Is Children Of The Corn (2023) Based On A True Story?

No, Children Of The Corn 2023 is not based on a true story but on a short story by Stephen King. It is a slightly improvised version of the original tale published in Penthouse Magazine. 

Throughout the years, various directors and actors have filmed them for eleven different projects.

The recent version of the film, directed by screenwriter Kurt Wimmer initiated the project in 2020 amidst COVID 19 pandemic. The crew followed all the safety measurements provided by WHO and started filming the scores.

Kurt Wimmer, born on March 9, 1964, in Honolulu, Hawaii, is best known for Equilibrium (2002), Point Break (2015) and Total Recall (2012). Over the years, he has worked as a screenwriter, director and producer.

In 2019, when the idea of the film struck his head, Kurt wanted his version to have more metaphorical correlations of relevant and urgent sociopolitical themes without subduing the original story.

Hence, this film's story resembles his other films like Law Abiding Citizen and Equilibrium. 

Not to forget, actresses Kate Moyer and Elena Kampouris have brilliant roles in this film.

Furthermore, fans worldwide think the story of Children Of The Corn is based on a real story. 

Although it isn't true, considering the experiences of mass murders and cult provocations worldwide, people believe Stephen King related the actual incidents and made up his story for a wider reach.

Children Of The Corn 2023 ends with the ghastly Eden, who has wholly changed herself into an evil entity, ‘He-Who-Walks’, and tries to engulf Boleyn 'BO' with barbaric attacks.

Unlike other cinematic adaptations, Kurt Whimmer's version has grown-up children with a contemporary spin on the original tale, which starts with a teenage boy Boyd played by Rory Potter.

Boyd emerges from a cornfield in the rural town of Rylstone, Nebraska and enters an orphanage. Upon reaching the house, she murders all the elders and grown-ups without hesitation.

The story progresses when the police department and local farmers try to subdue the boy using an animal sedative gas, halothane.

As a side effect of the poisonous gas, the orphanage's children, including Boyd, were killed, except for Eden (Kate Moyer).

Young Eden had nowhere to live as the whole orphanage and the elders were murdered quickly. Hence, she was adopted by the local Pastor (Bruce Spence).

The story leaps in time, and meanwhile, other characters are introduced. Boleyn ‘Bo’ (Elena Kampouris) and younger brother Cecil (Jayden McGinlay) meet Eden during several events.

Then, the trio meets other cast members, Wally Thomas, Calder (Joe Klocek) and his younger brother Cal (Orlando Schwerdt).

While walking down the cornfield, they talked about further education, moving out, and selling illegal substances to make some dough.

Meanwhile, they were also talking about taking care of the cornfield as it was getting destroyed by their elders.

The group convenience their elders to meet them at the town hall the same night to discuss the future of the field.

Suddenly, the story takes a U-turn when Bo, Cecil, and Calder arrive with Bo’s parents at the town hall, only to find Edena and Cal staring at Calder and Cal's abusive father's corpse.

One by one, every kid joins Eden and Cal to murder and kidnap the community elders. In no time, the adults were killed and poisoned by the same gas used to subdue Boyd earlier in the story.

While Eden and her followers are trapping elders inside a cage, Bo manages to help other kids and tries to stop Eden, who is supported by an evil entity referred to as ‘He-Who-Walks.’ 

One thing leads to another, and Eden turns herself into the entity and devours Bo explaining nothing is forgotten in the corn.

Children Of The Corn 2023 was shot in different locations in Australia and the United States Of America. Most of the cornfield shots were taken in Australia.

The formal shooting of the film was started in New South Wales, Australia and completed in Atlanta, Georgia. Similarly, the small city of Rylstone, Nebraska, shown in the movie, was shot in Rylstone, Australia.

In 2020, the principal photography and shoot of the film began during the pandemic in Australia when the country was in total shutdown.

Per an interview, Kurt mentioned that their team had quite a long convincing to do as the government did not allow them to travel during such crucial times.

But their hard work paid off, and they flew to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, to shoot some scenes of the film.

The film premiered in Sarasota, Florida, on October 23, 2020, while it was theatrically released on 3rd March 2023. Similarly, it was released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 9, 2023, by Shudder Streaming Service.

The film rated 3.6/10 on IMDB, 22% on Metacritic and 12% on Rotten Tomatoes.