaac. And I’m talking about lighting that cornfield to flames.

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

He doesn’t like or enjoy inflicting harm on you… but he is a slapper.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Like I said before, Isaac is secretly more on the obsessive side and unhealthily worships you as if you were a god, admiring you like you’re a fallen angel. And if you were a religion Isaac would be your passionate priest and most devoted preacher. His romancing words weren’t enough to win you over before so now he results to just manipulating and gaslighting you into loving him. He paints himself in a way of a savior and your only suitable option, asking if you’d rather be with him who only wishes for your safety and happiness or any of the others who have always thought lowly of you and are savages at heart. Sometimes you hope the others will one day find out about how much he shit talks them all and turn against him.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

He silently pined after you for a few months, resisting his attraction as much as he could, but then slowly started getting worse. He snapped after he started hearing He Who Walks Behind The Rows.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

He thinks about it sometimes, just as an option though. But he doesn’t see you ever getting so ill-mannered that you would need to be subjugated to that.

Bonus: What do others think of their relationship with their darling? Do they try to interfere or intervene?

I mean, none of them think it’s normal. But they don’t care enough to step up for you. In fact, they kinda think you’ve set yourself up for it since you two were so close pre-adult massacre. Plus you’re the most infamously nonbeliever so some of them choose to believe Isaac is just trying to convert you through intense love. Probably the closest thing they do to worrying is whisper to each other about how weird Isaac’s infatuation with you is or how unfair his soft spot for you is since he lets you off the break for multiple rule breaks.

Malachi

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Malachi shows his love through acts of service and protectiveness of you. He’s not physically affectionate to an intense level but he does also show his love through affectionate touches like hand holding and really always just having a hand on you whether it be on your arm or your back. He is surprisingly a big cuddler, but it’s a little too overwhelming for you as he holds onto you tightly and will not let go even if you start to struggle and ask him to loosen his grip a little.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Oh the bloodier the better. He’s very impulsive when it comes to killing someone for you so leaving behind a big mess is very common.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

Like Isaac, the equivalent to abduction is the aftermath of killing the adults. He’ll be over the moon that you can finally be together without anyone trying to tear you apart. He’ll be very confused and a little sad when you appear to be the opposite but then he’ll grow to be aggravated.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying? What can I do to make you feel better? Do you just need to eat? STOP CRYING!!”

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

He tries to keep it at a minimum but overall yes. That includes forcing “couples” things on you like kissing, physical affection, forcing you on dates, forcing you to tell him what he wants to hear. He would only force intercourse with you if he was not in the mood to be refused at the moment (probably got publicly scolded by Isaac earlier so he needs to do something to feel in charge).

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

Surprisingly, Malachi gets very vulnerable with you. So vulnerable it gives you mental whiplash and you wonder if this was really the same boy who forced you into a relationship. He’ll get too comfortable and then he’s crying in your arms about what his life was like before the cult started. You’re almost guilted into liking him back at that very moment. But after his non-dignified crying session in your cradling arms, he’ll get up and wipe his cheeks then walk away and treat it as if it never happened to begin with. Again, mental whiplash.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

He gets angry but easily overpowers you. He focuses more on keeping you down to make you stop struggling rather than attack back. He’ll wrestle you to the ground and pin your hands above your head until you stop kicking and screaming.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

He wants you to stay where he puts you and gets very angry when you flee, well, try to flee. However he’d be lying if he said he doesn’t enjoy the chase. So in a way it is kind of like a game to him. He loves that adrenaline rush during your guys’ game of cat and mouse, especially since he always wins.

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

You will never experience the same fear and horror you felt when Malachi took you for the first time. You ran down the stairs of your house after hearing a string of crashes and yelling and once you made it to the living room, the sight of your parent’s with their throats slashed open as a smiling Malachi stood over their fallen bodies was shoved right in front of your very eyes. You screamed bloody murder and you took off right back up the stairs, Malachi instantly chasing after you. You just barely made it into your room and locked the door then began trying to push open your heavy window. Malachi used his bloody axe to break the lock and force himself inside your room, making it just in time as you were beginning to escape out the window. He manhandled you out of the window, all while you screamed and cried and thrashed around, and tightly dragged you kicking and screaming down the stairs.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

He doesn’t intend on living past 19 due to his beliefs so his ideal future is the two of you walking into the cornfield hand to hand (if his birthday comes first then you’re joining him but if yours is first then he’s joining you. But if he had a change of heart then I think he would be the only one of the four boys who would want a family with you.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Malachi’s always been the jealous kind starting from the early stages of his growing crush on you. He would get jealous of every single person you interacted with, they were so casual and charismatic with you and you always returned it. He knew he could never be that kind of person you easily converse with. In the cult, after he finally has you, he’s most jealous of Job and Sarah (just adding more reasons as to why he wants them gone). You always seem the most content when you’re with the two little kids and he hates it. He either kills the person he’s jealous of or throws a private tantrum, it’s rare that he takes it out on you.

