To be honest this is the only movie in that franchise along with the short film worth watching. Why because you have to read both #15 & #16 entry of this horror blog series to find out. I will spoil one thing all of these sequels are guilty of the same major problem. If you recall as a bonus entry I talked about four bad Hellraiser sequels just before doing Hellraiser: Revelations. Trust me when I say Stephen King is regretting allowing all these movies to happen.
I felt the best way of doing this justice is by making such a big line up of bad horror movie sequels. In two lengthy blog entries that could be some of my finest work yet. Let's be honest by now those whose heavily into horror would completely agree. Most of these movies should be avoided at all costs.
1. Children of the Corn 2: The Final Sacrifice (1992)
Believe it or not, Children of the Corn 2 is the last movie of this series to be release in theaters. They had a smaller budget from the previous movie. Already a bad sign for what's to follow. Trust me this is a common trend among the series. This has nothing to do with the short story or the previous movie.
Instead we have a new similar cult believing in He Who Walks Behind the Rows. You can tell within the first ten minutes. This isn't going to be a great horror movie. What's mess up is in one particular scene. People are gathered in a normal church. Micah the cult leader starts cutting into a voodoo doll to kill a man.
First off wouldn't voodoo be completely against this cult's way of doing things. I should mention the scene where the cult uses a toy controller on an old woman's wheel chair. Which leads to her getting hit by a car to sent her flying into a place playing bingo filled with old folks. Why was that so necessary to have in the movie? This kill felt more like a sick joke done poorly than anything else.
The reporter & his camera man get terrible death scenes. The camera man is constantly on the ground being shocked by corns. Suddenly a part of a corn stalk stabs his throat. The reporter tries driving off to only be a corn stalk forced through his throat. Seriously what does corn have to do with people's throats.
Oh come on, the cult surrounds the old woman under her house looking for a cat. They cause what was holding up the house a few feet off the ground to start lowering. They crushed her to death similar to The Wizard of Oz with a house crushing a witch to death. Clearly this movie has no taste or doesn't even cares who they offend.
The goal of the cult is to keep giving their god sacrifices. In this case means forcing people into the corn field trapped waiting to die painful deaths. Now this is something from the original short story. At the same time this was done horribly wrong. Some of the weirdest kills in all of Children of the Corn series can be found here.
I should mention Micah is possessed by He Who Walks Behind the Rows. It is bad but I seen worse things in this franchise. They quickly stop their god to kill Micah shortly after. This movie doesn't bring much else from the original. What it does bring are simply not meant for a Children of the Corn movie.
The original title was Children of the Corn 2: The Deadly Harvest. Oh okay I could stand behind that title. I felt Children of the Corn 2: The Final Sacrifice is a terrible title. Why because it tricks you into thinking this might be the last movie. When in fact it's only the second movie of this series. I really don't like when the titles doesn't mean what they appear to be.
This movie felt more like a remake of the original movie than an actual sequel. Yes we got the same cult believing in the same god. But very quickly everything else is changed. This movie opens up to a lot of death people. Already setting things into the dark nature. Some members of this cult are from Isaac's. Possibly the only movie to have members from a previous leadership.
As stated before a lot of things were cut from the movie due to budget. One of those things actually affects the ending of the movie. Last I checked this ending was never filmed. By the way it sounds a slightly better ending. Too bad the reception of the franchise starts with this piece of filth. No body should suffer from watching this.
2. Children of the Corn 3: Urban Harvest (1995)
This might be a tough pill to swallow for some people. I started watching this series by seeing Children of the Corn 3 a few times growing up. Eli played by the same kid in Demonic Toys a few years earlier is the new cult leader. Very quickly we went from the usual setting to a urban location. I am not kidding within the first few minutes. You see Eli & his brother get put into foster care briefly.
What happens during that particular scene in secret does get revealed later on. Eli quickly starts up a new cult with the same basic concept. The big twist is Eli actually possessed by He Who Walks Behind the Rows. I bet you didn't see that coming now did you lol. Eli uses his powers way too much in the movie.
Early on he had a lot of corn stalks growing in his foster family's yard. Some of the absolute worst effects among the entire series is found here. Sadly so are some of the hardest to take seriously kills. I'll give you a few great examples. A priest was looking into Eli as the movie goes on. Eli does confront him about his past.
