October Horror Challenge 2019 #8: "The Fields"

I've been wanting to watch this movie for a long time. I actually won the DVD in a contest for participating in the Horror Challenge one year, and I was excited to see it, but then I put it on a shelf and kept putting it off and years passed. I've decided this year I'm going to finally get through some of the DVDs that I keep putting off every year, so I finally get a chance to see this movie.

The movie is about a young boy named Steven whose parents are fighting a lot. One night his dad's anger explodes and something bad happens, so Steven goes to stay with his grandparents while his parents try to work on their problems. Grandma and grandpa live in a farmhouse surrounded by corn fields, and there seems to be a sinister presence lurking in the corn fields that wants to lure the little boy away for some unclear but probably nefarious purpose.

Corn fields are creepy to begin with. It's very easy to get lost in them, and one corn stalk looks like another, so getting turned around and confused is easy to do. This is probably why the corn fields in this movie are already spooky even before any "horror movie" stuff happens. It also helps that I like the characters. Tara Reid plays Steven's mother,  and sue me, I like her. Cloris Leachman plays Steven's grandmother, and she's good too, so the cast is already better than a lot of movies can boast.

There's a lot hanging over Steven's head in the movie. His parents have troubles, he's afraid of whatever might lurk in the corn field, and the movie takes place around the time the notorious murderer Charles Manson is possibly up for parole, so the news is full of stories of the sadistic Manson murders. I remember being a kid hearing the news surrounding Jeffrey Dahmer's murders. Growing up hearing about the sick things adults do to each other can be very unsettling. I feel bad for Steven. Poor kid has a lot going wrong in his life that makes him relatable.

So yes, the atmosphere is good, and the acting is good, but this kind of movie is always frustrating because so much is unclear. It's hard to know what is really a threat and what is just paranoia brought on by all the emotional turmoil going on in the lives of the characters. At times it adds up to a sense of foreboding and not much else. This whole movie feels like the anticipation of the moments before a big reveal, and we're waiting for something to happen,  but not much ever happens. I kept rolling my eyes, wanting to give up in frustration, then getting drawn into the story again, then holding my breath waiting for something to jump out at me, and of course nothing ever does. It's exhausting after awhile. It's a shame too, because there's a lot of good in this movie, but in the end there's no bang for your buck.