Some of the effects are good..
Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995)
Directed By: James D.R. Hickox
Where to get it: Echo Bridge
The Prologue
And we stick to the field with 1995′s, Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest. Which is pretty much Children of the Corn in the hood in a lot of ways. I guess it could have been worse, they could have took the corn to space after all. Anyway, here we are with this straight to video release that just missed the resurrection of horror in 1996, when Scream would come out and try to make us forget this mid-90′s stuff. This also comes to me by the new Children of the Corn multi-feature from Echo Bridge. You get this and three other Children of the Corn movies on one blu-ray disc. You can also get it solo, or with five other Children of the Corn movies on a standard DVD set.
The Movie
Soon after a childless couple adopts a pair of orphaned brothers, it becomes alarmingly clear the boys are much more than they seem. With the immense power to hypnotize schoolmates into mindless followers and destroy any adult opposition, the younger boy continues the frightening campaign of terror that began in Children of the Corn. But there is one person—the brave older brother—who can possibly stop the relentless destruction, setting up a powerful final showdown between good and evil.
What you get here with this is a tale of two brothers. One named Eli, who is the little creepy brother that brings all that cornfield stuff to the big city. I mean literally, he brings corn and plants it next to his new home. Meanwhile, the older brother, Joshua, is more worried with making friends and getting into an inner racial relationship! Hey, this was 1995 so that was still kinda different. I mean, you’d almost think Spike Lee made this, but if that had been the case I think all white men would have probably sprouted horns. But none the less, Joshua is too busy getting his mack on while Eli is busy brainwashing every kid in the neighborhood and getting them to want to kill all the adults and follow him.
Things progress along and you get some creepy moments, but really things drag out a bit too much. Even worse, all the fun from part two isn’t here. What is here is some cool natural effects. Some will somewhat remind you of a Nightmare on Elm Street movie in their nature. Of course that comes to a stop during the last part of the film, when a terrible monster shows up. It’s in this moment where I think they either ran out of money or a new team took over the props. You’ll even spot them using a doll in the place of an actor in one scene…I kid you not. That’s amusing, but it really takes you out of things overall.
Would it be fair for me to call a film “awkward”? Because at times I do believe that would be the term best used to describe it. It at least tries to be better than it actually is, it just fails at it somewhat badly in a lot of areas. However, with the lead villain, Eli, the movie keeps with that whole Amish name thing from the first two movies. That could be the only continuity it has with the first two films besides the corn. Sadly, if you did break it on down, I think the effects I told you about might just be the only reason to see this one, unless you are just a big fan of this franchise of course. Then by all means, give it a go!
The Conclusion
Well, outside of some cool effects (before the giant monster appears at the end), this movie didn’t do a whole lot for me. But if you want a random fact, look for Charlize Theron in the cast of random kids here. Apparently this was her first movie. And I guess everyone has to start somewhere huh? It’s just a shame this one couldn’t have kept the same vibe going as part two.
The Rating (5/10)
Chucks website
