children of the corn iv : the gathering is a 1996 american horror film directed by greg spence and starring naomi watts and brent jennings .

it is the fourth film in the children of the corn series .

the plot follows a medical student returning to her hometown in nebraska , where she finds the children to be falling under a mysterious mass illness connected to the town 's past .

the film expands upon the origins of " he who walks behind the rows " .

the film marked the first time naomi watts received first billing .

children of the corn iv : the gathering

children of the corn iv : the gathering was filmed in austin , texas and los angeles , california . however , the setting of the film is rural nebraska .
children of the corn iv : the gathering premiered at the american film market in march , 1996 . it was first screened in the uk in may , 1999 .
children of the corn iv : the gathering is the fourth film in the children of the corn horror series . it was released in 1996 , and directed by greg spence . the film stars naomi watts and karen black . the first in the series to go straight to video , children of the corn iv is considered to be a standalone film , as the plot is unrelated to the previous films .
what i can tell you is , even the movie doesn’t know what its title is . the box , and the dvd information , say this is “children of the corn iv : the gathering . ” but the movie itself , as the credits roll , insists that it’s just : “children of the corn : the gathering . ”
naomi watts nabbed a starring role in the 1996 installment of one spooky film series . the then - rising star played grace in children of the corn iv : the gathering . she finds herself in contact with the effects of the surprisingly scary crop of corn when she moves home to be with her mother .
miramax acquired rights to the franchise in 1994 and produced several sequels under the dimension films label , many of them went straight to video , beginning with “children of the corn iv : the gathering” in 1996 , all the way through the eighth installment in 2011 .
• children of the corn collection box set - october 7 , 2014 p . . .
the fourth installment of children of the corn series , released in 1996 and the first to direct - to - video .
children of the corn iv is another surprisingly worthy entry into the series . taking the route of kids getting a fever in a small town , there are some good death scenes and . . .
children of the corn : remake ( 2009 , directed and screenplay by donald p . borchers )
no related news posts for children of the corn series : miramax multi - feature blu - ray yet .
children of the corn iv : the gathering
has very little going for it beyond naomi watts , karen black , and a half - solid jump scare or two . the fourth chapter in the
children of the corn
franchise is doomed by uninspired direction , a lackluster narrative , and pervasive dullness . the film is not necessarily poorly made , but it is an incredibly limp exercise .
the children of the corn series have become somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine . i know that most of the films are bad but i can ' t help watching them .
the gathering is not without merit ; if stars the beautiful and talented naomi watts as a med student returning home to care for her mentally unstable mother . it’s also beautifully shot ; an interlude of the sun setting behind the corn is absolutely stunning . but the fact that there isn’t a connection to the original children of the corn means the gathering ranks near the very bottom of the entire franchise : 8 th out of 9 .
nothing can prepare you for the onslaught of spine - tingling thrills unleashed in children of the corn iv : the gathering - a chilling chapter in the wildly popular children of the corn series ! the horror returns when the children of a small midwestern town are haunted by an unspeakable evil that lurks somewhere out behind the corn fields . a bright young medical student must solve the frightening mystery that plagues the children . . . before a sinister stranger can claim their souls for his own ! it ' s a pulse - pounding race against time and terror that will leave even the most die - hard suspense fans on the edge of their seats !
children of the corn : revelations ( 2001 , directed by guy magar , screenplay by s . j . smith )
see also children of the corn film series for a complete list of references to clarify differences between these closely named or closely related articles .
children of the corn ii tells a great story . it kicks off in the immediate aftermath of the original : law enforcement officers stumble upon scenes of gruesome violence as the remaining children are loaded onto buses and shipped one town over . once resettled , the gatlin children indoctrinate their new peers with the goal of establishing another murderous army . they introduce the concept of hallucinatory ergot mold as a possible explanation for the children’s lethal inclinations .
a one - star rating indicates the movie being reviewed is a bad one and that’s certainly the case with children of the corn iv : the gathering , yet another chapter in the saga of he who walks behind the rows . it’s a bad movie on many levels , the most obvious being it has nothing at all to do with the first three movies . well , maybe that’s not entirely true . it has children driven to kill adults by a creepy little guy dressed like an amish preacher . it also has a cornfield . that’s it . there’s not a single mention of he who walks behind the rows . that alone doesn’t make children of the corn iv : the gathering a bad movie . at least not for me . i’m a big fan of halloween iii : season of the witch and it has nothing to do with michael myers . it certainly doesn’t help either .
children of the corn iv : the gathering is poorly made , badly written and lazily directed ( spence , the prophecy ii ) , but it does have a few cool kill scenes which is the real reason any of us watches movies like this . many people are killed with farm tools of varying kinds . one woman is nailed to the wall of the local clinic with syringes before having a scythe embedded in her skull . another person is cut in half . it has a decent body count going for it . but here’s the thing about children of the corn iv : the gathering . it’s too unintentionally funny to dismiss outright as crap . the characters behave like idiots most of the time . the dialogue is mostly awful . i’m just going to go ahead and say it . this movie is d - u - m - b , dumb ! it’s also kind of fun depending on your tolerance for dopey horror sequels . mine is very high . i can’t , in all good consciousness , recommend children of the corn iv : the gathering . i can’t , in truth , say that i hate it either . it is what it is , i suppose . take it or leave it . just know what you’re getting yourself into beforehand .
release date 1996 production date 1995 title variation children of the corn 4 children of the corn four gathering note based on the short story
children of the corn
by stephen king . this film has been modified from its original version . it has been formatted to fit your tv . production credits director of photography , richard clabough ; editor , chris cibelli ; music , david williams . participant naomi watts , brent jennings , samaria graham , jamie renee smith , brandon kleyla , william windom , karen black . audience rated r . format dvd ; dolby digital ; widescreen . related work king , stephen , 1947 - children of the corn . isbn 0788830171 9780788830174 publisher number 23354 dimension home video
produced for $ 800k , children of the corn grossed over $ 14 . 5m worldwide , making it one of the most successful horror movies of 1984 . it’s the story of a young couple whose car breaks down in the abandoned farming community of gatlin , nebraska . years earlier , the children of gatlin massacred all of the adults , establishing a religion that combines aspects of christian rituals with pagan iconography .
children of the corn iii : urban harvest ( 1995 , directed by james d . r . hickox , screenplay by dode b . levenso )
children of the corn ii : the final sacrifice ( 1993 , directed by david price , screenplay by a . l . katz & gilbert adler ) .
producer donald borchers filed a federal copyright suit on thursday , alleging that he and not the weinstein company owns the sequel rights to “ children of the corn . ”
getting back to my original point about the movie’s one - star rating , children of the corn iv : the gathering is bad . but i look at it like a friday the 13 th movie ; even when it’s bad , it’s still pretty good . it may sound like i’m contradicting myself but i’m really not . it’s my way of saying that i kind of enjoy these movies but am willing to acknowledge they don’t represent cinema at its finest . some would even say that the mere association of cinema and the children of the corn movies is blasphemous . i wouldn’t go that far but like i said , none of them will ever pass as quality films .
at best , the gathering can be called a chilling stand - alone ; at worst : a travesty of a film that has nothing to do with the original and thus , no right baring the children of the corn moniker . the story takes place in rural nebraska amongst fields of corn , but there’s no connection whatsoever to gatlin . it’s about the ghost of a child - preacher ( who turns out not to be a child at all ) and a litany of dead children who possess their living counterparts . had this been its own movie , it could have been an effective supernatural chiller , like pumpkinhead , for example . but as a part of the children of the corn franchise , it marks the beginning of a disappointing era of straight to dvd releases .
children of the corn iv : the gathering [ dvd ] : urltoken naomi watts , brent jennings , samaria graham , jaime renee smith , brandon kleyla , william windom , karen black , evan greenwalt , richard gross , jim krieg , richard clabaugh , charles hatcher , dean lent , michael off , greg spence , gary depew , stephen m . berger : dvd & blu - ray
the next morning , mom takes the papers to the end of the walkway . burn - boy is standing in the corn , watching her .
i ' m glad the heroine naomi watts survived in this final scene of the corn beastie from hell film .
i’d heard of various children of the corn sequels over the years but had no idea just how many there were until i recently stumbled upon miramax classics’ collection of the first 6 sequels ( on sale for just $ 5 ) . in all there are 8 children of the corn films ( 8 ! ) , plus a syfy channel made - for - tv remake . obviously i’m not the only one who was impressed by the original film’s wellspring of insidiousness .
while i appreciated the producers’ attempts to bolster mythology , the changes seem to jive with established children of the corn concepts as opposed to enhancing them . for these and other reasons , isaac’s return ranks near the bottom of the list : 7 th out of 9 .