Kisses: What exactly made them fall for their darling?

He crushed on you at first because you were attractive, nice and funny but he fell for you after your kindness did not falter when talking to him, treating him like a normal human being.

Love story: How did they meet their darling? How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

He’s had a schoolboy crush on you ever since the third grade. He never really knew how to approach you so the only way he could get your attention was by doing the stupid teasing hair pulling and nudging you roughly in the halls. As he got older he grew too shy to even do that so he just resulted to admiring from afar. At first it just started as weird but simple crush things like sniffing your hair as you walked past and staring at you. But following you in the halls turned into following you home which turned into full on stalking and spying on you.

He was scheming ways to talk to you or spend more than three seconds together. He would get tongue tied and socially awkward every time he would try to talk to you though. He would get a sudden burst of confidence and walk right up to you but once you turned around, waiting for him to say something, his jaw would go slack and not a word would come out. His eyes would naturally shift into glare without his awareness. Then he’d grunt and quickly walk away, leaving you very confused. Yeah, his approaches were that weird.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Oh my god he’s almost like a completely different person (when he’s not angry with you), it literally gives you a mindfuck. With everyone else he’s this temperamental enforcer; psychopath. But with you it’s as if a switch is flipped and he becomes his own exact opposite, soft with puppy dog eyes.

Nemesis: Who do they consider a rival?

He’s a territorial yandere and is insanely paranoid about every little thing, but he considers Isaac his arch nemesis when it comes to your heart. It’s for a very dumb reason though. He thinks Isaac wants you all for himself when in reality Isaac doesn’t care much for you, he’s aware that you are miserable and don’t reciprocate Malachi’s feelings but he doesn’t really care about your predicament.

Obsession: Are they more obsessive or possessive?

He may act more obsessive but he falls under the possessive category. He’s greedy for your attention and sometimes acts like you’re just a prize he won and not a real human being with rights and feelings. He treats others with the “finders keepers” mentality when it comes to you. He’s selfishly overprotective of you and is paranoid that everyone wants you. It’s like he’s a wild dog hogging meat all for himself.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

He really does try to be patient with you but ultimately fails. He’s just never been a patient person his whole life. When he wants something he wants it within minutes.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

If you die, Malachi would not be able to move on. He will never see anyone else in the way he saw you. He would become a monster, as you were the only thing that kept him grounded. He would become much more angry and violent, and much more forceful when it comes to keeping the other cult members in line.

If you left him, Malachi would use physical force and aggression to force you to stay with him. He would also pull the toxic, “where would you go?”

If you successfully escaped, it wouldn’t be for long. He would notice your absence quickly and instantly begin the chase. If you’re still on the road, he would easily catch up to you and drag you back into town. When it comes to you, he never slows down nor wastes a mere second of time. If you made it past the road then it would take Malachi some time to find you. He would try to bring some friends to help him but Isaac would refuse, even telling Malachi to stay and forget you. But he would go against orders and still chase after you, which he eventually would since, as stated before, he is unhealthily relentless and does not slow down. So just like the Tortoise and the Hare, you would take a break while believing you’ve made it far enough unknowingly allowing Malachi to finally catch up to you.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

The closest to guilt he will get is feeling sad when you cry, that’s the closest he’ll get to feeling remorse. I think he would consider letting you go for just one fleeting second at a maximum of one time, but other than that I don’t think he ever would.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

His lonely childhood.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

Like I said before, he gets sad when you do any of the listed things but the more you ignore his questions on what to do to make you feel better then he’ll grow angry and snap at you.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

Even though he’s a loose cannon, with the right words he’s easier to keep under control compared to most yanderes.

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

Malachi’s sick love for you. He’s very paranoid about you so if you add fuel to the fire of his worries you might be able to sneak in a chance of escape. The prime example is making him so paranoid about your safety, like make him worried that some of the others have been giving you predatorial looks, and plant the idea of letting you stay in the abandoned house closest to the road by yourself… for your safety of course. You just have to make it sound like it was his idea though. So if you play your cards right you can have him wrapped around your little finger.

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

He would never, like, beat you up or anything. Probably the closest thing to that was unintentionally slapping your face in a fit of rage one time. I honestly think Malachi truly does not want to physically hurt you in any way, it’s close to being a weakness. But that doesn’t include roughly grabbing onto you with an iron grip and aggressively manhandling you, resulting to light bruises on your skin.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

He’s not the best at putting his emotions into words at all so you don’t really know how much he practically worships the ground you walk on. He shy’s out of telling you how much he loves you loads of times, he just wishes you could read his mind to understand that there is no one in existence that he adores more than you. Although he’s bad at expressing his feelings, he'd do anything to win you over and does indeed try everything. He experiments with a variety of love languages to try and appease you.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

He’s always been very strange and weird for you but he officially snaps as soon as all the adults are killed.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

No… well, like Isaac, he does remind himself it is an option if you prove that you’re never going to stop fighting him. Just don’t get confident in thinking he wouldn’t do it…

Bonus: What do others think of their relationship with their darling? Do they try to interfere or intervene?

