Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

This movie attempts to show us what would happen if you took some children *away* from the corn, as two Gatlin "siblings", Eli (Daniel Cerny), and Joshua (Ron Melendez), end up being adopted by a Chicago couple, William (Jim Metzler) and Amanda (Nancy Lee Grahn). The results are completely predictable. While Joshua, the older one, is the more innocent of the two (he's not *from* Gatlin, but moved there (!) with his father after the evil kids took over), the maniacal child preacher Eli takes control of the formerly apathetic student body at their school, and arranges for various adults to meet grisly ends. Naturally, it's up to Joshua to save the day.The first movie in this unlikely series sure wasn't any "good" to begin with, and this is no better. In fact, it's pretty laughable, but it's also pretty entertaining as far as *this* kind of genre entertainment goes. A bunch of serious looking actors gamely go with the flow as things get nutty and gory. Screaming Mad George supplies the decent makeup effects, although when he attempts to actually visualize He Who Walks Behind the Rows in the form of a cheesy monster, the movie *really* goes downhill quickly. Refreshingly, there are not too many characters here that are worth anybodys' sympathies. William, for example, proves to be sleazy and ambitious when he realizes that Eli is contriving a simply beautiful strain of corn in an unlikely environment.What makes this entry in the series worth watching is young Cerny. He won't make you forget John Franklin (Isaac in the first movie) anytime soon, but he's quite effective in the role of this evil kid. There are supporting roles and cameos for the likes of Johnny Legend, Yvette Freeman ('E.R.'), and Michael Ensign ("Ghost Busters", "Titanic" '97), as well as a super sexy leading lady in the form of Mari Morrow ("How to Be a Player", 'Family Matters').If you want fun horror that doesn't have to be *quality* horror, then this one might fit the bill.Seven out of 10.

Children of the Corn III takes us out of the cornfields and into the city! After murdering his father in some rural town, Eli and his brother Joshuah are put in to foster care to live with Mr and Mrs. Potter in Chicago. It isn't long before Eli starts praying to "he who walks behind the rows" and planting corn seeds in an empty factory next to the Potter's house. We quickly find out that Eli and Joshuah aren't actually related. Eli was adopted by Joshuah's parents and was one of the original children from Gatlin (therefore he hasn't aged since 1964). Anyone that gets in Eli's way or finds out his secret gets knocked off in grotesque ways, leading to a fiery ending in which Joshuah realizes that his "brother" must be stopped.I like seeing the two Amish-like brothers interact with the city kids, it was interesting dynamic. This sequel in the franchise definitely gets points for trying something new and taking the story outside of the cornfields in either Gatlin or Hemingford. The problem with it taking place in Chicago is that it doesn't have that same feel as the previous installments did. The special effects are also pretty good once again. Instead of so much blood like in Children of the Corn II, it is more and creative and disgusting in this one. The acting from everyone involved was really good, especially from Daniel Cerny who played evil Eli. This film does have it's flaws. It is VERY slow moving at times and becomes tedious during the middle frame. I also hate that they didn't continue with the story from the previous films. Yes, Eli was from Gatlin years ago but that's it. At least Part II continued off from where the first one finished. Overall a decent film which fans of the franchise should enjoy. It wasn't as effective as the previous two, but worth a watch.5/10

The movie opens in Gatlin. Hello Gatlin! It's nice to see you again. Oh, hi corn! Glad you're here too.A man comes out of a trailer, drunk and holding a scythe and starts chasing his son through the corn – for what I can only assume is to chop him up into little pieces and then eat them, or maybe sell them for money. I don't know. Son runs to his little brother who's half his size and gets him to deal with it.This is how we are introduced to the hammy acting skills of Eli and his brother Joshua. Two brothers, who like all kids of Gatlin – kill their father. Thus sending Eli and Joshua to Da Hood.They move in with their foster parents, Eli bringing corn with him – and it's all magic corn that kills people.Eli and Joshua attend school and find themselves starting to grow apart, they're still sharing a bed mind you, and as Joshua proves himself on the Basketball court (where EVERYTHING counts) and makes new friends. Eli gets angry at his brother asking why he's not with him anymore and that he loves him so much and needs to be with him all the time and to never ever leave him. Well he doesn't exactly say that – but his eyes told me that's what he was feeling.So apparently Eli is all evil and I think the movie was trying to push across that he was the devil? They really need to stop coming up with convoluted and over-reaching explanations when crazy religious kids who worship some corn demon works just fine.My favourite death was of the foster mother, who tripped over a pole and impaled her skull with a piece of pipe. Awesome. The ick factor goes up slightly when you think that one of her last memories on earth were of her super young foster son tonguing her ear. Nice.As Eli starts to convert the city kids to his cracked way of thinking and to start killing off their parents – Joshua heads back to Gatlin (Yay! Gatlin) which must be just around the corner from Chicago, to save the freaking day.While no where near as crappy as Children of the Corn 2: Final Sacrifice, this only rates slightly above in terms of inventive deaths and gore. And really, set in the city? It's about CORN movie people; a 3 row corn 'field' at the back of an abandoned warehouse is not creepy at all. It's weird.Charlize Theron is an extra in this movie. She must be so proud.Next up, Children of the Corn 4: Space Corn.

Children of the Corn III ** (out of 4) Josh (Ron Melendez) and his younger brother Eli (Daniel Cerny) move to Chicago from Nebraska after their father mysteriously disappears. As it turns out, Eli is in a cult with the corn and other forces and soon he's taking the kids of Chicago in plans to turn them against the world. This third film in the series was the first to go straight to video but it looks like it might have originally been meant for theaters. The production values are pretty good and nothing about it looks like something that would go straight to video. The movie is certainly better than the first one but I'm not sure how many people, outside of die-hard horror nuts like myself would actually want to watch it. I think the best thing they did was move the action to Chicago and put the cornfield in an abandoned building. Having the Amish kid stalk the streets and tough guys of Chicago made for a lot of fun as two cultures mixed and often did battle. The screenplay has a rather nice story even if what the heck Eli's trying to do never really makes too much sense. Some of the special effects are pretty bad but some are good like a few scenes where some adults throw up some insects. Performances are decent for this type of movie, which is all we can ask for. Apparently this was Charlize Theron's first movie but I wasn't able to spot her.