unlike the previous two sequels to this , children of the corn 4 : the gathering is , generally speaking , the first sequel to feature a fairly cohesive narrative and cinematic visual quality to it . the problem then is that the gathering is a film that lacks a lot of personality and when it does start to go a little off the rails with its concept , which works almost like a remake or reboot of the original , that it doesn’t have the strength of dramatic heft or the pizzazz in style to unleash its potential . some of the tone shifts don’t work and the general character development can feel thin or generic without an angle to really ride on for some of the…
though she went uncredited , charlize theron made her first film appearance in 1995’s children of the corn iii : urban harvest . just 20 years old at the time , the actress played an unnamed woman in the horror installment . theron joined the scary flick as a follower of the villainous eli , who takes over his community with the help of a murderous corn field .
marcus’s dad goes running through the corn , and finds the sheriff . he keeps on running .
producer donald borchers filed a federal copyright suit on thursday , alleging that he and not the weinstein company owns the sequel rights to “children of the corn . ” borchers produced the original 1984 film , based on the stephen king short story about a cult of murderous children . he also wrote and directed a 2009 tv adaptation . [ … ]
it may be second only to the original children of the corn in terms of its entertainment value , themes , and execution , but it’s no match against the combined strength of the first three chapters ( which , to me , feel like a cohesive trilogy ) ; it ranks 4 th on the list .
i have mixed feelings about revelations ; like the gathering , any connection to the original children of the corn is tangential at best . but at least in this film , they mention gatlin and a deity referred to as he who walks behind the rows . jamie , played by claudette mink , is looking for her missing grandmother , a woman with ties to a child - cult .
several children in a small town become possessed under the command of a wrongfully murdered child preacher named josiah , who seeks revenge on the town that killed him . the kids assume the identities of dead children from that town ' s history , and attempt to resurrect josiah from the dead .
out at the freaky barn , kids are gathering , and saying , “i bring him my flesh , ” and cutting themselves and bleeding into what looks like a tub full of water .
while it isn’t exceptional in the slightest , fields of terror is ( at least ) a return to the true children of the corn cannon . this entry ventures into slasher territory when a car full of promiscuous young adults crosses paths with the puritanical yet murderous decedents of the original gatlin youth cult . fields of terror is notable as eva mendez’s very first film ; it also features a captivating ( if confusing ) sequence starring david carradine as the “leader” of the children , as well as a great performance from a pre - transition alexis arquette .
summary the horror returns when the children of a small midwestern town are haunted by an evil that lurks somewhere out behind the corn fields . a bright young medical student must solve the frightening mystery before a sinister stranger can claim their souls for his own .
it story involving children suffering from fevers in nebraska , this
. . . corn . . .
features similar murderous mayhem to the three preceding film but lacks any spirited payoff . the children , of course , have homicidal tendencies but lack the bible - quoting wickedness of the earlier films . watts makes a suitably harried protagonist , but she alone can not raise the level of token gore , makeup effects , …
the woman wakes up . wow . dream sequence . at the very start of the movie . perhaps it’s that corn , the stuff that was going bad ? could it be ?
fingore : sandra ' s fingers are first to go when she is murdered by the children .
at home , june looks out the window and sees a kid coming out of the corn . it’s a little girl . she knocks on the door , and shows june a wound on her elbow . the scene continues as an exact replica of the one at the opening of the movie , only the kid is a girl instead of a boy .
june walks to the end of her walkway , saying a hail mary . demon - kid is in the corn . june looks around , but doesn’t seem him .
children of the corn iv : the gathering ( 1996 ) dimension / horror rt : 82 minutes rated r ( strong horror violence and gore , some language ) director : greg spence screenplay : stephen berger and greg spence music : david c . williams cinematography : richard clabaugh release date : october 8 , 1996 ( us , dtv ) cast : naomi watts , karen black , jamie renee smith , mark salling , brent jennings , samaria graham , william windom , lewis flanagan iii , toni marsh , brandon kleyla , salle ellis , marietta marich , jonathan patterson , joshua patterson , kay bower .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
bounces from weird to weirder as children get sick , then suddenly decide to start murdering .
revelations has a style that’s unique within the franchise : nightmarish and surreal . it takes place in a crumbling tenement ( surrounded by a field of corn , of course ) that’s as moody and unnerving as the hotel in barton fink . fans of the silent hill movies will probably quite enjoy this entry . the film may be “by - the - numbers” and filled with stereotypical archetypes ( the grumpy pensioner , the smoked - out stoner , and the hooker - with - a - heart - of - gold , for example ) —but it’s professional at every level . the acting is completely competent and the cinematography is great . so while i quite enjoyed this entry , its nebulous connection to the original children of the corn puts revelations on the bottom half of the list : 6 th out of 9 .
this one is completely unrelated to the first three and plays out as a battle for the children of this mid - west village rather than a battle with them .
borchers produced the original 1984 film , based on the stephen king short story about a cult of murderous children . he also wrote and directed a 2009 tv adaptation .
later that evening , some dude we’ve never seen before walks through a large field of sorghum . no , i’m kidding . it’s corn .
there’s plenty wrong with children of the corn iv : the gathering but the thing that first comes to mind is how bad the lighting is . it’s so dark in many scenes , it’s hard to see what’s going on . even in daylight , the movie has a dreary , gloomy look to it . the acting is terrible . black shamelessly overacts as the delusional mother . her character is such a nut job , it’s a wonder family services didn’t intervene at some point . william windom ( the mephisto waltz ) as the town doctor also overacts . watts does okay with what little she has to work with . the script is a confused mess . it has too many plot elements that don’t tie together all that neatly . when we finally get the backstory of the boy preacher ( from a pair of elderly women who seem to know an awful lot about what’s going on ) , some of the dialogue is difficult to hear .
based on a short story by stephen king , the children of the corn series did its very best to wring as much money as possible out of the basic idea that kids are creepy , telling essentially the same tale with each iteration but , like most horror movies of its day , spicing things up with each sequel by creatively killing off its characters , kids and adults alike .
no one ever sites children of the corn as their favorite film adaptation of a stephen king story , which is understandable considering the writer’s impressive cannon . but the movie always resonated with me . as an adolescent , i enjoyed the idea of being part of a sexually active youth gang that scared the hell out of grown - ups ! and as i reflect on the film as an adult , i see it as a chilling manifestation of parental anxieties . creepy kids are a common horror motif , but matricide and patricide are especially devious demons .
more children , less corn , teeth , possession , naomi watts , karen black and some decent kills . not a bad film . the first of the franchise to avoid crap effects . a little slow in places but decent film overall . weirdly enough the ending had parts and even shots that reminded me of the ring which also featured watts .
i was such a fan of the original children of the corn that , as a kid , i used to lie and tell people i had a bit - part as one of the film’s psychotic tykes . amazingly , no one ever challenged my assertion ( hellion that i was ) , making me a bit of a local celebrity ( at least in jr . high school ) . i didn’t officially drop the charade until i was in college .
urban harvest is also notable as charlize theron very first movie , and she receives an awesome dispatching in the cornfield . this chapter ties with the final sacrifice for second best in the franchise . as a trilogy , the first 3 children of the corn films are remarkably cohesive and , watched marathon style , have a somewhat triumphant conclusion .
the film takes itself completely seriously and succeeds thanks to the casts’ brilliant acting , which always feels authentic . the standouts are john franklin as the child - preacher isaac and courtney gains as the imposing ginger malachai ( isaac’s bloodthirsty lieutenant ) . in retrospect , the 1980’s era sfx produce a bit of unintended humor , but a great scripts , and ( most importantly ) genuine , believable characters made this film an extremely chilling home - run ! obviously , the original children of the corn is the best of the entire series .
surprisingly not too bad . it ' s the goriest of the series with nice gruesome kills and the plot is marginally different with not a grain of corn in sight . interestingly it stars naomi watts in the lead already showing signs that she was destined for better things .
i decided to watch and rank all 9 children of the corn movies . of course i had realistic expectations , knowing that most of the sequels went straight to dvd . but a film couldn’t possibly have this many chapters without a loyal fan base , right ? and said fan base wouldn’t continue to gobble up sequel after sequel if they weren’t at least decent , right ? right ?
this straight - to - video abomination from production company dimension exemplifies the best and worst of bad horror in the ’90s . featuring the amazing naomi watts as the only good part of this film in the lead role of grace rhodes ,
the most recent chapter of the children of the corn franchise , 2011’s genesis , is hands - down the worst of the bunch—and that’s really saying something . it honestly feels like the producers dumped a bunch of equipment and actors on a remote set and told them : “just make it up as you go . ” it’s not just unforgivably lazy , it’s painfully boring . the plot makes no sense and , most unforgivably , there’s only a cursory connection to gatlin . the film is set in california for pity’s sake ! horrible pacing makes this 75 minute flick feel like an eternity of suffering . obviously , genesis ranks dead last , bottom of the list : 9 th out of 9 . miss it at all costs .