People are only more concerned when you’re not with him. You keep him grounded, you keep him basically leashed so if anything they want to keep you two together. And even when they do get a little concerned with its effects they don’t dare say anything about it.

Micah

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Oh my god, starting off strong. Micah is the most overly affectionate out of all four boys. He shows his love in any way possible like gifts, acts of service (except his interpretation of service is murder), and quality time (except to you it's most of the time just him following you around and not leaving you alone, it’s suffocating).

He shows his love the most physically and verbally. He constantly goes into preaching frenzies about how much he loves you. Some things he says are actually poetically romantic but most of the time the way he says things and how he phrases things comes across as excruciatingly creepy and morbid, making you unbearably uncomfortable and sick to your stomach and desperately wishing he would just stop.

He outrageously smothers you in physical affection (hugging/holding you, kissing/making out, hand holding, cuddling, caressing your skin, cradling your face, standing too close to you) to the point where it’s overstimulating and claustrophobic. He won’t stop even if you’re in tears begging him to let go of you or back up a little or if you’re clearly hyperventilating.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

More than willing. He’s very passionate about killing someone in your name, more than for He Who Walks. To him, the sooner he kills the person the better. He likes giving people slow and torturous deaths.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

Once again, the equivalent to abduction is the aftermath of killing the adults. The first hour after they’re all gone Micah is quite a bit manic with you. He does this long preaching rant with you about how no one can come between you now, that you are finally all his, how you’re soulmates, etc. After all of that madness you are cursed to witness and endure, he’ll act like his previous self with you again, just more touchy and obsessive, a lot more touchy and obsessive.

The closest Micah would get to mocking you is if you cry for too long.

“Come ON now darling! I am sick of your whining!”

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

Yes, but Micah always likes to think that it’s not against your will. He’s so delusional that he believes that when he’s forcing something on you or you to do something, he’s just giving you a small nudge into doing something you deep down do want. Also a few things he does against your will he will do slowly and steadily throughout time, slowly leading you away from the thing he doesn’t want you to do anymore.

Micah invades your privacy a lot too. Stealing your stuff, going/looking through your things even though you’ve yelled at him to stop. He’s a major Peeping Tom as well. Less looking into your window and more not leaving the room when you tell him to when you want to change. He forces kisses on you too, with tongue. He doesn’t force sex on you though, he’s mastered seducing you into it (but it sometimes falls into dub-con).

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

He’s an open book with you. In fact, sometimes he overshares a little too much. He’s one of those people who blatantly and casually trauma dumps, (he had a physically abusive father so there’s a lot to unpack with him). He’ll sometimes bring himself to tears while going on one of his long tangents about how much he loves you. Even though he’s very vulnerable with you about his emotions, he’s not always honest with you. Well, he doesn’t lie to you, he just keeps a lot of secrets from you and hides a lot of stuff from you. Overall you’re not always in the loop with his plans.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

He’s confused and tired of it. He’s a bit delusional about how this all affects you and how you don’t want to be with him. He’s one of those annoying guys who babies you when you’re trying to physically hurt him, he’ll wrap his arms around you and not let go as you squirm and kick in between his hugging arms. He’ll talk over your curses toward him.

“Why are you fighting me?! We could be so happy if you would just stop fighting me!”

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

He does not consider it a game, and if it is a game he’s not having fun at all. He does not enjoy watching you try to escape. It frustrates and upsets him. When you are returned back to him you will be getting quite a loud earful about how ungrateful you are, how disappointed he is in you, why would you want to abandon him, etc.

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

He sacrificed your parents right in front of you. You crumbled to your knees, sobbing hysterically, before he forced you to stand and kept a painful grip on your biceps to keep you close to him. He loudly and passionately declared his devoted love in your face as you uncontrollably bawled your eyes out. His speech sounded nothing but muffled to your overwhelmed ears but the few things that you understood him saying was, “There are no others to come between us!” and “Now say that you love me!”

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

I don’t think he really cares what the future holds just as long as you two are together with no more issues or problems. He’s so focused on making you accept him that he hasn’t given it much thought about what would happen after. But he does wish for marriage.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Oh my god, Micah’s by far the worst one of the four boys when it comes to jealousy. He gets jealous over all your interpersonal interactions. He gets jealous over the stupidest things. Why did you glance at that person over there? Why did you look to your feet when you were talking with that person? Were you flustered by them? Why were you even talking to them in the first place? You’re spacing out… are you thinking about someone else right now?! He should be the only person you think of!

He’s equally as bad when it’s the other way around. Why did that person walk past you? Did they try to smell your scent? Your sweet scent is for his nose only! Why did that person look at you? You are for Micah’s eyes only! His solution to his own jealousy is typically always murder but sometimes he’ll complain for hours to you, interrogating you over his suspicions.

Kisses: What exactly made them fall for their darling?

