CHILDREN OF THE CORN III: URBAN HARVEST

US, 1995, 95 minutes, Colour.

Daniel Cernyy, Ron Melendez, Jim Metzler, Nancy Lee Grahn, Michael Ensign..

Directed by James D.R.Hickox.

The original film of this title was released in 1984, a film version of a Stephen King story. Since then there have been many variations, developments of Stephen King’s story, new imaginings.

This film opens in the cornfields, two teenagers, the father of one of them pursuing him with a rifle. The other, younger boy, has a bound book, indicating some supernatural force, holding it up, the pursuing father taken possession by the corn and raised like a scarecrow, disfigured.

But, as the title suggests, the main action of the film is in the city of Chicago, the two boys being adopted by parents who wanted children, the father a business dealer, the mother eager to care for the two young men. They are enrolled in the Catholic school, presided over by priests.

Audiences can see that the younger boy is quite sinister and this theme develops throughout the film, external good behaviour with his influence in the school, but his evil intentions, imagination, casting spells on those he dislikes, especially his adoptive mother, horrifying dreams, his callous treatment and, ultimately, her brutal death.

The older boy does not have the religious inclinations of the younger and becomes eagerly involved with various members of the class, race issues, romantic issues.

The adoptive father is impressed by the corn seeds and cobs the boys brought to the city, having grown exponentially, quality corn, the father trying to do business with distributors.

Up to this point, the film moves along reasonably with the mystery of the boys, the children of the corn, the mysterious aspects of the corn, the nightmares and indications of brutal deaths.

But, in the final part of the film, it goes into excess, even for 1995, monstrous sequences, the priest having nightmares, trying to cope with the school, getting advice, the younger boy tormenting him in the church, upsidedown crucifix… But, then it becomes more monstrous, the older boy going out to the country, discovering the truth about his father, his friends threatened in the cornfields, and, even more, the transformation of the boy into a monster, the long history of the book and its mysteries, the film emphasising more and more the monstrous which is too much dramatically for the film and maybe too much for most audiences (except for those who relish larger and more monstrous monsters).

And, more variations on Children of the Corn would be made over the next 20 to 30 years.