while most of the children of the corn remake feels identical to the original , it’s actually a truer interpretation of stephen king’s short story . unfortunately , this makes the adult protagonists completely unbearable . in 1984 , burt and vicki were a likable couple with a great relationship ; they were the kind of people you could bond with root for . as for the dysfunctional burt and vicki in the 2009 version : they couldn’t meet with the business end of a scythe fast enough ! but the film is very well done overall and it’s great to see old isaac and malachai back in action ( even if they’re portrayed by different actors ) .
in the well , the dead dude starts to climb the wall , but then fades out of existence .
in 2016 , borchers wrote a spec script for a film “spinoff” of “children of the corn , ” and tried to license those rights from dimension , now a subsidiary of the weinstein company . dimension did not confirm whether it held those rights , and borchers alleges he later determined that park avenue had in fact reserved them . borchers says he has recently acquired the spinoff rights once held by park avenue , and informed dimension of this . dimension contests borchers’ claim , according to the suit .
with my expectations significantly lowered after viewing the final sacrifice , i actually found children of the corn iii : urban harvest quite enjoyable . it has a quintessentially 1990’s vibe that reminded me of the people under the stairs . daniel cerny plays eli—the best isaac since the original child - profit . set in a catholic high school , urban harvest ventures into religious horror in a way that’s reminiscent of the amityville horror and the omen . the film culminates with the only physical manifestation we ever get of he who walks behind the rows , and , while the practical fx are laughable , the creature gore is extremely satisfying . the ending hints at a global conspiracy with much bloodshed yet to come .
inside the barn , grace pulls margaret out of the tub of water , and gives her cpr . margaret wakes up . she’s okay !
and slaps some mutant powers on it , uniting two strange children for a slapstick adventure in 3 - d .
murderous children go on the rampage once more in the fourth film to be inspired by stephen king ' s original short story . a young medical student stumbles upon a malevolent force that is threatening to take the souls of a midwestern town ' s children . it is up to the junior doctor to save the town ' s kids before they are turned into merciless killing machines .
the kid stands up , the thermometer falls out of his mouth , and it shatters on the floor . she’s gonna need to call a hazmat team , get rid of the mercury .
movie 1 : there are still kids alive in gatlin , and a couple who aren’t married take the two normal children off with them .
stopped numbering sequels : the opening credits omit the numbering , though some of the covers on video releases retain it .
the tasked proved arduous at times , but i absorbed all of the films , marathon style , over the course of 2 days . i now consider myself an expert on the fictional town of gatlin , nebraska , and the powerful unseen deity known as “he who walks behind the rows” .
what we have here are called “dangling plot threads . ” if anyone actually cared about any kind of continuity , this movie would trying to tie all these different stories together . but since the only elements anyone seems to think are important are children and corn , well , no one is going to make an attempt .
having john franklin returning as isaac was initially intriguing , but it didn’t feel right . it was similar to when robin williams returned to never never land as a grown - up in hook : adults don’t belong in never never land and they don’t belong in sinister youth cults either . even if he had been lying in a coma since the end of the original children of the corn , the isaac i know , the original child preacher , would have killed himself the moment he realized he had passed the “age of favor” . it’s what he who walks behind the rows would have wanted , am i right ? it’s interesting yet inconsistent seeing multiple generation of the cult existing in harmony , considering “youth vs maturity” is the core conflict of the entire franchise .
a deleted scene features jane and rosa nock telling grace and donald how the children called josiah by a different name :
he who walks behind the rows
.
back at marcus’s house , the sheriff grills marcus’s dad , donald , about what happened . marcus , meanwhile , climbs a nearby fence and walks off into the corn . the sheriff gives chase .
horror sequel starring naomi watts and jamie reneé smith . the children in a small nebraska town become possessed by evil overnight . with karen black .
naomi watts is the heroine and the whole thing is actually not too shabby at all - some nice little plays on the whole cult element of the franchise , showing how the kids are ' turned ' to join the cult of he who walks behind the rows .
tears of blood : a picture produces a single tear of blood as nock sisters relay josiah ' s backstory .
) is taking a break from studying to visit her mother in the small town of grand island , nebraska . at the same time , the children are suffering from a strange fever , which is caused by a preacher boy who was killed years ago .
in the barn , the drunk starts climbing under the farming equipment . watch out for falling things made of blades , my friend .
grace looks around the waiting room . there are a ton of sick kids there .
dolled - up installment : averted . while the kids are led by a preaching child figure , the corn of the title is not at focus at all , which made some viewers think that the film wasn ' t meant to be a cotc installment at all . the sole scene mentioning the series bigger bad he who walks behind the rows being cut doesn ' t help matters .
the confrontation continues . turns out , the boys are using the names of a real set of twins that lived in the area years ago . they were killed by their dad . doc says he’s going to recommend a vigorous spanking for the kids .
grace tells margaret to stay with mary anne . which is the name of her friend .
the remaker : the fly ( 1958 ) vs . the fly ( 1986 )
grace and donald go to visit the nock sisters . they give grace a picture of traveling preachers . it’s an old picture . the boy in the picture , who was born “of sin” to a young girl .
there’s a lot of shock cuts and chanting , “we bring him our flesh . ” a hand reaches out of the water and blood and pulls margaret under .
the plot can only be described as horsesh * t . it makes no literal sense — like the scene where a supposed family of cannibals goes out for , of all things , pizza — and most of the dialogue is screaming . it all plays out between bits of classic mcconaughey , who mostly just whoops like a madman and chases zellweger through the woods before he’s suddenly knocked on the head and killed by an airplane that appears literally out of nowhere with zero foreshadowing .
at first , i was excited because karen black is the first person in the series that had a career going in and you got a young naomi watts in the lead fighting murdering children . . . but this movie sucks dick .
the end ? yes , the end . well , not really . three more of these things to go . let us hope one of them remembers he who walks behind the rows . which this flick did not .
game of thrones : the complete seven . . . $ 39 . 23 , save 48 %
luckily , here in austin we celebrate the bad , especially when it’s a movie like the ones that made this list . around these parts , we savor terrible movies like a fine salsa — they burn in the back of your throat , but it’s just part of the fun . a few ( read : just three ) of these movies are even self - aware , stoking the embers of awfulness just for yucks .
in turn , the town dragged the boy out into the cornfield and burned him . it seems he screamed way longer than he should have . the next morning , the nock sisters collected all the bones and ashes of the kid and sealed them up in a well .
margaret kind of flies up in the air and calls to grace . she falls back on the bed and goes to sleep .
all products featured were editorially selected . urltoken may receive a percentage of sales for items purchased from these links . © 2018 meredith corporation all rights reserved . use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms of use and privacy policy ( your california privacy rights ) . | eu data subject requests
rather a stunning return to form really . having noticed an uptick in quality with the last one , we ' re back to the horrors of the first and second . one gets the impression that it is the basics of these films that really let them down : if the story was bit better , there might end up being a better film . it ' s probably why the last one worked out so much better : it kept with the principles and essence of the series , but expanded it into a new scenario . not for this film : we ' re back in nebraska , back in the cornfields , back into a small town which can apparently fall off the radar and under the sway of a teenager - led insurrectionist force of…
inside the barn , grace finds one of margaret’s ribbons . and doc . who is still very dead .
back with the nock sisters , one of them tells the other that “it’s time . ” she continues : “your boy’s come home . ”
tatiana maslany was 18 when ginger snaps 2 : unleashed hit theaters in 2004 . the future orphan black star played a young girl named ghost in the horror sequel . she spends much of the film deceiving the werewolf - in - transition brigitte as a part of an elaborate plot .
