Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return

When I rented Children of The Corn 666, I wanted to see a very bad movie...but, surprisingly, the atmosphere was pretty scary and mysterious, and some actors were fine...creepy, isn't it? The first thirty (of the 82 short minutes) minutes of the film actually brought me in the mood, more than the average film. Scary isn't it? Then it becomes a little boring, and the last minutes are clichés...The directing was pretty amazing for what I expected, and it is partly responsible for the nice atmosphere. The main actress sounded a little like those high-school-superficial-cheerleaders (What kind of stupid expression is that???) and looked like them...the storyline is pretty stupid though...and very simple...but I have to say that this film corresponds a lot more to the "Horror movie" kind than most movies that are classified as Horror movies. I almost feel guilty saying all this...but it's true. Too bad most of the actors were bad, the scenario was stupid and the ending very cliché, because the first impression it gives you is that you'll be scared from the beginning to the end...not true...and only the fact that this impression is there gives points to this film. Bad, but not that much...5/10

This astounding sixth addition to the Children of the Corn had potential from the start. The antagonist from the 1984 original was returning and being played by the very same actor, it had so much potential to steer the franchise back on course.

Alas it wasn't meant to be. Sadly Isaac returns into a mess of a film with a terrible cliched concept, an outstandingly dull pace and a film that contributes nothing to the series at all.

Credit where credit is due it does have a great twist and the final scene is great, but then immediatly ruins it by having a poor finale to that.

Starring the excellent Stacy Keach Isaac's Return should have been great but poor writing killed it stone dead.

The Good:

Decent twist

The return of Isaac and same actor is great

The Bad:

Very boring

Disapointing ending

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Calling a sixth movie 666 is tacky when it has nothing to do with the source material

I thought "He who walks behind the rows would be taller

Killer kids led by a charismatic bible-versed midget (Isaac) claiming to be a prophet of "he who walks behind the rows"...thus the series began. Although the first "Corn" was not a great film, the premise alone kept it engaging. Amazingly enough, it has spawned 5 sequels. The latest involves a daughter of a former cult member of the original "Corn" returning to the corn-stalked town of Gaitlin with the hopes of tracking down her mother. What follows is an incoherent mess including the return of Isaac from a 19 year long coma, a "prophecy" foretelling a breed of new "killer kids" coming from our lead character Hannah and Isaac's firstborn son, and a case of mistaken identity resulting in the definitive answer of the question who is "he who walks behind the rows?". You will be disappointed with the answer. Fans of cheap scares, ultra-gore, shoddy but entertaining special effects and other B-movie characteristics will find this movie absent of all the above. Fans of serious cinema would not have rented this movie due to the title alone (try to tell your significant other that we are going to enjoy CHILDREN OF THE CORN 666: ISAAC'S RETURN tonight). Consequently, this dull movie has no audience. B-movie fans DYING to enjoy a COC sequel tonight should look up COC 3: Urban Harvest. Directed by Anthony Hixox and effects by Screaming Mad George, it is the liveliest entry in a series that should have died before it even began. I am no longer renting any more COCs unless John Woo wants to take a stab at horror.

Entering this sixth entry to the long drawn out COTC series, I was intrigued at the thought of Isaac's return. The original film is one that I enjoyed a lot, so there were hopes that this could bring the series back to it's successful roots. Unfortunately for me, this ended being a major flop.

We meet Hannah who is traveling to Gatlin, the infamous town from the original Children of the Corn. She lets viewers know that she was born there 19 years prior and has visions of some kind from that horrible place even though she was just a baby. Hannah is also planning to search for her mother, who she was told had died. When she gets into a mini car accident, the town sheriff pulls her over and has a reaction when she sees Hannah's name. After being taken to the Gatlin hospital, she finds Isaac in a coma like state. As soon as she touches him, he opens his eyes awaking him from an almost 20 year sleep.

Hannah soon meets a young man named Gabriel that she takes a liking too. Unfortunately for her, he seems to be working with the sheriff and local doctor against her. It is mentioned by them that the prophecy states Hannah must find out the truth of her birth. While she explores Gatlin, we discover that Isaac has a son. The prophecy that Isaac speaks of states that Hannah must sleep with his teenage son and create the new generation of child cultists to carry out the wishes of He Who Walks Behind The Rows. With no one in Gatlin that she can trust, will Hannah escape the horrific prophecy? Or will Isaac succeed in carrying out what he calls the wishes of "He Who Walks Behind The Rows".

The idea of bringing the series back to the original and making a direct sequel to that one was a great idea on paper, but there were significant flaws in the making of the overall movie. Firstly, the acting might be the worst of all sequels to this point. John Franklin was still as good as ever, playing Isaac one last time. He was made for this evil role. Everyone else struggled. Even Nancy Allen and Stacy Keach, who have always delivered in horror, seemed so out of place in a sixth Children of the Corn film. A lot of the younger cast weren't all that good either, with Natalie Ramsey (Hannah) being the exception. The quality of the film was also tough to look at, there was a constant beige/tan filter over the entire movie throughout. It looked really low budget after some stronger sequels.

There were some real positives in this as well. I loved the idea to bring Isaac back and bring us back to what happened after Linda Hamilton and Peter Horton walked away from their broken down car in Gatlin. Using the teenage Rachel and Amos characters that we saw in the original was extremely clever and tied a lot of things together in an interesting way.

Unfortunately, the flaws of COTC 666: Isaac's Return outweigh the positives. This was my least favourite of the series to this point.

4/10

Bringing back the original 'star' of a TV show or film series is usually a gimmick employed to get a series back on track, with varying degrees of success. Here it only goes to prove that not only is John Franklin a bad actor, but his writing skills are similarly questionable. It may be 'interesting' to see how he envisaged the series continuing, but it makes a less than interesting film. This is dull, confusing sepia-toned drivel, with neither plot or substance, and almost no children or corn! What's that all about?

Even number 5 is better than this...