Terry's Reviews Page |
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Movie Reviews: |
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The Children
of the Corn Collection
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This 6 Film Set has stars such as Academy Award Nominee Naomi Watts (King Kong, 21 Grams, Mulholland Dr.) Eva Mendez (The Other Guys, Hitch, Once Upon A Time In Mexico), Four-time Golden Globe Nominee David Carradine (Kung Fu TV series, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2), Mark Salling (TV's Glee), Golden Glove Winner Stacy Keach (American History X, Escape From LA) and Golden Glove Nominee Nancy Allen (Carrie, Dressed To Kill, Robocop). Altogether you get 517-minutes of viewing to digest. One of the things I noticed and found interesting was how each successive sequel gets progressively short; II was 94 minutes, III 91 mins, IV 85 mins, V 83 mins, 666 and VII 82 minutes. I guess you can only stretch a good idea so far.
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Children
of the Corn: The Final Sacrifice Directed by David F. Price Written by A L Katz & Gilbert Adler Starring Terence Knox Paul Scherrer Ryan Bollman Christie Clark Rosalind Allen Ned Romero |
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Believe it or not, I actually liked this movie. I think it was because of the likable actors, North Carolina locations, Director David F. Price kept the camera moving and Daniel Licht glued it altogether with his score. Story wise a magazine writer (Terence Knox) goes to Gatlin, Nebraska with his teenage son (Paul Scherrer) in tow to find out about the massacre that transpired there. While they are there the writer meets a cute woman (Rosalind Allen), his son meets an even cuter girl (Christie Clark) but soon everything is spoiled by the wicked children who run the town. In this chapter of the CORN series Micah (Ryan Bollman) is the wicked leader who controls the kids and the small Midwest town. The dark haired actors makes the most of this role which is someone who you both like and fear. I didn't believe it when the dialogue describes lead actor Terence Knox as 185lbs. He's built like a linebacker, who is a little stiff but has leading man qualities. His son Ryan Bollman has some on screen charisma and comes across as sort of a healthy version of the late Corey Haim when he was in his prime. I recognized actress Christie Clark from DAYS OF OUR LIVES, the only soap opera I have ever watched (when I watched it back in the early 90s with my X). Clark lights up the screen when she's on it and I don't think many guys will mind watching the waterfall scene. One of the best scenes in the movie is when she is making out with Bollman in the corn field and they discover they are lying in a field full of body parts. I also thought the Indian Man (Ned Romero) this movie's version of JAWS "Quint", was a good character to help establish the connection between the earth and the corn to ground the threat of the power from "He Who Walks Behind The Rows." No extras but then again this DVD set has 6-Films so you've got more than just this one film to view.
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Children
of the Corn III: Urban Harvest Directed by James D R Hickox Written by Dode Levenson Starring |
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A couple in Chicago adopts a pair of orphan boys. The new parents bring them to the windy city and it takes a little time before they get acclaimed to the ways of the big city. What doesn't change is the young boy has brought kernels of corn and the dark force from where they came from. Before you know it, rows of corn sprout up in between concrete buildings and soon the family learns the awful truth of who the youngest boy is. This sequel lacks subtlety and the actors on a whole were not as good as The Final Sacrifice. I also thought the switch in location actually weakened the film. Screaming Mad George's Make-Up Effects are the real highlight of the movie as she creates more of his artistically bizarre renditions of human death and destruction. I thought what happens to the boys new mother was particularly effective and look as good as anything I've seen in a slasher movie. I will say the two brothers were pretty actors with Daniel Cerny's portrayal of the evil younger brother Eli Porter gave the OMEN's Damien some competition. Ron Melendez who plays the older brother Joshua Porter was pretty believable as he got hip to make friends and land the cute girl (Mari Morrow).
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Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering Directed by Greg Spence Written by Stephen Berger & Greg Spence Starring |
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I gotta tell you, I was surprised at the qualities of this fourth CORN movie. After add a couple numerals to any film series I don't expect much, but you get a pretty good selection of character actors surrounding Naomi Watts and this is actually a splatter film. Gary Tunnicliffe's Special Make-Up and Wayne Beauchamp's Physical FX are very graphic and pretty darn good. The film was shot in Austin, TX which was a big improvement over the previous Chicago lensed entry. Watts plays a young medical student who returns home t take care of her ailing mother (Karen Black). While back at home, she gets a job assisting the local doctor (William Windom). Soon every child in the small town comes down with something that gives them all high fever and their teeth start falling out. I liked that this film didn't have an evil young boy as the focus but rather just a whole town under siege from a supernatural presence that creates the unexplainable epidemic. I haven't seen many movies where I felt the "Splatter" feel of the 80s but this one has it big time. There are some real showstoppers like one involving the doctor's stretcher and another a pitchfork. I most definitely recommend CHILDREN OF THE CORN IV: THE GATHERING. You'll get it as part of The CHILDREN OF THE CORN Collection DVD set.
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Children of the Corn V: Fields Of Terror Written & Directed by Ethan Wiley Starring Stacy Galina Alexis Arquette Ahmet Zappa Greg Vaughan Adam Wylie Eva Mendez Fred Williamson David Carradine |
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Six college students take a wrong turn and find themselves in the rural town ran by a murderous cult of children. One of these students (Stacy Galina) ends up finding her brother who had run away, who has taken refuge here. This leads to them facing their feelings about one another while the other students pay for being at the wrong place and the wrong time. Ethan Wiley does a pretty admirable job with the material and the movie is shot with a pretty steady hand. Physical FX Mastermind Wayne Beauchamp returns to provide the impressive effects. I was a bit surprised at how raw and unrefined actress Eva Mendez was in the movie. Though she looks as good as ever I don't think she included this one on her reel. It was nice to see the two older veterans Fred Williamson and David Carradine. Each gave the movie their qualities and Wiley has both of them playing their roles with a grounded sense of reality. A little predictable but certainly something you could sit through if you have nothing better to do.
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Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return Directed by Kari Skogland Written by Tim Sulka & John Franklin Starring |
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Hannah Martin (Natalie Ramsey) travels back to Gatlin to find her birth mother (Nancy Allen). Once at the small town she discovers the truth of what happened to her as a small child and why she was sent away. At the same time Isaac (John Franklin returns from the first movie) comes out of a twenty year coma to wreck havoc again. The movie suffers from too much of a music video directing/cinematography. The story has kind of worn itself out by this point. I will say that Natalie Ramsey is a good looking young women who does command the screen pretty much every minute she's on the screen. John Franklin hasn't aged well as he looks 40 years older than the first film. He probably was in his twenties when shooting the first film and now he's in his 40s. A little disappointing when matched up
against the other films in this series.
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Children of the Corn VII: Revelation Directed by Guy Magar Written by S J Smith Starring Claudette mink Kyle Cassie Michael Ironside |
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This one was the weakest of the lot. Story is threadbare with the weakest production values I had a hard time getting this one in. Claudette Mink is certainly an attractive women but she's in a difficult spot to carry this movie that was probably made strictly to cash in on the CORN title. The writing is by the numbers with absolutely no surprises. Guy Magar doesn't help matters as his direction was pretty pedestrian. Unfortunately the CORN series had run it's course before this picture reached the screen.
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All and all I did appreciate the opportunity to see all this CORN films which I honest hadn't viewed before. I guess you could pretty much expect a drop-off in quality at a certain point. But for my money I'd rate them in this order; II, IV,V, III, VI and then VII. |
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