© copyright 2018 variety media , llc , a subsidiary of penske business media , llc . variety and the flying v logos are trademarks of variety media , llc . powered by urltoken vip
disc # 1 - - children of the corn 4 : the gathering 1 . help [ 6 : 14 ] 2 . psycho central [ 6 : 59 ] 3 . mom ' s sick [ 4 : 42 ] 4 . fever epidemic [ 4 : 08 ] 5 . rising temperatures [ 5 : 08 ] 6 . marcus [ 7 : 54 ] 7 . a place to hide [ 4 : 48 ] 8 . he ' s back [ 3 : 45 ] 9 . i ' m not margaret [ 7 : 29 ] 10 . where ' s doc rob ? [ 4 : 56 ] 11 . traveling preachers [ 5 : 59 ] 12 . the like child [ 3 : 52 ] 13 . spelling farm [ 3 : 35 ] 14 . mercury [ 5 : 28 ] 15 . final resting place [ 9 : 51 ]
two - faced : half of josiah ' s face bears burn - scars .
donald and grace get to the barn . they have two red shells , with mercury in them , and a bunch o’ black shells , which donald says he “hopes” they don’t have to use to shoot children .
she goes back to the kid and sticks a thermometer in his mouth because he felt hot to her . he starts to tend to the wound , not noticing the sweat dripping off the kid’s brow , or the blood coming out of his mouth .
well , that’s what happens until she gets downstairs , and sees that the girl is now the boy from the start of the movie . she runs out the door , to the end of her walkway , and then stops . the kid breaks a window in her door with a scythe , and she decides that to run is a good plan . she gets into her car and drives away .
the drunk guy takes a drink of water , but it turns into bugs . so he starts to walk away .
that night , hemophilia - kid ( his name is marcus ) is told to go to bed . he turns off the tv , and sees the reflection of the demon - kid .
five years before he joined modern family , ty burrell earned his third feature film credit for 2004’s dawn of the dead . the future sitcom star played steve , an initial survivor of the zombie apocalypse . burrell doesn’t make it through the horror unscathed , however , as he too eventually turns into a zombie .
movie 2 : the couple ( though not the kids ) are mentioned but never seen , and the remaining kids kill everyone in the next town over . a reporter , his kid , and their respective girlfriends all drive away . most of the kids live .
game of thrones : seasons 1 - 7 $ 94 . 95 , save 59 %
pack your beach blanket for a bittersweet tale of love and summer ' s magic .
movie 3 : at least , one of the kids lives , because he has been around for every major slaughter in gatlin , because i guess there have been a bunch . his adopted brother lives , as does his girlfriend , but his foster parents are dead , and so are her parents . the evil corn , however , is about to go worldwide .
borchers has also been seeking to reboot the franchise since about 2004 . in the lawsuit , borchers says he initially approached miramax with the idea of remaking the original film . at the time , he says he was told that miramax had lost interest in the franchise because it no longer performed theatrically and the video business was slowing down . according to borchers , miramax liked the idea of a remake , but quickly discovered that it had failed to secure the remake rights to the original film . so , without telling borchers , the company acquired those rights from park avenue entertainment , the lawsuit states .
, austin is a veritable hollywood south . with such great films in the city’s quiver , it’s easy to forget that thousands of motion pictures have been filmed out here on the texas prairie… and with the good comes the bad .
the weekend is finally here ! it’s time to gather the family and have some fun . we’ve got all of austin’s most exciting free events , right here !
bar on 6th street will occasionally screen the film on a late saturday night for its army of drunk patrons , blasting punk music over the audio track and flipping on the subtitles . it never fails to get the whole bar laughing .
there’s some intense verbal sparring that comes out like so : marcus was “infected” with something , and the blood tests grace gave her sister don’t make any sense . all the kids have some kind of disease , and marcus’s dad is of the opinion that what happened to marcus is going to happen to all the other kids , too .
back at the hospital , mary anne drops a blood sample , and the blood comes out of the test tube and… i can’t really tell . it looks like the blood is vanishing , but it’s unclear what , exactly , is going on .
tm & © 2018 turner classic movies , inc . a time warner company . all rights reserved . code of conduct for this site | press room | privacy policy | | terms of use
a brunette , 27 - year - old lisa kudrow picked up an early project with 1991’s the unborn . years before she would arrive on network television as phoebe buffay , the star played louisa in the haunting horror about a terrifying medical experiment . she joined the unborn in a small role at the clinic visited by virgina ( brooke adams ) and brad ( jeff hayenga ) in their ongoing quest to have children .
the great grand daddy of horror movies gone wrong that somehow birthed two b - list stars in the process , this flick is one for the record books . coming in as imdb’s absolute worst movie filmed in austin ,
after bowing in 1981’s choices , demi moore nabbed her second film role as patricia in 1982’s parasite . the then - 20 - year - old actress appeared in the futuristic horror movie as a lemon farmer who comes to the aide of paul ( robert glaudini ) . she aligns herself with the scientist as they fight a technologically advanced new form of parasite .
grace rhodes , who is studying to be a doctor , returns to her hometown as a strange illness is afflicting the local children . the symptoms include a high fever and spasms , but even weirder is what happens the next day : all those with the illness claim they are somebody else - - then they begin murdering the grown - ups . after her sister undergoes the same sinister metamorphosis , grace comes to believe there is some connection to an evil cult figure who may be returning from the grave .
an evil spirit has been freed and proceeds to infect all the children in town . it starts off as a fever that spikes through the roof and comes down just as quickly . shortly thereafter , the kids start behaving strangely . they stop answering to their own names , claiming to be someone else . they also start murdering people . it all has to do with this apparition of a boy preacher who was killed many years before by the townspeople . now he wants his revenge .
a serial killer is on the loose in a small town that looks strangely like austin , and of course , this is no ordinary serial killer . he’s obsessed with the number 13 for some reason , and only kills when it’s raining . so with a bad stormfront approaching , the residents of emeryville batten down the hatches and prepare for blood to be shed .
you will get a notification at the top of the site as soon as the current price equals or falls below your price . you can also optionally receive an email notification ( sent only once ) , this is specified in your
he reaches the bottle , and rolls over . there’s a kid there , with some light burns on his face . the kid slams a scythe through some portion of the dude’s anatomy , but it’s tough to tell which part .
grace rhodes ( naomi watts ) , who is studying to be a doctor , returns to her hometown as a strange illness is afflicting the local children . the symptoms include a high fever and spasms , but even weirder is what happens the next day : all those with the illness claim they are somebody else - - then they begin murdering the grown - ups . after her sister undergoes the same sinister metamorphosis , grace comes to believe there is some connection to an evil cult figure who may be returning from the grave .
the phone rings . there’s a parent with a sick kid on the other end .
so you want to see the huge austin fireworks display on the 4th of july , but don ' t care to wade through 100 , 000 people ? then this list is for you .
in the barn , the freaky kid - demon - thing collects some blood from the now - very - hacked - up drunk dude . he draws a cross on his hand using the blood . the cross starts on fire . the demon blows it out .
the kid tells the man that “he” will send angels to those who drink strong drink . then the kid waves his hands around a bit , and a pitchfork , a shovel , and machete , all of which are tied up over the dude’s head on a rafter , fall and impale the drunk in various body parts .
a vigilante is killing bad guys in austin and detective ben simms , played by flanery , is on his tale . problem is , he’s just lost his wife , making his daughter the center of his attention . so when the killer starts executing bad guys to save children , everyone starts to suspect that flanery is somehow involved . then , for some reason , it’s all up to his rookie partner to bring down a serial killer that has the whole city trembling in fear .
later that evening , we get a shot of a bottle of pills , and learn that mom is actually named june , and also yes , they really do live in nebraska , so at least they got the state right , if not the city . that has to count for something , right ?
if you couldn’t tell right off from this movie’s title , the filmmakers here are quite self - aware , but still amateur at best . knowing his limitations , director larry mclaughlin planted tongue firmly in cheek , uniting with writer dirk skycaper for the bizarrely amusing tale of dancer / slacker “katfish , ” who dreams of breakin’ so bad that he dedicates his life to becoming the best in the world . and by breakin’ , we of course mean breakdancing . ( what , you thought this was amc ? )
while the story is fantastic , the screenplay itself is lazy and flat . attempts at straight - forward humor undermine the film’s otherwise pervasively dreadful mood . not a single actor was good enough for an individual shout - out , save perhaps ryan bollman who plays micha ( this film’s isaac ) . the wise native american was a common ( overused ) motif in 1990’s cinema , and the inclusion of this tired stereotype in part ii is embarrassing . despite its numerous shortcomings , the final sacrifice ties for second best of the entire franchise .
this is the first film in the series to be released direct - to - video .
then he takes a scythe and chops into the guy , as the movie cuts away .
grace and donald throw a bunch of stuff in a vehicle and make tracks . donald breaks open thermometers and dumps the mercury inside them into some shotgun shells .
tom hanks earned the first film credit of his prolific career for 1980’s he knows you’re alone . while he would go on to fill his resume with romantic comedies and celebrated dramas , the then - 24 - year - old star appeared as elliot in the slasher film . hanks plays a psychology student who gets brought into a group of friends who can’t escape a killer .
a blog that covers the iis , iiis , ivs and beyond in the horror movie genre .
a young drew barrymore earned one of her first film credits for the 1984 thriller firestarter . two years after she played gertie in e . t . the extra - terrestrial , the 9 - year - old barrymore hit the big screen as firestarter ‘s charlene “charlie” mcgee . she played the child to david keith and heather locklear’s characters , and gave the film its name with charlie’s ability to start fires .


avalanche is a 1978 american disaster film directed by corey allen and starring rock hudson , robert forster , mia farrow and jeanette nolan .

many avalanche scenes in the film were actually stock footage ; parts of this film 's avalanche scenes were in turn utilized as stock footage in the film meteor .

the film is listed in golden raspberry award founder john wilson 's book the official razzie movie guide as one of the 100 most enjoyably bad movies ever made .

