Acrostar's last few movies have been either a hit or miss. From the very good Disremembered and Attack of the Corn Zombies to the lackluster They came back from Somewhere and the guilty pleasure that is Night of the Dead Sorority Babes. So, how did they fair with their latest entry into the non studio low budget films? Let's find out.
Return of the Corn Zombies takes place a year or so after the outbreak in Attack of the Corn Zombies. Zombies with corn stalks and kernels growing from them, wander the earth for their next victims. We meet a group of survivors, Kathleen (Chloe Lutz), her sister Robin (Delilah Hefner), Theo (Hunter Redfern), Janice (Angel Bradford), Trip (Christopher Kahler) and Edith (Chanda Rawlings) searching for what everyone in a zombie apocalypse searches for, food and shelter. Their hopes lay in a place called The Homestead where salvation awaits them. Not everyone gets along, Theo and Kathleen argue on the correct course of action but there is a great moment between them that I will get to later, in fact, there are two moments in the first half of the film that shine. When they do reach The Homestead they find out that paradise is not all the it seems. It's leader Sean (David Paul), along with his wife Dottie (Remya Knightlinger) his daughters Betty (Mel Heflin) and Maggie (Kelsey Ann Baker), Sean's bodyguard Steven (Chris Lutterloah) Hell, even Sean's wife (Beth Metcalf) who is now one of the corn undead, is kept in the basement. They have assumed control of a house, ironically the same house the family in the first movie lived in which is brought up at one point in the film. I can't go further into the details once they reach the homestead because of spoilers but I will say that it's a storyline we've seen before.
The performances were spot on, though there were a few clunkers, especially in two parts where you could tell how editing saved those scenes, however there are two great moments that stand out in the first half. Lutz gives a masterful performance when talking about what happened to her parents and how she struggles to tell her sister the truth. The other, Rawlings and Kahler that had my wife in tears. Not to be forgotten, Redfern has a similar performance later in the film when talking about what happened to his sister, though not as impactful as Lutz's. Most everyone affects the story one way or another, with the exception of Steven, who just lingers in the background. The screenplay, written by Steve Hermann, gives each character a little something to make the audience either sad or happy when they meet their demise. The film moves at a good pace. Each scene flows nicely into the next with the exception of the dinner scene and even though it gives some insight of the state of the world, it drags on a little too long. If I had to give the best performance it would be Heflin's portrayal of the diabolical Betty.
Return of the Corn Zombies had a high hill to climb to meet the expectations of its big brother and while it does not meet those expectations it's still a worthy successor. Missing is the feel, the look from the first film that gave a true Grindhouse feel to it. The frantic third act, bouncing from one scene to another, is extremely well done and major compliments to Beth Metcalf for the work she did on the look of the zombies. Return of the Corn Zombies is a character driven story, more so than the first which may turn people off who are looking for just mindless zombie killing action.
7/10.
