Les Démons du maïs 5 : La Secte des damnés

Children of the Corn movies can get sooooooooooo annoying, but I didn't mind this one too much. Stacy Galina, Alexis Arquette, Eva Mendes, Greg Vaughan, Ahmet Zappa, and David Carradine were all pretty good. I also have seen Eva Mendes in Urban Legends: Final Cut, which is another recommended horror film. Anyways, this wasn't terrible, but was just in the middle. I give Children of the Corn 5: Fields of Terror a 7 out of 6 out of 10. :)

Dull and dull-witted entry. Nothing happens for entire stretches. The main evil kid is played by an Alfred E. Neuman look-alike contest winner, hence more suited to the role of the nerdy kid everyone picks on in school than of a menacing cult leader. Alexis Arquette is in this one, too: one of the most obvious warning signs just how bad Hollywood's degeneration through in-breeding can get. Alexis has shoulders that measure about 6 cm from one to the other, and they are downward-slumped as if wanting to escape his entire being by burying themselves in the corn-field with the rest of the cult's victims. It would be a hard answer to the question as to who is more nerdy, dumb-looking, in-bred and just plain ugly - Alexis or his even more annoying brother David Arquette. The female cast isn't any better

This one is the best so far, by far, it actually holds your interest unlike the other films with the exception of part III that holds your interest all the way up to the lamest ending of all times. Part V stays with it's farmlike and ccountrylike setting and is yet another story of a child who teaches about "He who walks behind the rows" (not rose for some of you calling it that) and he brings a bunch of kids ranging from 12-18 to serve "He who walks behind the rows" by killing the adults and anyone who will not join or threatens them, etc. There are 4 characters that we concentrate on all the way 'til the end of the movie which has the best ending in the series with more excitment muck like "Children Of The Corn II: The Final Sacrifice" 's ending. I won't spoil it for you but for once all this phsyco kids that follow him are gona get what they deserve. Part 6 in the series comes out 10/19/99 and will have the return of Issac (part 1) and hopefully will end the series because it is getting old, but if it's anything like this one fell free to make some more sequels. *** stars

This series has become a genre in itself, and therefore, people will like it or hate it. Personally, seeing the original COTC when I was growing up, it was not a great movie, but it had originality back in the era of Jason, Michael and Freddy.

It also tapped into childhood car trips into the country, with all the country sounds and smells, and of course, the claustrophobia of endless open spaces (which this movie breaks with to it's detriment, with it's mountain background), with rows and rows of corn, just too high to see over. This what the concept _does_ have going for it.

Now, it's just another vehicle for unknown actors to cut their teeth on, instead of daytime soap. Eva Mendez stands out, though, and her portrayal of Kir is both sensitive and fragile, while she is gorgeous to look at. She is being set up, though, and her killing herself over a boyfriend makes no sense whatsoever.

Because of the stale concept, there is very little suspense just there, and the director doesn't add any, either. You _know_ there is a cornfield possessed by a demon and a horde of "telepathic" children doing most of the killing for him. This being based on the 80's slasher concept, you also know that most of the protagonists are going to die. And they do. There's no suspense in that. Also, little Adam Wylie needs a lot more acting lessons.

What this series needs is more titanic battles, more ambivalent leads, more esoteric lore and simply more imagination on the part of the writers (plural). And a bigger budget too (which the original didn't have either). With the X-Files series running for 5 years now, I think there has been an over-exposure of horror, and what could shock in a movie a decade ago, now is something you're likely to see for free on week night television.

"Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror" is the fifth in the series, and actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Now I'm not saying it's great, but it wasn't a complete waste either. This film is about a group of teenage friends who happen to be driving through a small midwestern town that is home to more of the evil child cult. When they crash their car, however, and have a creepy encounter with the children who emerge from a cornfield, they decide to try and get help somewhere. They end up finding an abandoned farmhouse that is currently for sale, and decide it is perfectly okay to shack up there and raid the cupboards where the only find some Maracchino cherries. Of course, the house is right at the edge of a cornfield, where the evil kids are lurking. From there on, the friends begin to drop like flies, all meeting grisly fates from the children.

This was alright, I was expecting something much worse (I usually expect the worst from films like this). The story wasn't really original, but none of these sequels are so that doesn't really matter. The friends decide they're going to try and help the children, which is rather ridiculous. The acting was a surprise, it was actually decent. The only cast member I recognized was Eva Mendes from "Urban legends: Final Cut", the rest are pretty much unknowns. We had some good cameo appearance by David Carradine, an evil supporter of the cult, and Kane Hodder (who played Jason in some of the "Friday the 13th" films) in a minor role of a local bartender. I really didn't the movie was that bad though.

Overall, this isn't as good as "Part IV: The Gathering" was (in my opinion at least) but it was an alright follow up. Don't take it so seriously, you might enjoy it. Of course it's campy, but in a good way. 5/10.