Kinder des Zorns II - Tödliche Ernte

Apparently it's not a good idea to sit in the nosebleed section of a church; black contact lenses lend evil powers to anyone who wears them; you should never climb under your house in search of your kitty, especially if evil-looking children are lurking about. These are just some of a few lessons to be taken from the sequel nobody expected that snowballed into the franchise nobody wanted, "Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice."

Picking up after the events of the first film, a tabloid-journalist and his teenage son are passing through a small neighboring town of Gatlin, Nebraska shortly after those corn-husking little munchkins laid it to waste. Looking for his big break, the father/journalist decides to stay in town for a while. After merely a few days in town, he receives his fair-share of white-man's guilt from the resident Native America, uncovers a moldy corn conspiracy (a plot point which goes virtually nowhere) and plows the field of a innkeeper. Meanwhile, his son attempts to sow some seeds of his own with the girl-next-door who appears to the only one under the age of 18 in town who isn't under the trance of the mysterious maze.

It must be said that by no means is "Children of the Corn II" a particularly great film. Like the first, it's pretty basic and predictable. It seems as if the script for the first film was tweaked just slightly to concoct a sequel and it shows with plot-holes the size of Nebraska (see what I did there?). Director David Price -- whose resume is as equally unimpressive as the film's script -- loves to inject a lot of ridiculous gore into the film, but forsakes logic in doing so. You'll see corn husks slashing throats, a nosebleed that somehow turns into an earache and a house falling on a woman who doesn't seem to understand she can either try crawling out or hide in between the beams. Nevermind that, though. You don't come here for logic, and Price knows that. With his made-for-TV movie cinematography, you can be rest assured you'll know exactly what you're getting into within the first five minutes of the film.

But what about the cast? Kudos must go out to Ryan Bollman who does his best to look as menacing as possible as the leader of the kiddy cult. Someone ground that kid! On the other side of the coin, you have Terence Knox, resembling what would happen if Bill Pullman and Alec Baldwin gave birth to a bloated baby. Knox seems to be apathetic about the whole thing, as best evidenced by his reaction to the death of a friend by the end of the film. He steps it up a notch when he is caught sinning rather vigorously by his son, but this scene is so uninteresting, you'll feel the same sort of apathy toward it as the actor does the film. I guess you just can't expect Academy Award material with these films, but would it hurt to have actors who care about more than cashing in their paychecks carrying a film?

When all is said and done, in spite of its glaring flaws, "Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice" is easily the best sequel in the "Children of the Corn" series, but that's not saying much. When you consider the films that followed in its wake, it's almost a back-handed compliment. Then again, the first "Children of the Corn" wasn't ground-breaking cinema by any stretch of the imagination, so the fact that any sequel to it can deliver the most basic entertainment is a miracle in and of itself. To that end, "The Final Sacrifice" is a rather schlocky but suitable guilty-pleasure follow-up. If you've suffered through enough "Amityvilles" or "Howlings" then there is no reason you can't sit through this one as well.

This film begins with a somewhat discredited journalist by the name of "Garrett" (Terence Knox) and his rebellious son "Danny" (Paul Scherrer) driving through Nebraska and stopping at the town of Gatlin where a horrifying story is developing about kids murdering their parents just days earlier. Checking into a Bed & Breakfast, Garrett meets two people who will subsequently become involved what appears to be a continuation of the preceding horror. The first is the friendly female proprietor of the Bed & Breakfast named "Angela" (Rosalind Allen) while the second is an anti-social teenager by the name of "Micah" (Ryan Bollman) who the other children seem to look up to but seems to be nursing a certain dislike for the other townspeople. One other key character is an attractive teenager named "Lacey" (Christie Clark) who becomes romantically involved with Danny despite the fact that Micah seems to be having more influence on him from day-to-day. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, despite the fact that it took 8 years to produce this sequel, the film itself doesn't quite measure up to its predecessor. Admittedly, there was a new twist concerning a secret being held by the townspeople and the presence of two female actresses like Rosalind Allen and Christie Clark certainly added to the scenery, the overall picture was adequate at best and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The first "Children of the Corn" film is a decent horror film with some suspense and atmosphere,this one is basically just a typical slasher film gussied up with occult elements.By those standards,it isn't bad,with some decent scares and a fair amount of blood.Sure,it's nothing new,but overlook that if you really love horror genre.The acting is either wooden or over-the-top,but there are some rather inventive death scenes for example when an old woman is crushed by her own home.So if you are a fan of this series then go ahead-try this one,if not check out some other horror flicks.5 out of 10.

This movie doesn't quite have the awesome start the first one did – but I'll take a few decomposing Gatlin residents over nothing.

It's the aftermath of the downfall of the creepy munchkin Isaac, the Ginger Ninja Malachi, and He Who Walks Behind the Rows. And reporters and residents from Hemingford the neighbouring town have descended upon Gatlin, with the surviving Gatlin kids being farmed off to new families so the carnage can start again.

Coming to join the corn party is a teenage boy with a horrible haircut, Danny, his daddy issues and his daddy. They stay with 'attractive hostess with no real story' who has taken in a Gatlin kid called Micah, who also has daddy issues, so of course a friendship springs up between Danny and Micah that eventually leads to sacrificing people, as is the natural course of things.

Nothing much really happens after that. The Gatlin kids shuffle around town in a group staring at stuff. I've decided that Micah is the best starer – he really tries at it. And blah blah blah – people start dying. I'm bored already.

My favourite death (so few times you get to start a sentence that way) would be the old lady under the house, with all her howling and honking and crappy acting I was hoping one of the five year olds would just run up and start kicking her in the stomach – alas not to be, but she was crushed and the kids stood in their group and stared. Followed closely by the man who just started haemorrhaging blood all over the church. (Micah did some of his best staring in this scene – watch out for it) During this time, Danny has found love with a pretty young girl called Needy McNeederson. His daddy starts making sweet sweet love to 'attractive hostess with no real story' and there's some weird back story stuff thrown in about the corn and poisons and old Indian legends etched into rocks. None of it really makes any sense – doesn't fit in with the story in any way but it is told by a wise old American Indian man – so that lends some serious weight to what is being said.

It all ends where it should – in the corn. Attempted sacrifices are abound, professions of love and apologies are made. Micah's yelling all over the place and doesn't seem to be staring as much which makes me sad. He Who Walks Behind the Rows turns up briefly and does his thing. It's just another day with the Children of the Corn.

All in all, a pretty crappy sequel – but if you watch one, you gotta watch em all. Next up; Children of the Corn 3 –Gangsta Corn.

I sat down to watch the 1992 movie "Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice" immediately after having just revisited the original 1984 movie "Children of the Corn". And I actually think that I have never seen this sequel before now in 2023, or if I did then I have entirely forgotten all about it.

Writer A. L. Katz delivered a fair enough script for the movie, which had elements from the first movie to it so it helped transition the viewers into this sequel. I actually found the storyline in the sequel to be just as enjoyable as the storyline in the first movie.

The storyline in "Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice" was enjoyable for what it was. Sure, this is not anything groundbreaking or particularly sensational. But the story did its job; it entertained. So director David Price managed to bring the script to life on the screen in a good way.

"Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice" has some good acting performances to help bring the movie to life. There isn't a lot of famous actors or actresses on the cast list however, but that hardly mattered, because the performers in the movie had talents. I actually think I was only familiar with Terence Knox in this movie.

Visually then you're not exactly in for anything grand, because "Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice" wasn't using a lot of special effects.

If you enjoyed the 1984 "Children of the Corn" movie, then you will also enjoy the 1992 sequel "Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice".

My rating of "Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice" lands on a five out of ten stars.