This scene ends with Eli briefly animating a Jesus statue to killing the priest. I kid you not this actually happens in the movie. Another great example is Joshua goes with Malcom to find Eli's bible. Malcom gets brutally killed by roots of the corn stalks. I really wish I was making this up. Let's just say this is very difficult to watch.
One interesting note Eli's bible is actually a hard cover copy of Night Shift. The director behind this movie haven't seen the first two Children of the Corn movies. You already should know this is where things start going a little too far away from it's source material. Also I can't name many Stephen King adaptations to have his books.
Not because how violent it is no because how poorly done the kill actually was. Honestly it looks very laughable instead of scary to me. I should mention while in school Eli uses his powers to kill his foster mother in such a ridiculous matter. Even if I told the time to fully explains how it all plays out. All you really need to know is it broke canon with it's source material often in this movie.
The most surprising thing about this movie is this so happens to be the movie debut of Charlize Theron. One of the best actresses of all time got started in such a bad movie. Clearly her career is much better overall. She got some of the absolute best roles playing both heroes & villains in movie classics. She wasn't credited for appearing in this movie maybe that's a good thing.
Therefore I don't even need to bother doing that. Sadly I can't believe I'm about to say this. This is one of the longest you will ever see He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Unfortunately the actual creature is laughable in every sense of the word. After Joshua stabs through the bible to kill Eli. The ground shakes for a while. Very quickly a lot of people are being killed by such a terrible looking monster.
If you need a example how bad it looks. Just imagine if Sesame Street characters were killing people. Now that would be a horror movie worth checking out. Please don't torture your souls by watching such a bad movie. It quickly broke how things work in Children of the Corn story. Way too much usage of their god in such laughable death scenes.
3. Children of the Corn 4: The Gathering (1996)
Children of the Corn 4 in some ways is more ridiculous. We do get a origin story behind He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Unfortunately it doesn't make a lot of sense after thinking about it for hours. A child died filled with rage decided to start up a cult as revenge against those that anger him. I am not lying this is the rough idea behind his origin.
Although in the original story still a mystery. Some proof heavily suggests He Who Walks Behind the Rows was the same person as Randall Flagg & The Man in Black. In a lot of Stephen King stories, he would bring forward corrupt in many different ways. A good number of these are in The Dark Tower series. Widely known for corrupting people into doing horrible things.
Among further looking deeper into this movie. I found out the leader Josiah died by mercury poisoning after being buried alive. He Who Walks Behind the Rows doesn't actually appear in this movie. In a weird sense we got a cheap replacement of their god instead of the actual one. Now I know believing in false idols & gods is one of ten among the ten commandments. This movie felt like a false entry in the franchise.
Sadly we have this dead child controlling his cult from beyond the grave. The first cult leader to be already dead in this series. In this particular movie, most kids are having their teeth rooting causing them to fall out. I will say most kills are easier to take seriously from the previous two movies. Still not much of an improvement.
In one scene, someone testing the kids blood is being stalked. Later in the same scene, their cult leader comes into our world through their blood to kill this lady. If he is suppose to be their god & leader. Why didn't he just have some of the kids take care of her? Also how the hell did he bring his scythe with him I'll never know.
Maybe he's related to the Grim Reaper who really cares. Some adults take on the kids by using medicine to knock them out. Oh ok I can accept that but what follows next is a little too hard to take seriously. Some of the kids are volunteering to drown to death in this area of the farm. Among the last child, their leader gets revived.
They face him with a shotgun filled with drugs killing him. I will give him credit it took a lot of them to take him down. Not like Peter Griffin in a episode during a company picnic lol. Oh yeah I should mention in one scene corns kills two parents. I am not kidding this actually happens. I get it corn is in the title but why?
I seen better food theme deaths in horror movies not centered around them. All the kids act like they're already dead walking when servant this ghost. Which by itself took away from the original short story. Children of the Corn 4 is have to take seriously in it's own right. I don't have any scenes I would rewatch. This is another bad horror movie sequel not worth even watching once.
No comments:
Post a Comment