Les Démons du maïs 4 : La Moisson

This film is religated to a special genre, what I like to call STV (an abbreviation of Straight-to-Video release). An attempt at a cheap thrill, these films are usually more laughable than scary. But the Children of the Corn franchise is probably the most interesting of this genre.

I remember renting this particular installment of Children of the Corn at the fresh young age of 14 for a slumber party with some friends. We had all seen COTC 1, 2, 3, so what the heck, why not check out 4? There was nothing particularly different about the plot: again, the children of a midwestern town all mysteriously turn evil, killing their parents in interesting, grotesque ways. There were the same laughable moments in which writers contrive clever new ways for a child to kill an adult and the same lame horror film dialogue. It was all the same. Except one thing.

The performance of the lead heroine was stunning! Not your typical STV calibar performance, but instead, WOW--complex, understated, and intense, I was very impressed with the no-name lead actress.

Fast forward to seven years later, in which I am reading an interview with my favorite new actress, Naomi Watts and she mentions, "I was in Children of the Corn IV" and ohmygosh, the planets have aligned, it all makes sense! This stellar actress was giving stellar performances long before she was cast into stellar movies.

So the short of it, if you are at all a fan of Naomi Watts, this is not a bad one to get a glimpse of her pre-Mulholland Dr. work. Yeah, it's campy and lame and gratuitously violent, but with Naomi, it's not so bad.

Rating: 4 out of 10 (on the whole), Naomi's Performance: 7 out of 10

I dunno why i decided to rent this movie considering how 2 and 3 weren't all that great, but i saw a preivew for it a long time ago and it seemed a little creepy so i figured i'd give it a shot. I was really shocked how good it turned out to be. It didn't really have a thing to do with the other children of the corns other then the fact that the kids were evil. Children of the Corn IV probably could have been its own movie insted of a sequel. Well anyways i really liked it. It had a good story line and was pretty creepy. ****/*****

Children of The Corn 4: The Gathering was a very good movie. All of the Children of the Corn films are usually straight to video and where made with a tight budget, but they are still good movies and are fun to watch. I had just seen "The Ring" and then, watched this, and realized Naomi Watts, star of The Ring is also the star in this film. I give Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering a 10 out of 10!

This movie is pretty cool compared to part 2 and 3. I really like the plot. It isn't too satanic. Naomi Watts and Jamie Renee Smith play excellent parts.

"Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering" is the fourth installment in the "Children of the Corn" series, and was surprisingly a decent sequel. After the horrible monster effects in Part III's finale (which almost completely ruined the movie for me) I was hoping "The Gathering" would head in a new direction, which it did. This sequel concerns a small town in the midwest. Naomi Watts plays Grace, a medical student who returns to care for her mother, and in turn, her young siblings, who begin to display a strange illness manifesting in all the town's children. Turns out that the cult of children are back, trying to recruit more young'ns (after killing their parents) into their organization for "he who walks behind the rows".

No doubt, one of the most memorable things about this film is Naomi Watts' performance, who showed chops even her in her first lead role. I'm sure most people who see this will recognize her from the hit Japanese remake "The Ring."

Even still, "Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering" is one of the standout films of the series for a variety of other reasons. It is well-shot, for one; while it is a direct-to-video picture, it surprisingly doesn't really look like one. There is an unnerving sleepiness to the film that plays off of the bucolic midwestern set pieces, and some phenomenally creepy sequences featuring Karen Black as Watts' agoraphobic mother. The film makes ample use of its dusty farmhouses and the sinister images of children lurking across the road.

Granted, the film does show its B-movie teeth in some of the murder sequences, which are far- fetched and at times absurd, but the splatter factor here is strong and the gore effects are rather convincing overall. Another obvious but vital element to this film working as well is it does is the strength of the performances. Watts, again, is great in her first lead here, and Karen Black is phenomenal as she always is— the role leaves her plenty of room to act out the eccentricities she does so well. Even the performances from the children are above-average for a film like this.

Overall, if you're a fan of the series, this is one of the better (and perhaps maybe the best) sequel. It's a "Children of the Corn" sequel, so obviously it is not a flawless film, but it is well-shot and there are a handful of genuinely effective moments to be had, and the film paces itself well without devolving into schlock. Enjoy your straight-to-video splat with a side of Watts and Karen Black— how can you go wrong? 7/10.