Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995)

Directed by James D.R. Hickox [Other horror films: The Gardener (1998), Krocodylus (2000), Sabretooth (2002), Detention (2010)]

I think that Urban Harvest is among one of the more enjoyable sequels in the Children of the Corn series. It’s not a great movie, and it does have some problems, but entertaining? As some folks say, you betcha.

Let’s get some of the issues out of the way first.

The finale was awful. Toward the end, a giant creature rises from a make-shift cornfield, and while it does lead to a few solid scenes, the overall execution is pretty atrocious.

Related to the finale, Ron Melendez’s character went to Gatlin and then back to Chicago, where the majority of the film takes place. To me, it seems clear this is happening the same night, as it’s the night of the Harvest Moon. However, it was night when Melendez was in Gatlin, Nebraska, and when he gets back to Chicago (at least a 7 hour drive), it’s still dark.

That’s what I’d call a problem.

Also, I have to admit to some dissatisfaction when it comes to the He-Who-Walks-Behind-the-Rows cult that Eli forms, and this is a problem I had dating back to the first movie, so allow me to take it a step at a time.

The idea of children, with religious upbringings and living in an isolated, rural community decided to band together under a charismatic leader preaching a harder line of their faith makes sense to me. I find it a legitimately creepy idea, and I love plenty of scenes from the original Children of the Corn.

Where the problem comes in is how the 1984 movie ended – by showing some type of actual entity that seemed to represent He-Who-Walks-Behind-the-Rows. This movie does sort of the same thing, with the random monster at the end. I truly believe these movies would be creepier if they dropped the supernatural elements and went purely with the idea of religious mania in kids causing them to kill adults.

Related, Eli (who takes the place of Isaac/Malachai/Micah) sort of brainwashes much of his religious private school (which really felt more like a public school, on a side-note) to create a cult in Chicago. I would have preferred he used his charisma – and he does have charisma, as the scene in which he’s given a sermon shows – and urged the young onto his side naturally. It would have felt more sincere, I think, then just dosing them and creating a cult of young followers all at once.

And also related, Eli says a few things that seem, at least to me, to imply he’s the Devil, or at the very least a demon, or something along those lines (this is most prevalent when he’s speaking with Michael Ensign’s Catholic father character). Maybe I took Eli’s comments the wrong way, but those who worship He-Who-Walks-Behind-the-Rows would theoretically have a religious system that’s more Biblical, fire-and-brimstone stuff. It’s not anti-Christianity, it’s just a more harsh interpretation of the exact same Bible.

My point is, if I’m understanding Eli’s comments correctly, and he’s the Devil or a demon, that goes entirely against what makes the basic idea of Stephen King’s short story so good. These children who follow Isaac/Malachai weren’t following some Pagan belief system, they were Biblical Christians, twisting things around a bit to create a more rural flavor. Making Eli some sort of supernatural figure (which this movie sadly does, as it shows newspaper clippings of Eli in Gatlin in the 1960’s, before the events of the 1984 movie transpire) just damages the whole idea.

Obviously, those are a lot of critiques, and if someone thinks they’re a bit nit-picky, I’d personally have to disagree. Even with the very real problems in the movie, though, Urban Harvest does generally tend to be entertaining, and like I said, among one of the better sequels in the series.

It’s somewhat of a wild ride, which is where I think a lot of the entertainment can come from. Two kids from Gatlin (Ron Melendez and Daniel Cerny) experience major culture shock when they’re adopted by a couple in Chicago, and it leads to a lot of fun scenes, including a sort of corny one in which Melendez’s character is kicking ass in a basketball game despite appearing an Amish guy.

There are somewhat surprising deaths of characters, some wild dream sequences (two of which actually show scenes from the previous movies, such as the opening diner massacre of the 1984 film and the death of the doctor, getting stabbed by a ton of syringes, as shown in the second movie), a few gory deaths; certainly there’s stuff here that should be able to keep you engaged with the story.

Not all of the special effects look great, though. Sometimes they do get it right – there’s a decapitation by cornstalk and another individual cut in half by a window that look solid – but then there’s someone who sort of swallows fire from a lighter that looks pretty iffy, and the finale, what with the giant monster and Eli throwing fireballs of faith at Joshua, had quite a few effects that didn’t seem altogether special.

Daniel Cerny (Demonic Toys) is no John Franklin or Courtney Gains, but he definitely has a solid aura to him, and the scene in which he’s giving a moving sermon over the objections of the priest was some quality stuff. Ron Melendez (Voodoo) does well as a teen who’s lived a hard life and is trying to adjust to a new one. I wish that Mari Morrow and Jon Clair, who played sister and brother, had been a bit more involved at times, but they had their moments.

Nancy Lee Grahn isn’t the focus you might at first think, but she’s a decent character. Jim Metzler (976-EVIL, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat), on the flip-side, never really grows, and while his performance was okay, there didn’t seem a lot to his character. Michael Ensign (Doctor Hackenstein) is decently fun, and Yvette Freeman almost has a CCH Pounder-feel to her, which I can dig.

Plenty of the kills are entertaining also. Like I said, there’s a few duds here that don’t hit right, but the film opens with someone being attacked by cornstalks and effectively turned into a scarecrow (complete with sewing the lips and eyes shut), which was decently gruesome. Likewise, while that decapitation by the cornstalks wasn’t amazing, it was decently gory, and a fun kill to watch.

All-in-all, Urban Harvest is a flawed movie that tends to be rather entertaining. I think it could have been better had they changed a few things around, but even with the final product as it is, it can be a fun movie to watch, and though I’ve seen it around three times now, it’s a movie I can still see myself enjoying in the future also.

7.5/10