How nice and gentle you were with him. Sticking by him and proving that you genuinely do care about him and his feelings.

Love story: How did they meet their darling? How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

You resided in Hemingford when the Gatlin kids were moved there after their town’s mysterious tragedy. Your mom was friends with the Bed and Breakfast owner who took in Micah, so you ended up meeting him over breakfast. You’d never admit it but you had a bit of a savior complex with him, seeing him so despondent and lonely. You quickly befriended him and sooner than later, almost overnight, he returned back to normal. It was easy for his crush on you to form then evolve to him falling deep in love, becoming hopelessly lovesick. His way of pursuing you was taking fast baby steps in trying to make your friendship something more like opening up more and seeking you out to spend time with you. It was almost natural that you two ended up in a romantic relationship. Until he ruined it by his absurdly concerning behaviors.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Yes. With the cult he’s intuitive, self-composed, assertive, and has no time for shit. But when he’s with you it’s like he loses his dignity. He loses his self-restraints and becomes perverse. But thankfully he’s not like that all the time, the other times he’s relatively calm and acts more like a casually normal boyfriend.

Nemesis: Who do they consider a rival?

Anyone who looks at you. I’m not kidding. Micah can’t even stand the sight of you merely standing next to someone else, can’t even stomach the thought that others share air with you. He has that mindset where only he can look at you, only he can talk to you, only he can think about you. And he is absolutely the only one who can touch you or go near you. He wants you all to himself. Absolutely no one on the planet can have you and he would rather set fire to the beloved cornfield than share you with anyone. But specifically, he sees adults as the biggest threat. There’s always an adult trying to come between you and separate you for your sake. Just another reason as to why he needs to get rid of all them.

Obsession: Are they more obsessive or possessive?

Micah is by far the most obsessive of all four boys. He is needy, bigoted, fervid, and so delusional that it’s erotomania. He is so unhealthily obsessed with you and hyper fixated on you that his overwhelming attraction to you is practically his whole personality. His obsession with you is compulsive and he has lost any control over it, happily just accepting it. You preoccupy his mind intrusively to a troubling extent and he’s addicted to every little thing about you: the thought of you, the sight of you, the smell of you, the taste of you, everything about you. He is so obsessed with you that it sometimes brings him to tears; he is utterly lovesick. He really needs to see a doctor.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

He’s surprisingly very patient with you. It typically benefits him in the end. Like when he waits for you to finish your tantrum and now all your energy is drained, then he gets to cuddle you without you struggling against him and trying to push him away. His patience is almost like a manipulation tactic in a way. And since he’s so delusional, he’s convinced that you do love him deep down but you’re just in denial.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

If you die, Micah would be a tragically heartbroken mess. Bawling his eyes out while hopelessly clinging onto your limp body. He would never move on. In fact, he would find a way to resurrect you since this is the Children of the Corn universe. I think he would make a deal with He Who Walks Behind The Rows, your soul in exchange for a whole sacrificed town. Either that or he will off himself.

Micah would never allow you to leave him. You would tell him your reasons for wanting to end the relationship and he would guilt trip the hell out of you and go on this long ass rant consisting of the lines “am I not good enough for you?”, “I cannot breathe without you, do you wish me to die?”, “I’ve given you everything that I could, and it’s still not enough for you”, “after everything I’ve been through, don’t I deserve to be happy too?!”. Even when you don’t consider him your boyfriend anymore, that won’t matter to him at all. His behaviors would not change and he will act the same exact way he did when you were together, except maybe a little worse.

If you somehow successfully escaped, Micah would never move on. He is obsessed. He would hunt you down and would never, ever stop. He would track you down for years on end if he had to. With the corn and the cult on his side, it wouldn’t be a surprise if you were eventually caught and dragged right back to where you started, back in Micah’s arms.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

His guilt is barely at the minimum. Even though he’s insanely delusional, he’s not blind or stupid. He does indeed notice how unhappy you are and always tries to make you feel better, unknowingly making it worse. But he’s never considered or thought about freeing you from the thing that’s making you miserable, himself.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

When he was abused by his father he always thought that the world was saving him something amazing in the future after all of the pain and suffering. He was always a little too obsessed with that concept, clinging to it through every beating. And He Who Walks possessing a part of him also prompted this side of him even more.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

Micah hates it and feels like it’s a personal attack. When you scream or cry he’ll get super close to you, so close that you panic and feel claustrophobic/suffocated which makes you cry even more, and try to hold you as an attempt to make you feel better. He just makes it worse though but he’s oblivious to that fact. If you isolate yourself from him that’s when he’ll grow angry and manic, screaming at you and going on a long, loud tangent preach about how you’re meant to be together.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

Not that I can really think of other than that he exposes his calm/normal side of himself to you more than most yanderes.

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

With the right choice of words you can exploit his abusive past with his father. You have to use the right words though, like be very careful with your wording. So it really just depends on how manipulative you can or are willing to be. Your freedom depends on it.

