It may not be one of the best Stephen King adaptations, but “Children of the Wrath” has anchored itself in pop culture like no other film, based on a horror pope story. This is probably due in no small part to the fact that Fritz Kiersch’s well-known 1984 film adaptation didn’t stop there—and the cornfield terror has become a mega-franchise in direct-to-video format in recent decades. No less than ten (!) films followed through 2020, including an official remake and a free reinterpretation of the material by “Equilibrium” creator Kurt Wimmer. Hardly anyone knows the very first film adaptation of “Children of Wrath” and it’s not the one by Fritz Kiersch…
… but that could change. Because that movie comes out on December 2, 2022 for the first time fully unabridged for home cinema:
» “The Night of the Crow” on Amazon*
Entitled “Stephen King: Night Of The Crow”, four short films based on King’s stories will be released on one set. Also on board is “Disciples Of The Crow” by John Woodward. That’s the name of the first and still relatively unknown film adaptation of “Children of Wrath” from 1983, which was only available in Germany in abbreviated form and in terrible VHS quality. That should finally change, with the uncut version on DVD, including the German dubbed version and the original English version for the first time.
THIS IS “THE NIGHT OF THE CROW”
Leading the collection is said to be “Children of Wrath” adaptation “Disciples of the Crow“, in which a traveling couple discovers that a sleepy town in Oklahoma has apparently been taken over by a murderous cult. The cult, which worships a crow god, is made up entirely of seedy children – who have already killed their parents.
Also in “the night waiter“There are dark forces at play. Central to the story is the new room service waiter at the Bay View Hotel, who gets into an argument one evening with the annoying night porter. Little does he know, however, that there are many more evil forces at work in his new workplace – and that the night has many sinister surprises in store for him.
In “to kill timeReality and fiction are dangerously blurred. When a failed cartoonist finds new ways to find inspiration for his stories, he becomes increasingly disconnected from reality.
And in The Last Hand, a poker night becomes a tour de force. When one of the players accidentally shoots a stranger in a parking garage, the killer doesn’t expect to see his victim again at the gaming table shortly after. And before he knows it, not only his money is at stake, but also his life.
If you want to reconcile the wait until home theater on December 2 with King stuff, you can currently get fresh supplies on Prime Video and Netflix.
Amazon has had the nearly three-hour horror epic “IT: Chapter 2” on its streaming platform for a few weeks (but you should definitely have seen part 1 sooner). After “1922”, “The Game” and “In the Tall Grass”, Netflix has had another King adaptation exclusively in its range since the beginning of October. On “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone”, Jaeden Martell, who had already dealt with terror clown Pennywise in “ES”, made contact with a dead man: