Movie Info
Movie Name: Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest
Studio: Dimension Films
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): September 12, 1995
MPAA Rating: R
“We pray to the God of Corn to kill our new adoptive parents”…It’s just something we say back in Iowa
Eli and Joshua (Daniel Cerny and Ron Melendez) have just lost their father and are relocated from Gatlin to Chicago in the home of Amanda and William Porter (Nancy Lee Grahn and Jim Metlzer). While Joshua shows signs of integrating at their new school by making friends with Maria (Mari Morrow) and her brother Malcolm (Jon Clair), Eli remains an outside but begins to grow allies by opposing Father Nolan (Michael Ensign). As Eli’s followers grow and William Porter works on a deal to distribute the strange strain of corn developed by Eli, Joshua suspects his brother might not be all he claims to be.
Directed by James D. R. Hickox, Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest was poorly received and the last Children of the Corn films to receive a theatrical opening following Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice in1993. Now, it is better known for the fact that it marked the film premiere of Academy Award winning actress Charlize Theron in a small role as one of Eli’s followers.
Oh no! That Claymation thing from Howard the Duck is eating Barbies!
The movie is a great movie to watch if you want to laugh. The special effects are awful. The “killer” scarecrow in Gatlin and the He-Who-Walks-Behind-the-Rows Claymation creature that eats a little doll that is supposed to be Mari Morrow, you begin to wonder if the movie had any budget (the cheap looking model corn looked like they got it in the discount bin at Michael’s Crafts). It is also shot bizarre with the style changing over and over again sometimes with slow motion, sometimes with color flashbacks…but all with no consistency.
This is total crap! I wish I’d get a role as a butch serial killer!
Despite the cheap look, there are a few creative deaths, though the poor script kind of negates them. The adoptive mother (who was set up as a potential hero) bites it by falling on a water pipe. Morrow and Clair’s parents become victims of cockroaches (which I guess come out of the corn when adults eat it…kind of unclear) and end up splitting open like the kid wearing the mask in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. The other creative death involved Clair’s spine being pulled out about 10 feet (though he’s probably only 6 foot at max) and towering over the cornfield…while his good friend Joshua just flees.
Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest is a “get what you expect” type movie. You can’t go into it thinking it is good and you definitely won’t leave thinking it is good. Children of the Corn III-VI have been collected on one low price Blu-Ray so it isn’t much of a budget breaker for a good laugh. Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest was followed by the straight-to-video release of Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering in 1996.
Related Links:
Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1993)
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996)
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