Children Of The Corn 3: Urban Harvest (1995)
Children of The Corn 3: Urban Harvest (1995)
So it seemed like there was the the seeds of a great film franchise sown with the Children Of The Corn franchise after the successful 1984 film, and the great follow up to it in 1991. Children Of The Corn 3 Urban Harvest however would see the series turning to a direct to home video release, which is how the franchise would continue from here on out. Urban Harvest has a decent premise, with two children from Gatlin being adopted by a wealthy family in Chicago. The two children are not blood related though with Joshua's father moving to Gatlin because of the cheap land, which allowed him to experiment with corn, but his father adopted Eli who is one of the Gatlin children, who have at this point killed all of the adults in both Gatlin and Hemingford, in the previous two films. So the two boys find themselves in as adopted children in a wealthy family in Chicago, and they are sent to a Catholic school. Eli secretly grows a corn field in the abandoned factory next to their house, and at school he starts a cult of children, and the cycle starts again, where they will be harvesting the adults. But Joshua, his girlfriend Maria, and her brother/his best friend Malcom try to make a stand, as does the Father Frank Nolan the priest at their school. But can they stand against Eli and his cult, and "He Who Walks Behind The Rows"?
Children Of The Corn 3: Urban Harvest was directed by James D. R. Hickox, with a screenplay by Dobe D Levenson. The story concept is inspired by Stephen King's short story Children Of The Corn, but is more so based on the previous two films in the franchise, and includes some flashbacks with scenes from Children Of The Corn 2: The Final Sacrifice. The film was released direct to home video and distributed by Dimension Films and Miramax Films in 1995. I feel like the film attempts to bring the franchise into a more "hip" urban setting, and shows Eli preying upon urban kids who are disenfranchised with the adults in their lives, who are always busy with work and don't have time for their kids, so his sermons resonate with them. I think that that works for this film and the film has some decent potential, and starts off pretty well for a direct to video film, however during the climax the special effects and creature design takes this quite serious horror film, and plummets deeply into the realms of comedy. The monster would have looked comical even in back in the days of Ray Harryhausen, and then to do it in 1995, makes it not even look low-budget but purely for comedic effect. The special effects artist and creature designer should work for Troma, because this climax would have worked much better in a comedic splatter horror film from a company like Troma. The critics seemed to agree that the film starts off as an effective horror film until the bad climactic scene.
Children Of The Corn 3: Urban Harvest stars Daniel Cerny as Eli Porter, Ron Melendez as Joshua Porter, Nancy Lee Grahn plays their adopted mother Amanda Porter, and Jim Metzler plays their adopted father William Porter. Mari Morrow plays Maria Elkman, Jon Clair plays her brother Malcolm Elkman, and Michael Ensign plays Father Frank Nolan. The film also marks the film debut of Charlize Theron who plays and uncredited role as one of Eli's followers. The film is well cast, especially with Daniel Cerny as the creepy and evil religious fanatic Eli. The film does definitely play into a stereotype that all midwestern farmers are Amish, which is something that I have noticed that even some people in midwestern cities think of the people that live in the country, that they are super religious farmers with old biblical names. I did feel that Ron Melendez's character of Joshua felt a bit off, he starts of being much like Eli, but as the film goes on he tries to become more like the people around him, but he always feels kind of wooden, and honestly very dim witted. I feel like he is the stereotype of the naive "country bumpkin". For the most part the acting is exactly what you expect from a direct to video film release, b-actors doing the best with what they have.
Overall Children Of The Corn is an effective horror film, and if the creature at the end hadn't been such a violent switch in tone, it could have come off as a great serious film. Now I have talked bad about the effects in the film, to be fair, the effects could have worked better if the whole film had a low budget splatter horror tone. Like when one of the characters gets his spine pulled out of his body, that was a pretty cool looking effect, also the fact that the monster in the end is handling what is obviously a Barbie Doll can be absolutely great...IF that is the tone that the film is going for. Those kinds low budget practical effects would work in a Troma film, or in a film like Killer Klowns From Outer Space, and they would be absolutely loved by the fans because of their cheesy low budget and over the top gory tone. But to take a film that comes off as a serious dramatic horror film, and then to throw in the low budget effects makes it feel like it was a lazy failure to try to do quality effects to match the tone of their film. There are several examples of this throughout the film. Children Of The Corn 3, had potential of being a really great film, but it falls apart, making it probably the third best Children Of The Corn film up to the point that it was released. I will be honest, I really didn't like this film when I first saw it, but it has grown on me, and originally this film made me not want to see any of the other films in the franchise, but after watching it again last night, I started possibly considering that stance, and maybe if I come across the rest of the Children Of The Corn films I might consider picking them up. This is not a must see film, matter of fact, you aren't missing anything if you never watch this film, it isn't terrible, and can be good for a laugh, though like I said it had potential of being a great film. So it is what it is, so watch it if you wish, or pass on it if you want, it isn't terrible, but isn't worth seeking out.
