Children of the Corn: Runaway is the latest feature of the Children of the Corn film series which began in 1984 with New World Pictures. After the release of the second film, The Final Sacrifice in 1992, the series was acquired by Dimension films, and the subsequent installments were released directly to video, and bore little to no narrative continuity.
Serving as a direct sequel to ninth film, Genesis, Children of the Corn: Runaway tells us the story of a young, pregnant Ruth, who escapes a murderous child cult in a small Midwestern town. She then spends the next decade living anonymously in an attempt to spare her son the horrors that she had experienced as a child herself. Ruth and her son end up in a small town in Oklahoma, but something has been following her. Now, she must confront this evil or risk losing her child.
The Film Itself (2/5):
Man, Children of the Corn: Runaway started out really strong providing the origin story of Ruth and her experiences, providing a decent amount of creepy scares that made my wife and I both look at each other with “wtf” expressions on our faces. But, as soon as the movie reached its climax, it just fell apart. As things were starting to get good, it was almost as if the film just basically ended leaving us wondering what in the hell was going on, or what was about to happen as the credits rolled past. I’m feeling pretty generous in giving this film a “2” because of the solid start that it gave, because once things really started to get good, that sudden collapse immediately left me feeling not only confusion, but some extreme displeasure in the fact that I just wasted 82 minutes of my life.
Picture Quality (4/5):
Overall the visual presentation of the Blu-ray release of Children of the Corn: Runaway offers a clean look into the story that they’re trying to present. Giving audiences a crisp, yet raspy view into the overall amount of creepiness that follows Ruth and her child as they’ve since moved on from what once happened. There really wasn’t much done in terms of special effects, and the blood and gore were just “okay” in terms of presentation. While they appeared to be obviously fake as they didn’t do too good of a job at enhancing that particular part of the presentation, it was convincing enough to let you know that some crazy shit was about to happen.
Audio Quality (3/5):
Packaged with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track, Children of the Corn: Runaway does everything that it can within its power to offer an all out immersive experience for its viewers. While the track isn’t as immersive as a 7.1 audio track, I feel that this film would have offered a much better presentation with the use of a 7.1 track. Mostly because of the subtle hints that something was about to happen, while boasting a powerful presence through the front and rear channels, the inclusion of the surround channels would have done a much, much better job. Unfortunately, there really weren’t any portions of the audio track that stood out with this film. The dialogue was clean, and everybody who had speaking parts was able to be heard and understood without having to manually adjust the volume levels as it progressed.
The Packaging (2/5):
The Blu-ray release of Children of the Corn: Runaway comes packaged in your standard single-disc Blu-ray amaray case. Within that case is the standard Blu-ray copy of the film, the disc bearing a piece of artwork that’s related to the film and completely different from that of the case art. There are no DVD copies included with this release, however a digital copy redemption pamphlet is also provided. This release does come with a slipcover during its initial print run that features the same piece of art that’s available on the case art.
Special Features (1/5):
Unfortunately, the Blu-ray release of Children of the Corn: Runaway is extremely minimal in terms of additional features. Being that there’s only one item that’s been included, there really isn’t anything that offers an extended view into the story or any kind of view into the work that went into making this film. Included with this release is:
- Deleted Scene
Technical Specs:
Video
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles
English SDH, Spanish
Runtime
Original Film: 82 minutes
Final Thoughts:
Generally speaking, I was pretty disappointed in Children of the Corn: Runaway. Given that it had been quite a while since I’d seen any of the films from this franchise, I was genuinely curious to explore the latest offering. The story starts out really strong, giving some decent build up to the plot, providing a decent amount of low-level scares that can really mess with you if you’re paying close attention to detail. However, the film just stops abruptly and ends and as the credits are rolling, you find yourself wondering what the hell it was that you just watched. The visual and audible presentation was decent, while providing a clean picture, the audio could have been better had it utilized a 7.1 audio track. The special features are basically nonexistent and really offer no insight into the storyline or any of the work that went into making this film. If you’re on the fence about picking this up for your collection, I would only recommend it if you were a completionist and already had the earlier films from the franchise. Truthfully, I wouldn’t even really recommend it at all. But, if you do decide that you’re going to check it out, wait for it to go on sale for around $5 so you’re not too terribly disappointed in your investment. Children of the Corn: Runaway became available on Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, March 13, 2018.
Note: This Blu-ray was sent to us for review. This has not affected our judgement or editorial process in any way. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this process.