the film was featured in the first season of the mystery science theater 3000 revival , released through netflix on april 14 , 2017 .

avalanche ( 1978 film )

mia farrow wearing ski cap in a scene from the film ' avalanche ' , 1978 .
avalanche is a 1978 disaster movie directed by corey allen , starring rock hudson and mia farrow .
avalanche ( 1978 ) – mike ' s take on the movies ……… . rediscovering cinema ' s past
template : infobox film avalanche is a 1978 american disaster film , directed by corey allen and starring rock hudson , robert forster , mia farrow and jeanette nolan . the taglines for the film included
a winter wonderland becomes a nightmare of destruction
and
six million tons of icy terror .
many avalanche scenes in the film were actually stock footage ; parts of this film ' s avalanche scenes were in turn utilized as stock footage in the film meteor . [ 1 ]
urltoken for more weird videos plus strange film nights in london . uk vhs trailer for the 1978 disaster movie avalanche , directed by corey allen , starring rock hudson , mia farrow and robert forster . plus check us out on : urltoken urltoken urltoken urltoken urltoken
hair trigger avalanche : set up all movie that it won ' t take much to set off an avalanche . in this case it ' s a plane crash .
. . where the worlds of film noir and pre - code collide . .
a video titled
the real buddy holly story ,
produced by paul mccartney as a response to inaccuracies in the 1978 hollywood - distributed film
the buddy holly story ,
will be shown free on a continuous loop throughout the day at the center .
the film was filmed at a ski resort in durango , colorado . [ 2 ]
near - death experiences in the avalanche , but dies due to the aforementioned idiot ambulance driver .
cult , b - movies , cheesy fun films to film noir to classics new to me .
here comes the cringe : aside from rock’s bad rug ( see above ) …most of the film is totally cringe - worthy . however , the real avalanche stock footage is mildly entertaining to watch .
there are no featured audience reviews yet . click the link below to see what others say about avalanche !
fun fact : the original film was too short , so they needed to add additional scenes . the crew hired extra staff , including a new director , to shoot enough footage for a full feature film .
carnosaur is a 1993 american science fiction horror film written and directed by adam simon . the film stars diane ladd , raphael sbarge , jennifer runyon , and harrison page . the film ' s plot revolves around a mad scientist who plans to recreate dinosaurs and destroy humanity . the film is loosely based on the 1984 novel carnosaur by john brosnan ( under the pseudonym of harry adam knight ) . the book and film have little in common , with the exception of the villain ' s same basic motive , and the explicit gore and violence . [ 3 ] it was the only film based on a brosnan novel to be produced in america . [ 4 ]
classic film collector who never tires of discovering new titles and re - discovering old ones . view all posts by mikestakeonthemovies
as with any period in cinema history - if there’s a trend or genre that can be pillaged for an easy buck then b - movie and exploitation producers were sure to put their hats in the ring . and since this was the 70s - “king of the b’s” roger corman did just that with avalanche ( 1978 ) - which would be his sole contribution to the disaster genre .
borrowed some of the avalanche footage from this movie because apparently bad optical effects and styrofoam snow is at a premium in hollywood .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
: a surprising amount of the casualties of the avalanche are actually caused by the incompetence of the rescue workers . florence in particular survives
fun fact : even though it was filmed on location in durango , colorado , the film crew used styrofoam to augment the ‘snow effects’ of the avalanche . however , they never thought of cleaning it up . by spring , the town was still discovering styrofoam everywhere .
death by ambulance : the rescue workers cause more on - screen deaths than the avalanche does , including several caused by poor ambulance driving .
a gas leak in the lodge shortly after the avalanche hits causes an explosion in the lodge kitchen and sends many people and objects flying .
wildlife expert paid who warns that conditions are perfect for an avalanche . his warnings go promptly ignored . he also leaves awesome notes like this :
for more on that blu ray release , there’s a great interview with robert forster available as an extra where he casually discusses the film and where it fits in amongst his many appearances . “it was a disaster movie on a budget . ” he relates the story and chance encounter of working with second unit director lewis teague and his subsequent film work with the youngster in alligator . a film forster ranks very high on his resume of titles .
the vacationers at a winter wonderland struggle to survive after an avalanche of snow crashes into their ski resort . their holiday then turns into a game of survival .
fun fact : north korea banned this film . no , the film wasn’t that bad . the year 2012 marked kim il - sung’s 100 th birthday . another one of those weird twists of disaster movie fate , 2012 made tons at the box office but only gets a lowly 39 % on rotten tomatoes .
a crazed vietnam vet bomber hijacks a boeing 707 in this disaster film filled with the usual early ' 70s stereotypes , and demands to be taken to russia .
the film spawned two official sequels , carnosaur 2 in 1995 and carnosaur 3 : primal species in 1996 . the second film fared poorly at the box office and the remainders were released direct - to - video . stock footage from the first three films was used in the spin - offs raptor and the eden formula .
the sunrise at the launch complex at the beginning of the film is actually a sunset played backwards because the nasa facility at cape kennedy is on the east coast .
kent trebilcox , executive chef at the mansion during the lamm years , also remembers rock hudson ' s visit , only from a different vantage point . the late actor had been in denver for the premiere of his 1978 film avalanche , and he arrived at the governor ' s reception thoroughly wasted .
it took a couple of guys to lift him into the house , with due grace ,
trebilcox writes .
but after a very brief appearance with a huge cake and popping camera flashes , he was brought back to the kitchen , where i was working . he was softly placed in a chair positioned between the refrigerator and the wall . and there he remained wedged safely , with a steady supply of drinks .
developing doomed characters : roughly 75 % of the movie is spent introducing all these characters who will soon fall victim to the avalanche or in the ensuing mayhem that comes after it .
the most unlucky example is the poor fellow in town , nowhere near the avalanche , that gets run over by an out of control ambulance that careens off the street and hits him .
adding to the drama is wild life photographer nick thorne ( robert forster ) whose job in this film is to warn david about the dangers of an impending avalanche but more importantly to sleep with caroline so we can have a romantic triangle . we certainly aren’t going to fill the ninety minute running time without some serious padding and that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg we also have…
you know how they say ,
if you ' ve seen one , you ' ve seen them all
? if you ' ve seen a disaster movie , you ' ve seen avalanche .
here’s a prime example of the kind of film that it takes a disaster movie fan to appreciate . the roger corman production avalanche , starring a rock hudson well past his prime and a mia farrow of the pre - woody era , is certainly not a good movie . however , once things get going it is actually pretty fun to watch , if only for all the wrong reasons .
original content available for non - commercial use under a creative commons license , except where noted . lubbock avalanche - journal ~ 710 avenue j , lubbock , tx 79401 ~ privacy policy ~ terms of service
the film has been released on dvd by new concorde home entertainment three times . the first release was a single disc release in april 2000 . [ 11 ] the company subsequently re - released the film in the carnosaur collection in 2001 [ 12 ] and on a double feature dvd alongside sequel carnosaur 2 in 2003 . [ 13 ] the last two versions are both currently out of print .
when an
i ' m - just - makin ' - money
developer plops his new ski lodge at the foot of a mountain , the locals warn him about snowslides . so it ' s not too long before a gigantic avalanche buries the lodge and all the snow bunnies in it . rock hudson plays the ski lodge owner and mia farrow is his couch - hopping wife in this disaster film .
produced by irwin allen following the success of his disaster film poseidon adventure from two years before - both were extravagant and impressive productions that would give allen the moniker “master of disaster” with his expert handling of vast and awe inspiring sets , star studded casts and ground breaking special effects . in fact - between tower and poseidon - one can say that allen perfected the “disaster film formula” that came to define the genre and would show its dna in everything from independence day to san andreas - thus making it one of the most stringently structured and adhered to of all the hollywood genres outside of the slasher film .
mst3k : the return # 4 rating is based on the film . 5 stars for mst3k . i feel bad . i know this is technically supposed to be a review for avalanche , but i don ' t have anything to say about it . i don ' t care for natural disaster movies , and this one didn ' t change my mind . it ' s just bad . there are no other words .
i was surprised to see that avalanche was produced by roger corman of all people . i would think that even the skimpy budget that this film had by irwin allen standards was not something roger corman was used to dealing with . corman didn ' t spend it on big name guest stars for sure . his stars are rock hudson and mia farrow . hudson is the donald trump like owner of a big state of the art ski lodge which is hosting that weekend some winter sporting events . he ' s been told like william holden in the towering inferno that the lodge is in a bad place and the snow looks like it ' s about to come a tumbling down . tumble down it did during a storm when a plane crashes into the top of a mountain . the avalanche starts and it buries the whole cast in that white stuff . this is a disaster film made on the cheap , some winter sports footage mixed with real avalanche footage and some cheesy special effects by seventies standards to bind it together . the plot such as it is , is almost non - existent , the characters are never developed in the slightest , so you don ' t really care about them . i guess the lesson to be learned from avalanche is for roger corman not to try to be irwin allen .
