The Wicker Man, 1973, lead to a 1977 Children of the Stones TV Miniseries

Disturbing, freaky pagan inspired tales. 

And so was Children of the Corn influenced by Children of the Stones or vice versa? 

The Wicker Man was a big hit. 1973. Influenced lots afterwards. 

Children of the Stones, a Brit series, was a more child oriented PG version of similar themes of ancient pagan rites (gets more scifi though), using ancient rock circles as the focus. 1977. See, https://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2012/11/14/children-of-the-stones/

When did Steven King write Children of the Corn? March 1977.  Hmmm.   

Oh, let's not forget HBO's True Detective in Louisiana, with the animal masks. Wait... I can't find an actual shot of Season 1 with animal masks... only was in Season 2? Hmmm. 

The Wicker Man 1973 showed this ancient Springtime game (forgot the name, May dance or something), that you still see around Germany, Austria, and Switzerland today... although it's less and less popular they say. 

Animal mask scene from The Wicker Man 1973. 

True Detective Season 1 antlers on victim. 

True Detective. Unrelated to other movies/shows, but the bird spiral vision similar to the spiral on the victim. Spooky. 

This says animal masks in season 1 (and 2) so I don't think I'm misremembering:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/true-detective-discussion-could-seasons-807841/

quote "The piece notes the bad guys’ penchant for masks in both seasons — mostly animal heads in season one, while the gunman who shot Ray (Colin Farrell) at the end of episode two was wearing a bird headdress (although the wall of Caspere’s apartment featured a bunch of animal heads)."