This film begins in 1973 with a soldier returning from Vietnam and arriving at his old home town not far from Gatlin, Nebraska. But rather than being embraced by his family he is horrified to discover that they have recently been murdered. Not only that, but within minutes of finding their bodies he is soon attacked and severely injured by several children there as well. The scene then shifts to the present day with a young man by the name of "Tim" (Tim Rock) and his pregnant wife "Allie" (Kelen Coleman) driving somewhere along a deserted highway in California when their car breaks down. With very little money and no tow truck able to reach them that day they decide to walk to the nearest house several miles away. When they get there they are greeted by a very creepy man known simply as "Preacher" (Billy Drago) who reluctantly offers them the hospitality of his rundown home. They accept but they soon come to realize that there is much more to this man than they initially thought-and then the horror begins. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be somewhat different than the other "Children of the Corn" pictures in that it had an adult as the primary nemesis rather than a group of children. And to that effect, I thought that Billy Drago performed quite well in that regard. Likewise, although I would have preferred a bit more horror, I must admit that I enjoyed the manner in which the suspense was kept at a rather low boil from start-to-finish. In any case, while this may not have been the best film in this series, it was good enough for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.
