Saturday, July 5, 2014

Children of the Corn (1984)

Check out the all new location page at www.Set-Jetter.com!









With this year being the 30th Anniversary of Children of the Corn, plus meeting a couple of the actors next month, I thought it would be a good time to make a quick roadtrip to visit some of the filming locations.   As they are within an hour or so from my house, I'm not sure why it took so long for me to do it!  Special thanks for ChildrenOfTheCornMovie.blogspot.com for gathering up these locations for fans.

First up, let's get the establishing shot of the motel out of the way.  Now an EconoLodge, it is mostly the same, although I wish it had all those funky colored doors still...


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Now on to "Gatlin, Nebraska" locations.  The interior of the diner is long gone, destroyed in the fire.  In the first picture below you can see the empty lot of where it once stood.  The other pictures show the buildings across the street that still stand....




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And here's me being goofy as Isaac...

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Here we get our first establishing shots of the main house...





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Next up is the gas station, which is also gone unfortunately.   Here is the lot where it once stood...


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And the area where they get back on the road....


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And the reverse shots of the gas station scene....



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After going through a wild goose chase, they end up back at the gas station here.   Although the building is gone, you can still see one of the signs still exists to give you some perspective of the location....


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Right before they drive into town, they pass the main house....




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The production used a few different towns.  I had trouble discerning where this first shot of them entering town was located, but I think this was it as a couple of the smaller buildings line up, although the mill and other structures are long gone...



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Next up is the POV through the windshield shot as they enter Gatlin, Nebraska....



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Next, and in a completely different town, is their POV as they drive through and see the empty street....




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They next drive by this building, which is sadly falling down and the building next to it is now completely gone....



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A windshield POV as they enter town. Looks the same except for the large mill....


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The exterior for the cafe was here....


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As they park, there is a long shot up the street....


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Those pesky children try to steal from their car here...


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They get back in the car here to chase the kids....


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A shot of the "pharmacy"...


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The kids run by the town hall and bank here....


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Another POV as they chase the kids through town....


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They end up on this street in a completely different town location.  Not many buildings still exist on the block except for the far left one with the white circular paintjob... 

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They return to the house and break into it...


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Peter Horton goes searching through the town in front of this small building...



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The children approach the house....

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One of the kids spies on him around this corner....


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The kids break in through an upper window....

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The kid spies on him going to town hall from here...



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Peter runs from town hall and down the street here....




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Peter returns to the house and exits through the back.   This is not the right angle, but I didn't want ton intrude on the owner's dog's territory!



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A face of the church was put up on one side of the street so it appeared as if it was in town.   Again, we're on the same street where many of the buildings no longer exist except for the one on the far left....




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He is chased between these two houses....



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And continues to run behind town hall.....




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And spies on the kids from around the corner of the building....



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Malachai sees him here!

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The building where he takes a tumble by is no longer here, but this gives you an idea of where it once stood....

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Those pesky children continue the chase across the street here...

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Peter Horton is able to catch his breath at this spot....



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Behind the buildings, the children continue the chase.   This area has changed a bit, but will appear again later....




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Back to town square with that memorable yellow-based flagpole....



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The spot where Malachai stands....

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OUTLANDER!!!!


Not sure if this is the same alleyway between the buildings or not as a lot has changed here...


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We're again back behind the buildings for the chase.   Some parts of it have changed, but if you can see the white-painted target looking shape, you can get your location perspective....



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Back to my favorite spot in the film....




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Back to the house.   In reality, there are no cellar doors and were built specifically for the movie.   During my visit, there was a guy working on the house and I didn't want to bother him (or the dog!), so here are some drive-by shots....




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Back to town as they run to save Linda Hamilton....

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Thanks to my wingman Nick, he was able to spot this location from the movie while we were set-jetting....








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Special thanks to Nick for joining me on this set-jetting trip!

 Look carefully and you can see the dog aka He Who Watches Behind The Porch!

I had the pleasure of meeting Courtney Gains and John Franklin at Flashback Weekend 2014... 



Some comparison shots below.....


















10 comments:

  1. Great pics dude. I love this movie and found the tour of the locations was awesome!! Do you know where the basement was that they filmed the secret hideaway? Also were the interiors of the house actually shot inside or at Hal Roach Studios?

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    1. According to the commentary, the interiors of the house were shot somewhere else. Not sure about the basement, but guessing it was shot somewhere else too as the exterior did not have a cellar door.

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    2. I have never seen the movie but our church recently purchased the church building where they shot the interior pictures of the balcony, one of our church members was in the film as the kid running out yelling kill kill.

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    3. That's great, if you'd be interested in taking some pictures to share here, I would love it.

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  2. Hi,
    congratulation for the site and the particular accurate pictures.
    I want to know the exact address for the places, or major indication for the locations of the movie.
    Thanks in advance

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  3. Wonderful work. Excelent photos. interesting to see the original director images too. Blurred background, the perfect lighting on a sunny day.. etc. I love this movie.
    Ale Laz

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  4. Great job I know where the car is that burt was driving perhaps I can post up to date pics of it!

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  5. Do you know do you know where they filmed the part 2 scene where the old lady is crushed by the house?

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  6. Can you do the filming locations for the COTC sequels please?

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    Replies
    1. I have no immediate plans, but have done some pre-work for a couple of the first two sequels.

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