Movies - TV
Children Of The Corn’s Best Scare Was All Too Real For Linda Hamilton
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
The first feature adaptation of Stephen King's short story "Children of the Corn" starred Linda Hamilton and Peter Horton, who run afoul of a kiddie cult and barely escape.
In the film, Hamilton and Horton’s characters are drawn into the central action when a young boy with his throat cut staggers out onto the highway and is run over by their car.
Director Fritz Kiersch wanted to use the car accident scene to play a harmless but terrifying prank on Hamilton by pretending it was filmed with a mannequin.
Cast member Courtney Gaines said, "When she was in the car there, [they] put the real kid underneath. [...] Everybody knew but her that the real kid was underneath there."
Kiersch said, "I yelled, 'Now!' and she jumped back 22 feet. [...] And, to me, that's the best scare in the movie." The kid was supposed to leap up, but the scare was genuine.