Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1993)

October of the Corn continues with Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice, which is obviously not the final movie. It was a bad idea to use that word for Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter–the fourth film out of 10 (before reboots)–and it was a bad idea here. Sure, Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest came out 3 years after this, but you had to know that creating a sequel 8 years after the original was going to open the door to countless sequels. Well, it’s 7 sequels, a reboot, a sequel to that reboot, and a supposed preboot coming out next year… But still! Wait, where was I? The Final Sacrifice, right!

Set right after Children of the Corn, we find out that Burt and Vicky apparently called the cops and the surviving kids are sent to the neighboring town of Hemingford. No trial or juvenile detention or anything! One of the kids named Micah gets possessed by… I guess He Who Walks Behind the Rows, and now leads the remaining kids against the adults of Hemingford. Thrown into this cauldron is shitty reporter and worse dad John and his son, Danny. Danny instantly falls for Lacey, who is not part of the cult, but he also apparently befriends Micah. John has a romantic partner as well, but she’s not important. While John works with local Frank Red Bear to discover that Hemingford officials are knowingly selling tainted corn, the cult kills people in over the top ways. Seriously, one old lady has her house crush her to death (it was on pistons or something) while she cries out–of course–“What a world!” And she has a twin sister named Mrs. West? Sure, why not. Anyway, things come to a head when Micah wants to sacrifice Lacey and John’s girlfriend, but John and Danny stop that while a dying Frank runs over Micah with a corn harvester. Micah shows a demon face, but then is seemingly no longer possessed right as he gets turned to pulp. The day is saved, the heterosexuals are thriving, and Frank’s spirit watches over the land.

So, uh… did anyone else pick up some gay subtext in this film? Google says no, but my gaydar pinged a bit at Micah and Danny during the climax. Unresolved and unexplored homosexual feelings would actually explain some stuff! Like why did Micah want to sacrifice Lacey, who was a teenager and not an adult? Why did Danny go along with the cult to the point where it looked like he might actually sacrifice Lacey? And why was Danny frozen on the spot when Micah was calling out to him when he was facing death by harvester? Look, I know I’m reaching with all this, but if A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge can be overflowing with gay subtext, who’s to say that the second Children of the Corn movie can’t have little a salami? That’s a meme reference, by the way; I’m not actually having a stroke.