this is super predictable and in spite of the all - star cast the writing makes sure that the actors don ' t get up to doing anything too good . rock hudson gives a really overblown performance and everyone else is flat , or really weird , creepy and generally just a big problem ( the bruce character ) . but it ' s still pretty fun as a disaster film . the big avalanche delivers the crushing ice thrills that i hoped for . the movie is boring at times , but doesn ' t take too long to get to the point - things do tick along . . . sort of . the avalanche certainly is a welcome interruption to the dodgy version of the winter olympics that viewers are treated to and the rather futile snowmobile race may have inspired a certain pod - racing segment in one late 90s / early 2000s star wars film .
review aggregator website rotten tomatoes reports that 11 % of reviewers gave it a positive review . [ 10 ] gene siskel gave the film a marginal
thumbs up
, and roger ebert gave it
thumbs down
on siskel & ebert . ebert named it the worst movie of 1993 . [ 6 ] siskel ' s endorsement of the film was mocked when the duo made a guest appearance on the animated television series the critic .
roger corman ' s attempt to cash - in on the disaster film craze that emerged during the 70s , and the result is pretty much what you ' d expect . a bunch of people enjoy hospitality at a popular ski - resort , where the planner / manager ( rock hudson , whose seen better days ) is warned about a potential avalanche , and has to get himself and the fearing residents out of a snowy situation when the inevitable happens .
after an early teaser featuring one of the downhill stars being chased by a minor snow slide and escaping by ski - jumping into a tall tree ( ! ) , the big one hits at about 55 minutes , and is caused by a private plane crashing into the mountainside . below , the grand opening of the resort is underway and the pistes are full of people when the snow comes roaring down the mountain . this sequence features mass panic , stupid reaction shots and stunning avalanche effects accomplished through a combination of scratchy old stock footage and massive amounts of not very real - looking styrofoam snow . there are some optical effects as well that can hardly have been very state of the art even back in 1978 .
the most surprising thing about this film is that even before frame one had been shot one of the big television networks offered corman $ 2 million dollars for the broadcast rights and as the budget was only $ 1 . 7 million he was already in profit mode before production had even started . now the network wasn’t going to pay that kind of money for the film to star one of the roger corman players so in this instance we have a
the film was a box office bomb upon release ; and has since gained new life as the subject of the fourth episode of the reboot of mystery science theater 3000 . tropes pertaining to that episode can be found here .
although john brosnan described the dinosaurs as
laughable
compared to the ones in jurassic park , and agreed that the film was
crap
, he nonetheless wrote that it was
interesting crap
, and credited it with raising greater awareness of the novel . he screened the film at a re - launch party for his novel , and stated that
i will no doubt take the lead in shouting abuse at the screen .
[ 7 ]
yes , avalanche is a sloppy , low - budget irwin allen rip - off where even the sound editing is pretty crap . but if you enjoy a bit of garbage now and then , there’s fun to be had watching this one .
some of the characters ( such as the figure skater ) are shown getting swept away during the avalanche and are simply never seen again afterward . it can be assumed that they either died or were rescued at some point off - screen .
: the incompetent ambulance / police / fire truck drivers . the scene as they pull out of town in response to the avalanche has to be seen to be believed . this winds up getting florence killed when one of these drivers takes a curve
during filming , the special effects crew used styrofoam to augment the
snow effects
of the avalanche . once the spring thaw hit , stryrofoam was discovered all over the durango . by then , the company was long gone . see more »
due to the financial success of carnosaur , a sequel , carnosaur 2 , was produced in 1995 . the latter was a financial failure . as a result , the third movie in the franchise , carnosaur 3 , was released straight - to - video in 1996 . two spin - offs of the film appear in the form of 2001 ' s raptor and 2006 ' s the eden formula . every movie in the series following carnosaur features stock footage from the first film .
i do give the film bonus points for it ending with caroline telling david that she loves him but still getting in a cab and leaving him in the dust . so at least director corey allen leaves us on a nice note , and i thank him for that , but sadly the dramatic ramblings of the script really hamper much of the film . this isn’t the worst of the genre but its low budget and pointless subplots hamper it from being a disaster movie worth recommending .
using a combination of stock footage , cheap models , some extremely silly looking overlays , and , the primary force of any avalanche , large silly looking styrofoam boulders , the titular avalanche is about as frightening as your average snowball fight . the visceral thrill is nonexistent , and while i do feel that i ' ve grown past the point where i can enjoy watching hundreds of people getting killed for the sake of a cliched plot , i doubt anyone watching this will be satiated by the sublimely dumb effects .
but the root of the genre can be traced back to the very beginnings of cinema itself - with numerous silent films being made about the “great flood” / noah’s arc and the sinking of the titanic ( yes , way before cameron got around to it ) . but from my research it would seem that the film deluge from 1933 was the first “big budget / high concept blockbuster disaster film” that used a completely “made up premise” as an excuse for wanton mayhem and destruction for the sake of mass entertainment .
infant immortality : zigzagged ; little jason escapes the disaster unscathed , but we do see other kids getting caught in the avalanche as it ' s happening , including one girl who is thrown against a fence by the snow and likely broke her back from the impact .
the film was released to theaters on may 21 , 1993 by concorde films , just four weeks before the larger - scale blockbuster jurassic park . as a result , carnosaur may be considered a
mockbuster
. [ 5 ] diane ladd ' s daughter laura dern was one of the stars of jurassic park . carnosaur grossed $ 1 . 8 million at the box office on a budget of $ 850 , 000 . [ 1 ] film critic roger ebert named it the worst movie of 1993 . [ 6 ]
police are useless : not just the police , but pretty much all of the emergency services in the film are pretty incompetent , to the point where they are directly responsible for a sizable percentage of the on - screen deaths ( including two named characters ) .
new world pictures manages to land two major stars in this low budget disaster movie but are unable to land much else . though some of the practical effects and stunts during the avalanche were decent there wasn ' t nearly enough of them to justify the ninety minute running time .
after the avalanche is over one would expect ( as other films in the genre do ) there would be another hour’s worth of “fighting for survival” and the continuation of the melodramatic sub plots set up in the first half . instead corman seems to approach the film like his standard drive - in monster movies - following the mantra that “once the monster is dead - the movie is over” . and as he probably rightfully assumed - with this movie the audience came to see the avalanche wipe out a bunch of fools and everything else is basically a waste of time . so the movie has maybe ten minutes worth of “survival’ and then a weird wrap up where farrow both doesn’t get with forster and leaves hudson to dwell in the guilt of the tragedy that he basically caused . the ending is the equivalent of a cinematic shrug .
• david being investigated for illegal campaign contributions that got him the land for his resort . • world class skier bruce scott ( rick moses ) cheating on his emotional damaged girlfriend . • sports announcer mark elliot ( barry primus ) and his cheating spouse ( cathey paine ) . • bruce scott narrowly escaping a small avalanche to heighten the oncoming threat . • david’s mother is here and spends most the time with david’s bookkeeper getting a tour . • nick thorne stealing explosives to trigger a small avalanche…this achieves nothing . • david sleeping with his secretary so we can get in some nudity .
finally at about the hour mark we get the titular avalanche and for the most part it is pretty exciting ; snowmobile racers are sent flying , skiers swept away under tons of snow , people trapped high in the air on damaged chairlifts , and the almost total destruction of the ski lodge .
plot inconsistencies like these make the movie an odd and frustrating viewing experience at times . but like i said - there are some effective moments - especially in the film’s final act . and it’s hard to ignore the fantastic cast - which makes juggernaut a genre obscurity that’s worth checking out .
john brosnan was first approached to write the screenplay in mid - 1991 by roger corman ' s wife julie , who formalised the deal at brosnan ' s drinking club , and drew up the contract on a bar napkin . as the film was meant to compete with jurassic park , brosnan later wrote that he was taken aback when it was revealed that the film ' s budget would have only been $ 1 million . although concerned that the restrictive budget would require a reduction in the amount of dinosaurs used , corman assured him that he was free to write whatever he wanted , and that any modifications would be made in the final draft . once brosnan sent his first draft to hollywood , he lost all contact with the film crew . [ 7 ] his screenplay had in fact been heavily revised to the point where his credit had been reduced to
original story
. [ 4 ]
perhaps the finest scene is saved for the finish , where the ambulance carrying david’s mother and caroline skids off a bridge and crashes down into a ravine where it lands in water . then it explodes ! mostly , i suppose , because the cheap avalanche effects meant corman still had some money to spend on explosives .
beyond the poseidon adventure ( ’79 ) came out after jaws / superman / star wars and its critical and commercial failure became something of a swan song for the 70s disaster film - which gave way to the spielberg / lucas fantasy / adventure “crowd pleaser” as the defacto blockbuster template for the next decade .
