GG
Giuliano Giacomelli
•Hannah Martin decides to return to her hometown, Gatlin, to get information about her real mother. But as soon as she decides to pick up an unknown old man, things will not go as planned and a series of events will be triggered that will lead young Hannah to the psychiatric hospital in Gatlin. Here she will discover that Isaac, who was once the preacher of the "Children of the Corn" sect, is hospitalized and ready to return, more ruthless than ever, to fulfill a prophecy made many years ago.
We have reached the sixth chapter of the prolific but uninteresting "Children of the Corn" saga, which began in 1984 with the cinematic adaptation of a Stephen King story by Fritz Kiersch. "Children of the Corn" turned out to be a more than satisfactory film and, despite not having a very innovative story (a similar plot had already been developed in 1976 in Spain with the beautiful "How Can You Kill a Child?"), it still managed to exude a certain charm, capable of surprising and captivating the viewer.
Almost ten years pass before the sequel, "Children of the Corn 2 - The Final Sacrifice," is produced and made, a film far removed from its predecessor but still salvageable. From then on (i.e., from 1993), a real marathon of sequels began, mostly all ingenuous films and barely sufficient, until reaching the late 1999, the year in which "Children of the Corn 666 - The Return of Isaac" was made.
This sixth chapter, which arrived in our country only in 2006, is yet another confirmation that the "Children of the Corn" saga should not have been beaten too much but should have ended with the first film; in fact, if all its sequels barely reached sufficiency, this sixth chapter is the most clumsy and useless seen so far and there was certainly no need for a film of this kind to be made.
Although the film directly connects to the first one (we are once again in the small town of Gatlin and once again dealing with the malevolent Isaac), the story fails to offer any minimally interesting point due to huge problems that hide right in the foundations of the work: the screenplay.
The screenplay, written by Tim Sulka and John Franklin (the latter also an actor in the role of Isaac), is really too messy because it decides to throw too much meat on the fire, a fire that is however destined to go out quickly; in fact, the film decides to deal with far too many topics and situations that it however fails to deepen at all due to the very short duration (just over an hour) and the result is therefore that of a big mess made up of many ideas thrown there but in no way deepened. Here we have a beginning too rushed that does not give the viewer time to get interested in the facts, with the only result of boredom; many passages are rushed and tangled; some sequences are very confusing and often jumps occur from one topic to another; moreover, in this way, even the characters are only squalid caricatures because they are not given any opportunity to develop, even slightly, the psychological component (you can't do everything in just 75 minutes!).
A complaint should also be made to the cast, which, although it includes names of a certain caliber like Nancy Allen ("Robocop," "Dressed to Kill," "Blow Out"), turns out to be weak and decidedly uninvolved in the project; the only positive note goes to John Franklin because it is nice to see that once again, after years, he wears the clothes of little Isaac (who is no longer so little anymore!), but on the other hand he also seems tired and uninvolved in the project.
Appreciable in "Children of the Corn 666" is only the extremely careful photography, especially if one considers that the product is a work destined only for home video and the presence, albeit sporadic, of some nice bloody scenes.
In conclusion, "Children of the Corn 666 - The Return of Isaac" is a completely useless work, uninvolving, poorly made and is undoubtedly the worst chapter in the series. There is certainly worse circulating out there, but even this film's viewing is strongly discouraged.