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

He doesn’t like hurting you at all, but he has given you a few slaps across the face while claiming that you forced his hand.

“Look at what you made me do!”

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

He fanatically adores you, like he is physically on his knees worshiping you, worshiping every inch of your skin. He would go to extreme lengths to win you over, from murder to straight up begging.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

He pines for a couple of days, maybe a little over a week, before he starts getting creepy and weird with you. He officially snaps when you try to leave him.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

Never. He doesn’t even consider it an option but he sometimes threatens it against you to scare you into doing something. But he would never do it. Why would he drain the personality he’s unhealthily obsessed with? He’s too convinced (and delusional) that you will someday return his love.

Bonus: What do others think of their relationship with their darling? Do they try to interfere or intervene?

Before you were exposed to or aware of Micah’s true intentions with you, you were quite defensive when people would question your relationship. Most of the adults in Hemingford that didn’t trust the Gatlin kids tried to urge you to stay away from their crowd or that you shouldn’t be hanging around Micah. You would angrily argue in Micah’s defense that he’s been through a lot and they should leave him alone. You heavily regret ignoring their warnings as now none of them are left alive to save you now. And all of the cult kids don’t care about Micah’s intense infatuation with you, only wanting you to join them.

Eli

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Eli’s love language is really just quality time. Before he revealed his true colors and just put up the innocent and charming facade, he showed his affection verbally about what he felt for you through words that made you swoon and flustered. But once the act dropped he only used those romancing words to mock you or emotionally manipulate you. His love is really only shown through his clinginess and how he refuses to be away from you.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Very willing. He’s meticulous when it comes to getting rid of someone and plans out each and every death, making sure each one gets their deserved pain. He does most of his killings behind your back but certainly does not keep it as a secret, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t up to slaughter someone in front of you.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

Unlike the first three boys, Eli is the only one to actually abduct you. But it’s not like you’re held captive in a basement, you can still roam wherever you want but you just have to basically be Eli’s shadow or him be yours. He won’t bother putting up the soft and charming act anymore so you’re just now more exposed to how much of an evil asshole he can be. He only mocks you if you try to escape.

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

Of course. He really thinks he doesn’t need your permission or approval to do anything. But specifically he forces you into assisting him in his immoral plans.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

He’s a little nightmare. He’s always keeping you on your toes and can never guess how he’s feeling or what he’s thinking. You can only get a close to accurate guess to his thoughts or feelings if you do or say something that catches him off guard. So if you couldn’t already tell, he doesn’t get very vulnerable with you. He sees it as a sign of weakness and he’ll never lower himself to that level. He’s smug and arrogant and likes playing mind games with you to keep you off the scent of his secret thoughts/feelings. Or he just wants you to figure him out all on your own. Like he makes you play detective just to find out about his past. It’s exhausting.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

It’s where he gets some of his entertainment. He knows there is no possible chance of you overpowering him so he finds it cutely pathetic when you try to. He’ll catch your punches and attempted slaps and laugh. He loves how fiesty you are and how you scream at him to let you go and how you wished he would drop dead, you’re so cute when you’re mad and fearful.

He especially loves it when you bring weapons into it. You’re so sure that you’re going to kill him that he can’t help but encourage you.

“Alright then. Come over here and stab me in my chest. Defeat me and end all your suffering. I’m the source of all your problems so go ahead.”

You’re absolutely mortified when you learn through experience that he cannot be killed.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

Eli loves games. And your little pathetic attempts of escape are one of his favorites. He finds it cute how naive and hopeful you are. Trying to escape from him is like walking through a haunted house. First he’s right behind you, then he’s gone, then you see his shadow on the far wall, then he’s jumping out at you, and you can swear his voice and shadow are on two opposite sides of the hall. He jumpscares you and loves giving you mini heart attacks. It’s going to be so bad you’re going to wish you never tried to escape in the first place. He also likes playing mind games with you, making you think you have a chance then takes it away when you’re a hair away from it. Like you’re about to open the door to make a run for it, into the public, and he’ll appear and be smug and cocky.

“Go ahead, open the door. Escape your living nightmare once and for all.”

You’ll open the door and boom he’s on the other side of it. And lastly, he fucks with your mind and makes you hallucinate that you did escape just to break it and reveal that you never left.