back in the day i really liked disaster movies , and still do have a soft spot for most of them if i’m honest , but i can’t remember seeing this . despite , or perhaps even because of , the lousy effects and unconvincing melodrama , i’d like to have a look at this film at some point .
while you couldn’t care less about the silly plot and stupid characters , the film offers up a bunch of ridiculous and cheesy moments that makes viewing pretty fun after all . like the downhill star claiming “i ski like i make love” . ( meaning he reaches the finish fast , or what ? ) like the snowmobile race that turns into rollerball on snow , drivers kicking each other and randomly somersaulting backwards off their rides . like the horny figure skater hurrying to a rendez - vous with her ski star lover , and starting to undress on the way to his room — yes , outdoors — despite the fact that there’s a howling snow storm going on around her . like the cook in the kitchen that is scalded by boiling soup as the avalanche hits the hotel . like david’s mother trying to dig her way out of the buried hotel with , of all things , a chair . like caroline last being seen in a mountain cabin that is buried by the avalanche , only to later turn up outside the hotel without explanation .
fun fact : one of the original taglines was “it sucks” , but producers felt that it would be too easy for disappointed critics / audiences to blast the film . they guessed correctly . while twister was a box office success , it only has a 57 % on rotten tomatoes making this one of the best , of the worst .
his ex - wife is played by mia farrow in one of her more comatose roles . i ' d say more about her role in this film , but that pretty much has it covered . she kind of wanders between plotlines most of the time , doing that big eyed mia farrow thing that requires little else than having big eyes .
this disaster ' gem ' from new world stars rock hudson and mia farrow looking terrible as a divorced couple . rock upsets nature by building a massive ski resort because he can . robert forster co - stars as the down - with - nature photographer who warns about fucking with earth . no one listen to him and , yes , an avalanche occurs .
while everyone is having a good time a plane crashes into a mountain setting off a devastating avalanche . again - corman doesn’t have the money to utilize ground breaking special effects so there’s basically some stock footage of real avalanches intercut with people getting pelted / engulfed with styrofoam “white chunks” . not much of this sequence is very convincing but it’s fairly well constructed and edited .
karma houdini : david quite surprisingly survives the film , even getting through what appears to be a textbook redemption equals death setup of risking his life to save his ex - wife . yet , he ' s severely humbled by seeing all the destruction his ego has wrought , and they don ' t actually get back together . he also loses his beloved mother .
jerkass : david . he is a very stubborn and somewhat unscrupulous man who callously brushes off all warnings he gets about a potential avalanche until it ' s too late . not to mention how domineering and possessive he is towards his ex - wife ; it ' s a minor mercy that the movie doesn ' t have them reunite after the disaster ( and even that is ambiguous ) .
i agree ! the first ( nearly ) hour was very dull for me…but once the avalanche actually hit , i was pretty into it . i couldn’t believe they went through all that trouble to save david’s mother – to which i was pleased to see ! – only to have the car glide off the cliff as if toonces the cat had been behind the wheel . hah , oh dear .
jerkass has a point : david has professionals keeping track of the avalanche danger , gives nick ( an unqualified photographer ) a fair hearing , and doesn ' t dismiss his concerns until he reveals he has no specific warning signs to point out other than an intuition of
a heaviness
. nick turns out to be right , but by all the evidence it ' s a complete coincidence .
summary : in the colorado rockies , skiers , snowmobilers and other vacationers enjoy a beautiful skiing resort . suddenly a helicopter crashes into the resort’s hilltop , unleashing a giant avalanche . will david shelby ( rock hudson ) and caroline brace ( mia farrow ) rehash their romance and make it out alive ? watch this disaster to find the answers… and how a studio can waste $ 6 . 5 million .
the rest of the film details the attempts of survival and / or escaping from the imminent danger . along the way there’s oodles of melodrama with the “good guys” dying heroic deaths and the “corporate sleaze balls who caused the tragedy due to their ineptness or willful ignorance” going down like sniveling cowards . this can pretty much sum up towering inferno’s plot - but can also provide the blueprint for all subsequent entries in the genre .
forster warns hudson that he has built the resort smack dab in the middle of “avalanche country” . and by disturbing the environment with all the construction and deforestation he is creating a “death trap” for anyone who visits the resort . hudson of course takes no heed and pretty soon a bunch of visitors arrive for some kind of “winter sports competition” that includes ice skating , skiing , and for some random reason a gladiatorial - esque snow mobile race .
this is one title i can recall as a kid having a big network premier . it all looked pretty cool at the time but now just appears campy and pretty much a maid for tv event . this isn’t surprising in the end if you’ve listened to an interview with roger corman on the recent blu ray release as he received a large amount from television to help fund the film and hire an above average cast for his disaster epic .
film and television productions alike have been attracted to the mountain peaks and valleys showcased from the “ san juan skyway ” and other highways that traverse this geologically unique region . several of the classic locations used in films are accessible by passenger car , and make a great day trip for western movie fans . view the brochure : ridgway’s western movie heritage , to see maps and learn more about major motion pictures filmed in and around the community of ridgway .
rock hudson spends the vast majority of roger corman ' s cheapie disaster pic avalanche with a huge target on his back . through years of meticulous planning , deforestation , bribes , affairs , and just in general being a dick to everyone around him , he ' s finally about to open his massive multi - million dollar ski resort in the foothills of colorado . to say that he ' s doomed for some misery and regrets within the next ninety minutes is to speak the obvious .
is present , as both lovable and loathsome characters meet predictable fates , but the film ' s limited production resources somehow work in its favor . we ' re well aware that we ' re watching a corman production but somehow the inventiveness that is required to carry it all off is quite admirable . certain plot points are introduced and inexplicably abandoned including an insinuation that shelby has bribed local political officials to overlook his clear violation of environmental protection rules in order to build his resort .
the big dramatic death in the film has to do with david’s mother florence shelby ( jeanette nolan ) who along with david’s bookkeeper is trapped in the buried ski lodge and in danger of asphyxiating due to broken gas lines . they are rescued in the nick of time but then the ambulance that is rushing poor florence to the hospital loses control and careens off into a chasm and explodes . proving that sometimes it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed or be in a roger corman movie .
high up in the mountains millionaire entrepreneur david shelby ( rock hudson ) has built a massive ski resort , much to the chagrin of environmentalists , and has invited winter sports athletes from all over the world to compete at the opening of his winter wonderland . also arriving for the big opening is caroline brace ( mia farrow ) david’s ex - wife who is in this movie because you can’t have a disaster film without an estranged couple of some sort . i think there may even be a law or something .
i en värld av enbart katastroffilmer ( som jag gillar att se på trots att de väldigt sällan är bra ) skulle det här fortfarande vara en väldigt dålig film . lider framförallt av att den är så händelsefattig och trots ett gäng kända skådisar är allting på en så bedrövlig nivå att till och med roger corman bör skämmas över att ha producerat det här . ändå lite kul att se på tack vare peak 70 - tal vilket alltid ger något att garva åt , i tillägg till de sjukt usla effekterna då .
avalanche is a knock - off of other popular disaster movies of the time like the towering inferno , earthquake , and the swarm ( okay , that last one might not have been quite so popular ) , using some cheap stars to fuel its tawdry and simple plot . it ' s amazing when a few scenes actually work ( a shot of two men filling a truck with occupied bodybags is appropriately mournful ) and less surprising when some scenes end up jaw droppingly bad ( the ski star and a skater end up having sex while communicating in nothing but ice sports euphemisms ) .
“destruction porn” is a term coined to describe movies that have seemingly been released every summer since the advent of cgi in the 90s - usually accredited to filmmakers like dean devlin / roland emmerich ( i . e . independence day , day after tomorrow , 2012 ) , james cameron ( titanic - the only “disaster film” to win best picture ) , and michael bay ( armageddon , pearl harbor , and the transformers series ) . the term also encompasses other critically derided would - be blockbusters like deep impact , dante’s peak , the core , daylight , volcano , twister and countless other syfy channel originals .
this was one of rock hudson ' s final films as an
above the title
leading man . he ' s grayer and a bit paunchier than we ' d seen him during his heyday , but he still had star power to spare and made for a dashing leading man , whether its skinny dipping in the hot tub or personally leading rescue parties in acts of derring doo to extricate victims of the tragedy . the film ' s showpiece sequence is a climactic scene in which shelby must rescue caroline , who is dangling from wrecked bridge above a ravine . it ' s well - directed and genuinely suspenseful .
taking the script of jaws as a template , we’re bringing in robert forster as the smokey bear ranger type who is having fits when he sees the construction crews working away with heavy machinery causing vibrations throughout the mountainous territory . picture richard dreyfuss’ matt hooper in a forest ranger outfit . it’s sure to bring down mountains of snow directed at the lodge if they don’t cease and desist . off he goes to confront “the rock . ” rock instantly turns into murray hamilton’s mayor of shark city who will keep those beaches open . or in this case the slopes , skating rinks and anything else that just happens to be in the shadow of mt . avalanche .
