Return of the Corn Zombies

I am a big fan of indie horror movies made on a tight budget. As those movies go, this one was good. The production values were pretty good. That means a lot to me. If the production values are bad that can make everything so much worse. The story got predictable. The acting varied from ok to pretty bad. Either the writing was bad or the characters were dumb as rocks. Having said all of that, I did enjoy watching the movie. I could watch it again.

I know there will be some people who will watch it and try to rate it against big budget projects. That really wouldn't be fair to the work done by the team who made this film.

Acrostar's last few movies have been either a hit or miss. From the very good Disremembered and Attack of the Corn Zombies to the lackluster They came back from Somewhere and the guilty pleasure that is Night of the Dead Sorority Babes. So, how did they fair with their latest entry into the non studio low budget films? Let's find out.

Return of the Corn Zombies takes place a year or so after the outbreak in Attack of the Corn Zombies. Zombies with corn stalks and kernels growing from them, wander the earth for their next victims. We meet a group of survivors, Kathleen (Chloe Lutz), her sister Robin (Delilah Hefner), Theo (Hunter Redfern), Janice (Angel Bradford), Trip (Christopher Kahler) and Edith (Chanda Rawlings) searching for what everyone in a zombie apocalypse searches for, food and shelter. Their hopes lay in a place called The Homestead where salvation awaits them. Not everyone gets along, Theo and Kathleen argue on the correct course of action but there is a great moment between them that I will get to later, in fact, there are two moments in the first half of the film that shine. When they do reach The Homestead they find out that paradise is not all the it seems. It's leader Sean (David Paul), along with his wife Dottie (Remya Knightlinger) his daughters Betty (Mel Heflin) and Maggie (Kelsey Ann Baker), Sean's bodyguard Steven (Chris Lutterloah) Hell, even Sean's wife (Beth Metcalf) who is now one of the corn undead, is kept in the basement. They have assumed control of a house, ironically the same house the family in the first movie lived in which is brought up at one point in the film. I can't go further into the details once they reach the homestead because of spoilers but I will say that it's a storyline we've seen before.

The performances were spot on, though there were a few clunkers, especially in two parts where you could tell how editing saved those scenes, however there are two great moments that stand out in the first half. Lutz gives a masterful performance when talking about what happened to her parents and how she struggles to tell her sister the truth. The other, Rawlings and Kahler that had my wife in tears. Not to be forgotten, Redfern has a similar performance later in the film when talking about what happened to his sister, though not as impactful as Lutz's. Most everyone affects the story one way or another, with the exception of Steven, who just lingers in the background. The screenplay, written by Steve Hermann, gives each character a little something to make the audience either sad or happy when they meet their demise. The film moves at a good pace. Each scene flows nicely into the next with the exception of the dinner scene and even though it gives some insight of the state of the world, it drags on a little too long. If I had to give the best performance it would be Heflin's portrayal of the diabolical Betty.

Return of the Corn Zombies had a high hill to climb to meet the expectations of its big brother and while it does not meet those expectations it's still a worthy successor. Missing is the feel, the look from the first film that gave a true Grindhouse feel to it. The frantic third act, bouncing from one scene to another, is extremely well done and major compliments to Beth Metcalf for the work she did on the look of the zombies. Return of the Corn Zombies is a character driven story, more so than the first which may turn people off who are looking for just mindless zombie killing action.

7/10.

This movie is a direct follow up of the first movie, so it is a bit uneasy to follow if you haven't watched the first Corn Zombies movie.

The way the movie was filmed is mostly quite good, the camera was placed well, no shaky cam, good perspectives and camera movements. It is just that sometimes there are not enough cuts and a bit more variation in the usage of different camera lenses wouldn't have hurt. So the quality varies but is overall nice compared to other zombie flicks.

Acting is an issue, as some actors are quite convincing while others seem a bit out of place and almost comedic on their slow or badly timed reactions.

This movie does not have a lot of action or gory zombie scenes. I was a bit let down that the blood that sprayed when zombies were shot was computer animated, which looked cheap and didn't leave any real stains.

Return of the Corn Zombies is not so much about killing zombies, it is a lot more about the human drama that starts amongst the survivors ... which is ok in itself but would be better with more convincing actors. The way it is now it appears a bit stretched and it is hard to care for most of the characters.

It reminds of the later "The Walking Dead" episodes were it's just drama amongst people and not so much about action, adventure and survival, which would have suited the actors and scenario way better. Also the zombies do not appear to be a threat at all, which kinda makes them a bit lame in most (but not all) cases.

Nonetheless, for a low budget movie The Return of the Corn Zombies turns out to be a mediocre but whatchable zombie flick.

Return Of The Corn Zombies is a prime example of when a sequel is just as good or if not better than the first while on the first film things were serious but with some comic relief Return takes things to a darker place and show the true meaning of terror as in a zombie apocalypse it is shown who the real monsters are I loved every second of this film the acting from the entire cast was superb the sfx was top notch the cinematography was next level the directing was classic top to bottom just an epic movie I loved the dynamic between Chole Lutz and Hunter Redfern I will say one of the best ways to showcase talent is to show emotion and it was emotional beginning to end and for a change a zombie movie where they were more human than the homestead people and it showed the entire presentation of this film garners a 10 out of 10 rating for me hats off to Acrostar for delivering a modern day classic that in my opinion rivals Night OF THE LIVING DEAD awesome movie.

For those who saw the original Attack of the Corn Zombies, it was a very campy, tongue in cheek comedy horror. Although it had horror elements, humor was definitely the primary driving force.

With Return of the Corn Zombies, however, it goes deeply into the horror of a post apocalyptic world after roving packs of zombies have taken over. Although some of the fight scenes didn't connect at the beginning of the movie, it led with some strong character development and some extremely solid acting chops. There were some great emotional moments and you could really feel as if these characters had been travelling together and become family, warts and all.

Without going into spoilers, a group of survivors find their way to "The Homestead" which definitely has some serious vibes of being a cult. As the audience, we get to discover these horrors along with the main protagonists. And definitely, the horror builds throughout the movie leading to a very strong and deeply satisfying finale.

Obviously, this IS an indie movie so the budget was not large. However, it did a great deal with what it had and compared favorable with a lot of movies I have seen with far larger productions.

In summary, even if you have not seen the original, it is still definitely worth a look. The story is self contained and does not need explanation from the previous movie. However, if you have seen the original, you will get to enjoy a rare sequel that outshines its origins.