Set
some 19 years after the original movie, the sixth in the overerdly long
series of loosely related sequels returns to the original town of Gatlin,
where young adoptee Hannah Martin (Natalie Ramsey) has returned to try and
find her birth mother.
After getting run off the road by a lunatic in a pickup truck, she checks into the local hospital for a medical checkup. There we find that the former boy preacher who initiated the Gatlin massacre some 19 years previously, Isaac Chroner (played by original actor John Franklin), was not actually killed at the end of part 1.
It turns out that Isaac has in fact spent the last 19 years in a coma at the local hospital, under the care of the chain-smoking Dr Michaels (played by 70's actor Stacey Keach). We also find out that, with the exception of the good Dr, all the adults in the town were part of Isaac's followers all those years ago, and they have been waiting for the fulfilment of some bizarre prophecy that the return of the first born child of the children of the corn shall awake Isaac, and their god "He who walks behind the rows" shall return. No prizes for guessing who the first born was then?
Sure enough, shortly after Hannah arrives in town, Isaac awakes. Looking a damnsite older and uglier (but not much taller) than he did in part 1, he proceeds to start whipping the locals up into a frenzy about fulfilling the rest of the prophecy and creating a master race of child corn worshippers, which totally goes against the plot of the first and previous films, but then I suppose how else could they bring old man Isaac back into the series now that he's no longer a child?
Co-written by John Franklin himself (who obviously needed the cash), this one's is a bit sillier than the previous sequels, but isn't bad as far as they go (although many horror fans may question the necessity of all these follow ups). Perhaps one that can only be recommended to existing fans of the series, I would suggest renting rather than buying. Stacey Keach who plays Dr Michaels, and Nancy Allen who plays Hannah's mother are perhaps the films saving grace..
