And we finally have one that references the original.
Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return (1999)
Directed By: Kari Skogland
Where to get it: Echo Bridge
The Prologue
1999 brought the world panic in the form of a Y2K bug that everyone just knew would destroy the Earth. 1999 also gave us Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return. While one could safely argue that the well was running dry on the whole Children of the Corn franchise, it was at least a little comforting to know that unlike everything from 3 to 5, this one really feels like a legit sequel to the original. This is of course due to the return of the character named, Isaac from the original. And now he’s full grown, making the “Children” part more figuratively speaking that literally. Either way, this is the 4th film on the four film Children of the Corn blu-ray set from Echo Bridge.
The Movie
On a trip to Gatlin, Nebraska to find her birth mother, Hannah Martin picks up a dark stranger who kicks off a mysterious chain of events. Little does Hannah know, her journey may help fulfill a sinister prophecy made 19 years earlier by Isaac, the corn-cult’s original evil leader. It’s a hair-raising movie event you don’t want to miss…as Isaac makes his terrifying return and the Children of the Corn achieve their ultimate destiny.
Seeing as how I don’t remember much about the original film, I don’t know if Isaac was supposed to be dead or not, but none the less here he is. And while he isn’t a kid anymore, he is still short enough to pass off as at least a midget. But we see really quickly into this thing that he hasn’t lost his skills of being able to talk the local children into doing very very evil things, and things do get evil, especially around the 55 minute marker. Now I won’t go and spoil anything. But Isaac and his little crew of corn followers aren’t alone in this thing. There’s other trouble in the film, and it’s even trouble for them.
To spite a particular scene I can recall very well, there doesn’t seem to be as much gore this time around as what we have grown use to. And that in it’s self is a bit of a let-down. But while the gore isn’t here as much, we can at least take comfort in knowing we have a pretty darn good lead, that if nothing else, looks amazingly hot on screen. So, any of you that love pretty women will at least like that part of it. And all jokes aside, the acting here is pretty good all around. If the acting wasn’t this passable, we may have been in a lot of trouble with this one.
If you are also looking for another plus from this one, it doesn’t run that long. I don’t have the time jotted down around me at the moment, but it doesn’t seem to go that long overall. I do wish it had a bit more gore, I’m not sure why they decided to go another way with this one and stray away from that. It was pretty much the only long running highlight of the entire film series. It’s cool seeing one of the original kids back into the mix, but there still was a bit lacking here that works against it to hold it back. But it could have been a whole lot worse, so therefor I won’t be complaining too much.
The Conclusion
Well, it’s about on the same level as the two before it, but at least we aren’t dipping back down into part 3 territory. This would be followed up by “Revelations” in 2001 and of course a remake came out not that long back of the original and new sequel to the original franchise came out this year. I’ve already covered Revelations, but maybe we’ll get to those other ones around here before too long.
The Rating (5.5/10)
Chucks website