therefore it would seem that people have always engaged in the “vicarious therapy” of watching a bunch of people getting killed as a way to deal with existential anxieties . one can assume the modern wave of “destruction porn” is linked to 9 / 11 and the various social and political issues that have resulted . and to that point - the “golden age” of the disaster film was in the 70s - when america was dealing with everything from watergate , vietnam , oil shortages , middle east turmoil , and economic downturns ( sounds kind of familiar huh ? ) . perhaps it was this sense that “things were falling apart” which made the genre so popular then as it is today .
rock hudson’s character is a cross between the idiot mayor from jaws and his character from giant as he both ignores the dangers , “ we can’t close the beaches , it’s the fourth of july ! ” and is a rich and arrogant bastard whose attitude towards women is a tad prehistoric . now normally this would be enough to place the blame for the oncoming disaster squarely on his shoulders but not for this movie , oh no we also have david demanding that his assistant fly in important papers , despite the terrible weather conditions , which results in that poor dude’s plane crashing into the mountain and causing the giant avalanche . so not only is he a callous , sexist , arrogant jerk he’s also a murdering asshat .
overall it’s refreshing to see a thriller that isn’t so “hollywood - ized” and “paint by numbers” - and therefore juggernaut is not a completely predictable affair and thus delivers on the promise of tension and suspense . that said - there are times where one wants to give the movie a swift kick in the pants so it would actually start doing something other than just “sitting around” . in fact - the whole thing seems very british ( i . e . polite ) - and judging by how people behave in the film - the “ticking time clock” scenario seems to be not that big of a deal . plus i didn’t really understand why they couldn’t figure out a way to start getting the passengers off the ship while they worked on diffusing the bombs .
not giving anything away , the title of the movie is avalanche so we can count on one to hit the screens though the f / x do leave a lot to be desired . i do believe i’ve pointed out that this is a roger corman production so there are a few things we can always count on from uncle roger , one of which is the injection of a topless woman and sure enough while rock is hanging out in his custom designer sauna pining for mia , a well endowed brunette just happens to be with him offering him a consolation prize if he can’t win mia back . the other is the frugal production qualities and have yourself a hoot during some of the scenes when you can clearly see the blocks of snow blow away in the breeze when a news truck approaches .
and because this is a roger corman production it must have at least one wtf scene in it and for this movie we get the emotional damaged girlfriend of skier bruce scott , who upon seeing him in bed with another woman decides to kill herself with an overdose of pills , but before she can down the bottle she is killed by the avalanche . that is some hard core dark shit there . but believe it or not that isn’t even the weirdest death in this movie as there is a bit where the sports announcer and a small boy are hanging for dear life from a broken chairlift and just as the boy is rescued power lines hit the chairlift cables and the poor sports announcer is electrocuted , falls and misses the safety net held by the rescue team because…well , because they really suck at their job .
besides the set up , sprawling cast and the sub - plots i actually didn’t see juggernaut as being very much of a disaster film in the traditional irwin allen sense . i can see where the influence of poseidon adventure as far as it being a “suspense thriller set on a cruise ship” comes from - but save for a few explosions and fatalities the action is very subdued . and plus there’s no actual disaster and hence no “fight for survival” with the ship’s passengers . therefore i would say juggernaut would more accurately be labeled as a “terrorist thriller” . and to its credit the movie seems to have influenced later films of its ilk - especially with the “bomb diffusing sequences” ( again - the “red or blue wire” trope ) and the parallel investigation at “command center” ( executive decision comes to mind ) .
creature designer john carl buechler was assigned to create the dinosaur models , under the supervision of amateur paleontologist donald f . glut . buechler ' s special effects crew had only 10 weeks to complete both the miniature and full sized models , due to the film ' s limited budget . [ 8 ] also , many of glut ' s suggestions were not incorporated into the dinosaur ' s final designs , as many of the models were already in various stages of completion when he was consulted . [ 9 ] for the tyrannosaurus rex , buechler created numerous different sized props , including a pneumatically - operated creature measuring 16 feet in height , [ 3 ] 25 feet in length and 450 lbs in weight , [ 8 ] a 7 - foot - tall ( 2 . 1 m ) suit version and a 3 - foot - tall ( 0 . 91 m ) mechanical walking puppet . an 8 - foot - tall ( 2 . 4 m ) suit was made for the deinonychus , as well as a 1 - foot - tall ( 0 . 30 m ) mechanized , walking mockup . [ 3 ] due to the low budget , buechler could not create the full scale tyrannosaurus model with standard sculpting and molding techniques ; therefore , the tyrannosaurus ' understructure was built using l200 , a light polyurethane foam , while the skin was crafted with urethane foam sheets . miniature models for the tyrannosaurus and the skid loader were used for most of the penultimate scene , as the full scale model was too inarticulate to fight the vehicle convincingly . [ 8 ]
backstory : the poseidon adventure ( 2000 ) ( tv episode ) poster shown .
corman ' s world : exploits of a hollywood rebel ( 2011 ) poster is shown .
some parts of this page won ' t work property . please reload or try later .
go behind the scenes of the mission : impossible movies , check out the latest videos and trailers , and see which spy movies topped the box office in our mission : impossible guide .
want to share imdb ' s rating on your own site ? use the html below .
in 1964 , a group of scientists create a portal that takes them to a barren , mutant inhabited , earth in the year 2071 .
after copper miners discover part of the frozen tail of a prehistoric monster in lapland , scientists inadvertently bring it back to life .
during world war i , a german u - boat sinks a british ship and takes the survivors on board . after it takes a wrong turn , the submarine takes them to the unknown land of caprona , where they find dinosaurs and neanderthals .
an outlaw smuggler and her alien companion are recruited by the emperor of the galaxy to rescue his son and destroy a secret weapon by the evil count zarth arn .
an american cowboy living in mexico discovers his cattle are being eaten by a giant prehistoric dinosaur .
set in the not - too - distant future , a gizmonic institute employee is lured to the dark side of the moon by third - generation mad scientist kinga forrester and her flunky , max . he is sat in . . . see full summary »
a magician in a carnival - - who actually can read minds and levitate people and objects - - works with a superintelligent chimp named alex , who can also talk . the magician and the chimp soon . . . see full summary »
various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits los angeles , california .
7 of 8 people found this review helpful . was this review helpful to you ? yes no | report this
explore popular and recently added tv series available to stream now with prime video .
html public
- / / w3c / / dtd xhtml 1 . 0 transitional / / en
urltoken
posted by cinema retro in dvd / streaming video reviews & news on sunday , june 14 . 2015
the american westerns of clint eastwood movie classics special # 5 . click on image for information and to order .
cinema retro foto files issue # 1 : spy girls of the 1960s & 1970s tribute ! now shipping ! click on cover image to order .
now you can order twilight time limited edition titles directly from the company web site ! click on ad above .
hudson plays david shelby , the owner of a newly constructed ski resort , and everyone’s there for the grand opening . ‘everyone’ includes hudson’s mother florence ( jeanette nolan ) and ex - wife caroline ( farrow ) , a very manly wildlife photographer named nick ( robert forster ) , a tv celebrity and his slutty wife , a couple of “cool” ski stars and a couple of pretty figure skaters .
the first 50 minutes are spent introducing characters and launching a bunch of soap - operatic machinations , mostly having to do with people going to bed with people they shouldn’t go to bed with . the script also plants a possible subplot about david being implicated in a scandal after having donated money to a crooked politician , but then forgets all about it . probably just as well .
nick the manly photographer warns david about the snow and weather conditions . david and a guy who i believe is some kind of security chief don’t think it’s necessary to take any precautions . and we all know where that will lead…
i couldn’t wait to see this movie after watching the trailer ( which is now on youtube ) and after reading this review i’m really dying to find it . it looks hilariously awesome !
original content © 2009 - 2018 christer andersson . all images are the properties of their respective copyright holders , and are used here in accordance with fair use .
you need to login to do this . get known if you don ' t have an account
entrepreneur david shelby ( hudson ) has fought tooth - and - nail to build a ski resort deep in the rockies . during an especially busy time of the ski season , his ex - wife caroline ( farrow ) comes for a visit . as shelby unsuccessfully attempts to get back together with her , shelby ' s mother florence enjoys the party life at the lodge , a star skier arrives at the resort with much fanfare , and many other characters are introduced as they have the time of their lives at the resort . but then , a lost airplane crashes into the snow that sits precariously atop the mountain , sending tons of snow onto the unsuspecting resort . . .
: florence spends most of her time indulging herself in alcoholic beverages and generally just going wild . even when she ' s being carted away in an ambulance , she complains that she wants a bloody mary .