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

It was the first time you were truly exposed to what Eli was capable of. It was when you became fully aware of Eli’s massacre plan and you got into a huge fight. Naively believing that the little cornfield he grew in the abandoned warehouse was the main source of his powers, you grabbed garden shears and ran over to cut it all down. You heard Eli slowly and calmly approach you from behind and once you turned to look at him he roughly shoved you into the center of the garden. Once you hit the dirt and stood back up you had realized you were in an entirely different place, a massive sized cornfield. You walked for hours as Eli tormented you. You would hear his laugh right by your ear but he was nowhere near you, corpses reached from the dirt to try and grab your legs, and it was as if the corn was alive and closing in on you as well as grabbing onto you temporarily. The third time you broke down while crying out for Eli and begging for his forgiveness and how you swore you would never go against him again, is when Eli finally appeared and took you in his arms and magically pulled you out of the cornfield and back to the warehouse. You clung onto him while sobbing before glancing up to see him sinisterly smirking down at you. It was then you finally felt the true fear of what Eli was.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

Although he adores your little game of cat and mouse and how much you struggle and fight, in his ideal future he does want you to eventually love him back so that the two of you can live your immortal lives happily in love in a world of no adults. You’d probably live back in Gatlin surrounded by corn.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Eli’s clingy a ridiculous amount, as well as possessive, and wants you all to himself so jealousy is a frequent thing for him. He’s like a toddler with their favorite toy; insanely greedy, won’t let anyone touch it, “no it’s mine, mine, mine!”. He just gets so mad that you’re more happy with others than with him and seem to enjoy their company more than his. What do they have that Eli doesn’t?! They’re pathetic and weak! Even though the rage burns like hellfire inside him, he goes about it calmly. You two will either be sitting next to each other in silence or be back to back in bed at night and his typical smugness will drop, coldly bringing up how he forbids you from talking to the person. He acts just like a scorned wife. But later he’ll kill that very same person, just to be sure the two of you can never interact again.

Kisses: What exactly made them fall for their darling?

Your care about the earth you live on.

Love story: How did they meet their darling? How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

His adopted “mother” and his brother encouraged him to join a club to make some friends. The only club he was interested in was the gardening club. You were its only member. Not many city kids cared about gardening but that just gave the two of you more alone, one on one, time. At first, he originally planned to only use you for your garden to grow more of his brainwashing corn but the more you spent time together the more interested and attached to you he was. When he accepted that he was more than attracted to you, that's when he started to make moves on you. It was all quite casual as he just used his natural charm and did subtle flirting, and sooner than later you were caught in his web.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

You’re envious of others who don’t know what he’s really like. With others he puts up this innocent, ingenuous, charming act (the same act he used to woo you and lure you in). Sometimes he’ll pretend to be like that with you but majority of the time you’re exposed to how cruel and wicked he truly is.

Nemesis: Who do they consider a rival?

Eli is overly possessive, ridiculously jealous, and unbearably clingy. So he’ll see basically anyone as a rival if they get too close to you or look at you for too long. Especially every single one of your friends. Also anyone who poses a threat to your relationship with the intention of splitting the two of you up for your safety; teachers, social workers, friends, family, that damn priest. But he shuts it down before those people become a problem.

Obsession: Are they more obsessive or possessive?

He is wildly possessive. He is excessively clingy and wants you all for himself, your attention needs to always be on him and he’s a total brat when it’s not. He’s proprietorial, controlling, and eliminates anyone who poses a threat in separating you two. He owns you and acts like you are his territory.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

He has all the time in the world so you are very lucky that he isn’t impatient.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

If you died, Eli’s resurrecting you somehow. I don’t believe he even wants to think about what he would do if you died. Since he’s immortal, he’s aware that age would slowly take you from him so he would find a way to make you immortal as well (even if you’re begging him not to do it).

If you left him, he wouldn’t worry all that much or even beg you to willingly stay like the others would. He would use emotional manipulation to guilt trip you into staying. And if that doesn’t work then he would simply work his demon magic and scare you right back into his arms. He doesn’t care that he’s using fear to keep you with him.

It would be extremely hard to escape Eli, and even harder to stay escaped from him. I actually think it’d be impossible due to the fact he’s a literal demon. So no matter where you go, where you hide, how long you run, Eli will always catch up to you and will always find you. So in hindsight, there is no escaping Eli. I'm truly sorry for you.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

No to both. It’s never even crossed his mind.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

Being an independent demon for so long and not knowing how to deal with romantic emotions.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

He finds it all quite funny.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

Even though he’s extremely clingy, he’s not very touchy and gives less than the average-yandere amount of physical affection, he’s not even that big of a hand holder (but this is all kind of a plus for you since you don’t have to worry about non-consensual touching or forcing affection with you). He’s content with just being near you and having you always by his side.

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

I think the only thing you could ever use against him is his Bible. Unless you suck up to him enough to make him slip out a secret weakness, it will take awhile though. But it’s mostly his bible, he doesn’t even like you looking at it which just makes you more suspicious of why he’s so defensive about it.

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

He doesn’t need to. He uses fear to control you and all he has to do is use his mind powers to shake your surroundings to scare you into obeying. His touches are nothing but soft and gentle.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

He admires you more than he worships you. His worship is closer to how a scientist would obsessively study an animal, dedicating their life to observing it. He truly thinks you’re the most fascinating, interesting human. He doesn’t really bother with actively trying to win you over, you are his now because he said so and he does not care if you don’t feel the same.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

Like Micah, he snaps when you try to leave him.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

Nah. He likes how human you are, how fragile and sensitive and reactive you are. It’s entertaining to him and he knows you’re enough to keep him entertained for centuries. He knows that you’ll grow to love him, you’re stuck with him for eternity after all. And if you really never don’t… well then that’s just gonna suck for you.

