Bitch, bitch, bitch is back
Bitch, bitch, bitch is back
Elton John
Most horror film series are based on a character—Freddy, Chucky, Sidney Prescot, Dracula, the Warrens, etc.—while a few are based on a concept. The concept series are easier to make since you just have to have a very loose connection to the concept to make it fit. You don’t need to get actors back from previous films or follow a route of any kind. You just make a film with this concept. Parnormal Activity is one of those, Amityville Horror another, and, of course, Children of the Corn.
The sixth chapter in this “saga” is the first film in the series that brings back an actor from a previous one, Gary Bullock, the original villain from the first film, Isaak. He Who Walks Behind the Rows didn’t manage to kill him like we thought, and he has been in a coma. It makes no sense, but here we are.
The town of Gatlin is now mostly void of children, but some of the original children of the corn, now adults, are still active members of the cult that was very specific about the need to commit suicide when you turned 18. It makes no sense, but here we are.
Gaitin’s inhabitants include a doctor played by legend Stacy Keach, who looks like he is very happy and enthusiastic about being in the sixth Children of the Corn film. A cult survivor portrayed by Nancy Allen, who started her career in Brian DePalma films like the Stephen King classic Carrie (1976) and she looks just as happy as Keach about being here.
The film follows Allen’s daughter, a grandchild of the corn if you will, who came to Gatlin to find her mother, only to be sucked into a prophecy about Isaac and a future race of pure corn children, or something like that. It makes no sense, but here we are.
Kari Skogland directed the film and did a competent job with what little she had. She has gone on to greater things, including directing the first season of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier for Marvel.
Nobody else went to greater things, which is a shame. Gary Bullock is obviously the only one who wanted this film to be made (he co-wrote it) and produces an enjoyable performance in an otherwise rather dull and lifeless flick.