Children Of The Corn (1984/Anchor Bay
Blu-ray)
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C
When Anchor Bay did their DiviMax series, the transfers
were said to be state-of-the-art HD transfers.
Children of the Corn (1984)
was one of those films and a fellow critic was very happy with the results, as
you can see at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1530/Children+Of+The+Corn+(Divimax)
I was not as enthused about the film or transfer, but it
made fans happy, but now come the Blu-ray and whatever worked on the DVD,
little of it works better here. A
Stephen King-penned variation of Village
Of The Damned (among other works), the film is still talked about simply
because it can follow a basic narrative, but it was never that good, has dated and spawned some of the worst and most
disposable sequels imaginable.
The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is very
soft and problematic, from the worn print to what is now an older
transfer. Daytime does not always look
so and grain is maybe a little more present than it should be. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is barely an
improvement over the Dolby Digital 5.1 on the older DVD, though both of us
agree DTS of some kind would have been nice.
It is simply a dated recording and unless someone goes in to fix it with
some more money, it will stay this way.
At least there are some occasionally good surrounds. All extras from the DVD are here, plus new
features have been added: Welcome To
Gatlin, It Was The Eighties
(Linda Hamilton interview) and Stephen
King On A Shoestring (interview with Producer Donald P. Borchers).
Fans will like this, but for the rest, it is a curio at
best.
- Nicholas Sheffo