Bonus: What do others think of their relationship with their darling? Do they try to interfere or intervene?

The bystanders feel bad for you. Those who haven’t had enough interactions with Eli and only see his sweet and charming act can still see as clear as glass that you are not happy in the relationship, or as happy as you should be, which makes them grow to be suspicious of what Eli is like behind closed doors. And those who are already suspicious of Eli are confused as to why you’re around him so much but after awhile of noticing how fast your smile drops when Eli’s not looking is when they would try to subtly put space between you. Eli always notices right away, being so clingy that he’s sensitive to even being in a different room than you, and always makes sure those people don’t try that ever again. People would reach out to you privately but you would assure them you’re fine and end the conversation quickly out of fear of what Eli would do to either of you if he found out about your exchange.

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bb-bare-bones · 9 months ago

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Beating a Dead Crop: A Children of the Corn Retrospective

By Tabby Knight (instagram - tabby.knight6)

Artwork by Dy Dawson @xgardensinspace

If you’ve seen all of the Children of the Corn films in the franchise (dear God) I’m both somewhat impressed and also vaguely concerned for your mental wellbeing. I counted a total of 12 entries in the series, including the 2020 reboot and the 1983 short film Disciples of the Crow. Not bad, considering Stephen King’s original short story clocks in at approximately 10,000 words, and ends with a degree of finality that doesn’t exactly invite a sequel.

For those unfamiliar with the source material, Children of the Corn was originally published in Penthouse Magazine in 1977 and later reprinted in King’s short story anthology, Night Shift (1978) and follows a young married couple who accidentally hit a child with their car while driving through rural Nebraska. Burt and Vicky, who are road tripping to California in a last-ditch attempt to save their marriage, decide to put the boy (dead) in the back of their car and drive to the nearest town, Gatlin, for help. The shock of hitting the boy has been abated, somewhat, by the fact that he was likely already dead when they went over him — his throat's been slit from ear to ear. They are a little disturbed, however, to find a crucifix made of corn husks in the boy’s suitcase.

They arrive in Gatlin only to find it deserted, and the only building showing any sign of recent activity is the church, which is defaced, trashed, and decorated with corn. Inside, Burt also finds a record of births and deaths, and manages to piece together the town’s dark history: some twelve years ago, all the adults in town were massacred, and the children appear to have created a corn-worshipping cult in their absence. Since then, every registered death in town has occurred on the victim’s nineteenth birthday.

By the story’s conclusion (Spoilers) Vicky’s been mutilated and crucified on a cross of corn, and Burt finds himself trapped in Gatlin’s cornfields, pursued — and ultimately consumed — by a mysterious entity that lives amongst the rows. It ends with the children, who are informed by their nine-year-old cult leader, Isaac, that He Who Walks Behind the Rows is displeased with their inability to dispatch Burt, and has lowered ‘the age of favour’ from nineteen to eighteen as a punishment. As a result, the town’s eighteen-year-old residents march into the corn to sacrifice themselves to their god. One of those dispatched, Malachi, leaves behind a pregnant girlfriend, who fantasises about setting fire to the corn in retribution. We end with a line that still sticks with me years after I first read it: “Dusk deepened into night. Around Gatlin the corn rustled and whispered secretly. It was well pleased.”

And there you have it. It’s not King’s best short story by any means, but it’s far from his worst, and it has its own grim, mystical charm that appealed to me as a teenager and still appeals to me now. The cult operating in Gatlin works primarily because of its elusiveness, and its ambiguity. We don’t see the children overthrow the town, we see very little of the entity that lurks in the corn, and there’s no flashy final showdown. There’s a tragedy to the children that fails to translate to the films, a quiet sort of helplessness emphasised by their final march into the cornrows. The conclusion feels inevitable – this is the way things are in Gatlin, and it’s horrendous, but it’s unstoppable. It just is.

To the best of my knowledge, none of the film adaptations manage to capture this same sense of quiet horror, the idea that those who commit such atrocious evil are themselves victim to a larger, far more powerful force that cannot be overthrown or disobeyed.

It’s a shame, then, that the very first film adaptation – a 1984 venture starring Linda Hamilton – dispatches this sense of ambiguity and dread entirely. Instead we are left with a standard, far less eerie narrative structure, in which Burt rescues Vicky, teams up with a couple of the less murderous children, and manages to set fire to the cornrows, ostensibly killing (at least temporarily – 5 sequels and several reboots, remember) He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Instead of the quiet despair of the short story, emphasised by the pregnant Ruth’s secret desire to see the corn burn, we get a final jump scare and a happy ending as Burt, Vicky, and the two kids they appear to have adopted set out for Seattle on foot.

