Children of the Corn 2: The Final Sacrifice movie review

Children of the Corn 2: The final Sacrifice came out in 1992 and was the last of the Children of the Corn movies to see a theatrical release. This movie is a direct sequel to the original classic, which was loosely based on the Stephen King short story. This movie picks up right after the events of the first movie, with all of the adults of Gatlin NE being dead, and only some of the children left behind. The children are being rehomed with new families in the neighboring town of Hemingford (now if you are a Stephen King fan, you will recognize Hemingford, or Hemingford Home NE as a key location in his epic The Stand, so it is nice to see how Children of the Corn connects with the rest of the Stephen King universe). Danny, and his dad a tabloid news reporter arrive late to the town after all of the other reporters have already gotten their story and left, and the children have already been bused off to their new homes in Hemingford. However they do meet a beautiful woman who happens to own a bed and breakfast (who also took in one of the children from Gatlin) and they follow her to her bed and breakfast. The movie tells a few different stories, one you have Danny's dad investigating the story behind the deaths of the adults in Gatlin, while at it he befriends a native american professor, and also he develops feelings for the woman from the bed and breakfast along the way. Another story being told is Danny and his dad's relationship which is rocky, and when Danny is trying to catch a bus to go back home to NY he meets the extremely beautiful Lacey, and they end up falling in love. All while this is going on you have the story of Micah becoming possessed by He Who Walks Behind The Rows and leading the children of Gatlin in their plot to rid the world of the adults who have poisoned the Earth. This movie is honestly really well done, and I will honestly say that I like it slightly more than the original (though the original had the bad-ass Linda Hamilton and that is pretty hard to top). The story is really well done with multiple story archs going on at once and never getting muddled, or confusing. There is also some great story misdirection going on as Danny's Dad and Frank Red Bear and him investigate what happened in Gatlin. The characters are also really well cast, and I feel that the actors do a great job in their roles, and the viewer gets attached to the main characters, while distrusting and fearing other characters. There is a decent amount of character and story development taking place, while never slowing down the flow of the film. The special effects are early examples of CGI effects, and some are a bit similar to those seen in the Lawnmower Man (which was a terrible movie based off of Stephen King short story from the same book). The effects look bad compared to today's standards, but honestly I really like them, I feel that they actually work really well, and though are not anywhere close to being realistic or believable, work if you only let yourself not dwell on their technical limitations and enjoy them for what they are and when they were made. I actually think this movie is fun to watch, it has a nice amount of blood and gore, but not enough to rely on the gross out for scares, but to actually rely on the story telling to scare the audience. None of the actors in this movie are big name actors and I kind of like that, the extremely beautiful young woman who played Lacey might also be recognized from Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, so it is kind of cool to see her in another horror movie sequel. So it is nice seeing these lesser known actors excelling at their roles in this movie, and not relying on star power to carry the movie. As far as flaws, the movie does have a cheap look to it, which I can't really explain, it is just something that I feel when watching it. The CGI effects that I mentioned before are definitely primitive by today's standards, but if you can get past that, and remember that this movie is from 1992, I feel that those effects work for what they are trying to accomplish. This movie also suffers from the, "black guy being among the first to die" horror movie trope, as there was only one in the movie, and you put him out in the middle a haunted cornfield in white-bread bible belt Nebraska, you know in a horror movie of this time period in this setting the poor guy is not long for this world. But other than a few tired horror movie tropes, I really enjoy this movie a lot. Would I recommend this movie? Yes, absolutely it is definitely my favourite Children of the Corn movie, and honestly as far as I am concerned the series should have stopped with this one too. I think it is well done and enjoyable to watch, with a nice multifaceted story going on with multiple story arcs, and just overall well done for an underrated early 90s horror movie. Though I do get that this movie might not be everyone's cup o' tea, but I do recommend giving it a view, and just enjoy yourself and try not to over analyse or get yourself lost in the special effects limitations, or the lack of a super high budget look.