Children Of The Corn 3: Urban Harvest was directed by James D. R. Hickox, with a screenplay by Dobe D Levenson. The story concept is inspired by Stephen King's short story Children Of The Corn, but is more so based on the previous two films in the franchise, and includes some flashbacks with scenes from Children Of The Corn 2: The Final Sacrifice. The film was released direct to home video and distributed by Dimension Films and Miramax Films in 1995. I feel like the film attempts to bring the franchise into a more "hip" urban setting, and shows Eli preying upon urban kids who are disenfranchised with the adults in their lives, who are always busy with work and don't have time for their kids, so his sermons resonate with them. I think that that works for this film and the film has some decent potential, and starts off pretty well for a direct to video film, however during the climax the special effects and creature design takes this quite serious horror film, and plummets deeply into the realms of comedy. The monster would have looked comical even in back in the days of Ray Harryhausen, and then to do it in 1995, makes it not even look low-budget but purely for comedic effect. The special effects artist and creature designer should work for Troma, because this climax would have worked much better in a comedic splatter horror film from a company like Troma. The critics seemed to agree that the film starts off as an effective horror film until the bad climactic scene.
Children Of The Corn 3: Urban Harvest stars Daniel Cerny as Eli Porter, Ron Melendez as Joshua Porter, Nancy Lee Grahn plays their adopted mother Amanda Porter, and Jim Metzler plays their adopted father William Porter. Mari Morrow plays Maria Elkman, Jon Clair plays her brother Malcolm Elkman, and Michael Ensign plays Father Frank Nolan. The film also marks the film debut of Charlize Theron who plays and uncredited role as one of Eli's followers. The film is well cast, especially with Daniel Cerny as the creepy and evil religious fanatic Eli. The film does definitely play into a stereotype that all midwestern farmers are Amish, which is something that I have noticed that even some people in midwestern cities think of the people that live in the country, that they are super religious farmers with old biblical names. I did feel that Ron Melendez's character of Joshua felt a bit off, he starts of being much like Eli, but as the film goes on he tries to become more like the people around him, but he always feels kind of wooden, and honestly very dim witted. I feel like he is the stereotype of the naive "country bumpkin". For the most part the acting is exactly what you expect from a direct to video film release, b-actors doing the best with what they have.
Overall Children Of The Corn is an effective horror film, and if the creature at the end hadn't been such a violent switch in tone, it could have come off as a great serious film. Now I have talked bad about the effects in the film, to be fair, the effects could have worked better if the whole film had a low budget splatter horror tone. Like when one of the characters gets his spine pulled out of his body, that was a pretty cool looking effect, also the fact that the monster in the end is handling what is obviously a Barbie Doll can be absolutely great...IF that is the tone that the film is going for. Those kinds low budget practical effects would work in a Troma film, or in a film like Killer Klowns From Outer Space, and they would be absolutely loved by the fans because of their cheesy low budget and over the top gory tone. But to take a film that comes off as a serious dramatic horror film, and then to throw in the low budget effects makes it feel like it was a lazy failure to try to do quality effects to match the tone of their film. There are several examples of this throughout the film. Children Of The Corn 3, had potential of being a really great film, but it falls apart, making it probably the third best Children Of The Corn film up to the point that it was released. I will be honest, I really didn't like this film when I first saw it, but it has grown on me, and originally this film made me not want to see any of the other films in the franchise, but after watching it again last night, I started possibly considering that stance, and maybe if I come across the rest of the Children Of The Corn films I might consider picking them up. This is not a must see film, matter of fact, you aren't missing anything if you never watch this film, it isn't terrible, and can be good for a laugh, though like I said it had potential of being a great film. So it is what it is, so watch it if you wish, or pass on it if you want, it isn't terrible, but isn't worth seeking out.
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