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

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.

basically c.o.t.c 4 has nothing at all to do with the last three movies at all it's basically children killing some adults but there's corn fields so really that is thee only connection it has with the rest of the movies there is no cult gatherings of a preacher leading a group of children to rebel against the adults it's just thus dead preacher you see some times through the movie thats about it. the acting good and the plot is OK but would've been better if there was a bit more sense to it like more detail as in why the the two main leading adult character's think something is up with the children instead of automatically knowing something is. like the first death sequence where after Marcus's mum's dead he just goes over and climbs over the corn and into the corn field. and the farther presumes somethings weird about him instead of thinking hey his mums just dead he might be in shock. but watch it for yourself you might just like it

If a franchise is lucky enough to get to the fourth movie then it needs to be ready to adapt, it needs to be ready to change so that things don't get boring but stay true to its origins.

Here in "The Gathering" we see all the towns children get sick with a mysterious virus only to awakan claiming to be someone else. Soon the killings begin and it comes down to a young Naomi Watts to combat their evil scheme.

Going in I expected the worst, all 3 previous movies had failed to impress and could not be referred to anything beyond passable. Somehow this has been the best one so far and is true 90's horror at its core.

I think the whole Children Of The Corn concept has gotten somewhat over convoluted by this stage and doesn't even remotely resemble Stephen Kings creation. Regardless this is a passable enough little fluff piece that should keep fans of the series entertained.

The Good:

Looks great

Some inventive kills

The Bad:

Still suffers many of the franchises weaker tropes

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

A scythe to the genitals might be an unpleasant way to go