Film Review: CHILDREN of the CORN III: URBAN HARVEST (1995)

Three years after the previous film the franchise goes straight to video with the best of all the sequels "Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest." Part 3 sees brothers Eli and Joshua (Daniel Cerney and Ron Melendez, respectfully) being taken in by William and Amanda Porter (Jim Metler and Nancy Lee Grahn, respectfully) who live in the city far from their home of Gatlin. Now the terror of the country has found its way into the urban city.



Screenwriter Dode B. Levenson crafts a suspenseful tale of East meets West or in this film's case Country Meets City as there is more to Eli then seems as he can somehow manipulate objects, make people see things that aren't really there, and has a strange fascination with the corn from Gatlin which he has brought with him and has planted in the nearby ruins of an old building. As Joshua acclimates himself with his new life and lifestyle Eli continues to spread the work of He Who Walks Behind the Rose manipulating the young people of his school. Not everyone is under his spell as Amanda and the school principal Father Nolan (Michael Ensign) know that something is not quite right with Eli and they will stop at nothing to discover the truth.



The reason why this film works so well is because of actor Cerney who brings genuine menace in the form of Eli in the same way that John Franklin did in the original film as Isaac. The film also excels because of the superb Makeup effects courtesy of Screaming Mad George who makes every kill as eventful and sometimes even bloodier than the original film. Despite the big reveal of the monster of He Who Walks Behind the Rose at the climax of the film (which they probably should have never done) Screaming Mad George's creation is one of the best in the entire franchise making it one of the highlights of the film for horror fans.



The entire Corn franchise has been relegated with cheap special visual effects but in this film there is a more reliance on practical effects and puppets which makes this film a highlight of the franchise and a film that has held up pretty well over the years.