There are merits to the first film, at least. John Franklin makes an iconic and genuinely menacing (if a little campy) villain out of Isaac, who outshines the elusive creature behind the rows as the primary antagonist. Courtney Gains makes for a memorable Malachai - morally grey and surprisingly likeable, far more fleshed out than his literary counterpart. The supporting cast of Gatlin kids are suitably freaky, at least until Sarah and Job are established as good kids, which diminishes the effect somewhat, especially when the short story did so well as to establish the children as equal parts good and bad, victims of a larger system as well as perpetrators of violence.

By creating a binary in which children like Sarah and Job are “all good,” while those such as Isaac and Rachel (the crazed adolescent responsible for that final scare) are “all bad,” we lose that sense of dread. Worse still, we lose the last remaining shred of realism in a film that has Burt pursued through the corn by a tunnelling monster right out of Tremors. As I said, we essentially lose the very point the source material is trying to convey.

That’s not to say it’s a wholly unlikeable film, of course, or that it’s universally hated by horror fans. Lots of people, myself included, look at the film with a great deal of fondness. But that doesn’t change the fact that it falls into that famed category of questionable Stephen King adaptations. It also doesn’t change the fact that it didn’t warrant a sequel, let alone five, and a string of ill-fated reboots with sequels of their own.

Horror movies and sequels go hand in hand, obviously, but unlike the other sequel machines of the 1980’s, the Children of the Corn franchise lacks the same fanatical following. When quizzed on franchises and their sequels, diehard horror fans tend to have very specific preferences. They have a favourite Nightmare on Elm Street, (Mine’s 3) a preferred Jason Vorhees (8-bit video game Jason, though I suspect I’m an outlier) and strong opinions on the superior Child’s Play film (It’s Bride). But with Children of the Corn, that level of diehard devotion appears to be lacking. I’ve met a lot of horror fans, and I’ve never had any of them tell me that Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror, for example, is the best of the lot.

I don’t want to generalise, of course, because I’m sure someone out there is getting ready to contact me and tell me of their undying devotion to Urban Harvest. I only mean that as a collective, horror fans are incredibly tolerant of sequels, and often can discuss the merits of part six over part ten. A cursory glance at cinema attendance for the new Halloween and Scream sequels alone indicates a market for the same formula over and over again. I would argue, however, that Children of the Corn doesn’t necessarily fit into that category. With the possible exception of 666, which promises the return of the first film’s Isaac, none of the sequels on Wikipedia’s handy-dandy list either catch my eye or spark my memory, and I can’t be the only one.

The question, then, is why keep churning them out? Let’s not forget that this isn’t just a case of a one-off direct-to-video sequel, or even a trilogy. We’re talking about five direct sequels to the 1984 film, plus three maybe sequels (Revelation, Genesis, and Runaway) and two reboots (2009 and 2020/23).* The obvious answer is of course, money, but you can’t seriously tell me all these direct-to-video sequels are churning out bucketloads of profits. They’re certainly not churning out rave reviews, either from critics or audience members.

My best guess is that, like me, people continue to be drawn to and affected by the original source material, and want to create a film in that same vein. But if that’s the case, why the continual failure to accurately adapt that same source material? Why create a narrative in which He Who Walks Behind the Rows is easily dispatched by outsiders, when the real terror of the story (at least in my opinion) stems from His unrelenting hold over the children, even in the face of their growing resentment?

The 2020 adaptation, much like those that have come before it, has received mostly negative reviews, with an 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 22/100 on Metacritic, and a staggering 1.6/5-star rating on Letterboxd. While I haven’t seen it myself (yet – if I do, it’ll bring my total number of CotC films up to…3) what I can glean from Wikipedia, Bloody Disgusting, and Letterboxd is that once again, the film fails to either accurately adapt the source material or, at the very least, capture the same spirit of terror the original story managed to convey.

In a perfect world, such universally abysmal reviews would signal a long-overdue death for the franchise, and I’d like to say I’m optimistic enough to hope for its end. But this is horror we’re talking about, and we appear to be in an age of unrelenting sequels for all genres regardless. And worst of all, there’s a backlog of twelve films whose very existence leave me pessimistic and cynical.

Incidentally, if you’d like to catch a Children of the Corn film that kind of captures the spirit of the original, consider checking out the aforementioned 1983 short film Disciples of the Crow. It’s not a perfect adaptation (Burt and Vicky still manage to escape unscathed, god damnit) but it goes a long way towards establishing that eerie sense of mindless violence and inevitability I talked about. It’s campy as hell, of course, terribly acted and not exactly scary, but it is only 18 minutes and free to watch on YouTube, and not too bad for a student film. At the very least, Burt isn’t pursued by a tunnelling monster as he attempts to set fire to a cornfield.

*In light of the pandemic, the 2020 rendition of Children of the Corn didn’t receive either mass distribution or a theatrical release until 2023. Interestingly, it was apparently the first film since the 1984 adaptation to even receive a theatrical release. Go figure.

#barebones #bbqueue #horrormovies #horrorwriting #80shorror #childrenofthecorn #bare bones articles

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