I watched every movie in the Children of the Corn franchise, and here's what I found.
The series started strong with the 1984 original, a decent early-80s horror movie that closely followed Stephen King's short story. It made a good amount of money theatrically and set the stage for a potential franchise.
However, the sequels mostly got worse, with the series abandoning continuity and becoming generic. The early '90s saw the release of 'Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice', which was rushed into production and sent straight to video. The series continued with 'Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest', which had some decent special effects but felt like a placeholder.
The fourth installment, 'Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering', paired a genre stalwart with an up-and-comer, but ultimately fell short. The fifth movie, 'Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror', tried to change course but failed to live up to its potential.
The sixth entry, 'Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return', was a legacy sequel pitched by John Franklin and Tim Sulka, but it meandered through plot points and lacked a strong connection to the original.
The series took a turn for the worse with 'Children of the Corn: Revelation', a forgettable entry that ended in an explosion. The 2009 remake, produced by Fox and starring Isabelle Fuhrman, was a better effort but lacked the original's dark tone.
In my opinion, the Children of the Corn franchise should have ended with the first movie. The sequels felt rushed, generic, and failed to capture the essence of the original. It's a 'what if' in horror cinema, a missed opportunity that lives in the in-between period of the '90s when horror wasn't sure what it wanted to be.
So, if you're a completionist or a King fan, go ahead and watch them all. But take your time between viewings, or you might start sprouting ears of corn and hearing the call of He Who Walks Behind the Rows.
