Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return

The grainy darkness flickers, not just on the screen, but in memory. Nineteen years. Nineteen years since the sun-scorched fields of Gatlin, Nebraska, ran red under the watchful eyes of He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Nineteen years since the diminutive, chillingly charismatic preacher Isaac Chroner vanished amidst the corn. Then, in 1999, a title flashed across the tape box, promising the impossible, the darkly anticipated: Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return. Could it recapture the primal dread of the original? Could Isaac, the architect of that small-town apocalypse, truly be back? The very premise sent a specific kind of shiver down the spine, a mix of morbid curiosity and a fear that some evils never truly stay buried.

He Has Risen... Sort Of

The film wastes little time, plunging us back into the nightmare. Hannah (Natalie Ramsey), one of the original escaping children, returns to Gatlin searching for her mother, only to find the town... strange. Stranger than usual, even for Gatlin. She crashes her car, wakes up in the hospital, and soon discovers the impossible: Isaac (John Franklin) is awake. Comatose since the events of the first film, he stirs, still bearing the unnerving visage that haunted our screens back in '84. John Franklin, reprising the role that made him an unlikely horror icon – a feat made possible by his real-life Growth Hormone Deficiency which allowed him to portray the child preacher so convincingly – doesn't just return as an actor; he co-wrote this installment. There's a meta-textual weight to his presence, a feeling that he needed to see Isaac's story through, even if the path led straight to the burgeoning direct-to-video sequel market ruled by Dimension Films at the time.

Gatlin Gothic on a Budget

We also get genre veteran Nancy Allen (unforgettable in De Palma’s Carrie (1976) and Dressed to Kill (1980), not to mention her steely performance in RoboCop (1987)) as Hannah’s mother, Rachel Colby. Her presence lends a touch of seasoned professionalism, a familiar face amidst the low-budget gloom. Yet, her character feels somewhat adrift, caught between the film’s desire to connect to the original and its need to forge its own shaky narrative involving prophecies, comas, and Isaac’s surprisingly potent influence even from a hospital bed. The plot, penned by Franklin with Tim Sulka, tries to weave a complex tapestry involving Isaac fulfilling a prophecy tied to Hannah, but it often feels tangled and underdeveloped, lacking the stark, simple terror of King's original short story.

Director Kari Skogland, who would later helm acclaimed television like The Handmaid's Tale and Marvel's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, does what she can with the material and presumably limited resources. There are attempts at atmosphere – shadowy hospital corridors, dusty backroads – but the pervasive feeling is less rural gothic dread and more the unmistakable aesthetic of late 90s DTV horror. The lighting is often flat, the scares predictable, and the pervasive sense of menace that saturated the 1984 original feels diluted. Filmed around Austin, Texas, the locations try their best to evoke Nebraska corn country, but the magic feels thinner this time around. The '666' in the title feels less like a promise of infernal terror and more like a marketing gimmick typical of the era, aiming for edge but landing closer to cliché.

The Lingering Chill of Isaac

Despite the film's considerable flaws, John Franklin's performance remains the undeniable draw. He slips back into Isaac's skin with unnerving ease. Even aged nineteen years, there’s still that chillingly calm delivery, that unwavering, terrifying conviction in his eyes. His physical presence, still smaller than average due to his condition, adds a layer of unsettling dissonance – the mind and malice of the original preacher trapped in a body that hasn't fully kept pace. His commitment to the role is palpable; you feel his personal investment in bringing Isaac back, arguably making him the most compelling element of the entire production. Does his return manage to genuinely shock? Perhaps not in the way the filmmakers intended, but the sheer strangeness of seeing him again, orchestrating chaos anew, carries a certain B-movie fascination.

The practical effects, a hallmark we often celebrate here at VHS Heaven, are sparse and less impactful than in earlier genre entries. The emphasis shifts more towards plot mechanics and character interactions, but without the budget or script to fully support them, these often fall flat. We remember the visceral, corn-stalk-fueled terror of the original; here, the threat feels more abstract, less immediate, despite Isaac’s physical return. It's a sequel that feels disconnected not just from the intervening films (which it largely ignores, resetting the clock back to 1984), but also from the raw, folk-horror energy that made the first film stick in our minds.

Harvest of Diminishing Returns

Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return is ultimately a curious artifact of the late VHS/early DVD era sequel boom. It boasts the most significant casting coup of the franchise – the return of its original, iconic antagonist, played and co-written by the actor himself. That alone makes it noteworthy for hardcore fans. However, the execution rarely lives up to the chilling potential of its premise. Hamstrung by its DTV limitations and a convoluted script, it struggles to cultivate genuine dread, relying more on the inherent creepiness of Isaac's character than on skillful atmospheric building or narrative tension. It was a tape many of us probably rented with a flicker of hope, drawn by Franklin's name and that provocative title, only to find the fields mostly barren this time around.

VHS Heaven Rating: 3/10

Justification: While John Franklin's committed return as Isaac and Nancy Allen's presence offer glimmers of interest, the film is largely undone by a weak script, flat direction, and the unmistakable feel of a late-90s DTV cash-in. It fails to recapture the atmosphere of the original or deliver compelling scares, making Isaac’s comeback far less impactful than it should have been. The '3' acknowledges Franklin's unique contribution and the sheer novelty factor of his return.

Final Thought: It remains a testament to the enduring, eerie power of Isaac Chroner that even his return in a decidedly subpar sequel could generate a morbid thrill back in the video store days, even if the corn itself yielded a pretty meager harvest this time.