Children of the Corn: The Gathering (1996 Video) User Reviews

The rural settings is back n this one much better than its predecessor n also gory.

[Fella_shibby · 5/10 · 2 May 2021]

I first saw this in the late 90s on cable tv.

Revisited it recently.

Part 3 is so horrible that inspite of being on the series' marathon, i took a 5 months gap between this n part 3.

Late 80s n early 90s were my vhs days. Late 90s n early 2k were my cable tv n theatre days. Those were the days man.

This is the fourth in the series n much better than its predecessor.

Also this time the rural settings is back.

The film marked the first time Naomi Watts received first billing n she did a fine job.

The movie has lots of jump scares via dream sequences.

It is also very gory.

Fingers get chopped via a scythe, a fat doctor gets sliced into two parts, a fat alcoholic gets decapitated, etc.

A cop while investigating a murder along with other cops goes in the corn fields chasing a kid and later he gets killed while the remaining cops doesn't seem to bother where he disappeared or what happened to their fellow cop. Some mighty good direction there.

Also, a girl is submerged in a bathtub of blood n hell lottuva time passes but she is later revived back. This is another feather for the director.

Children of the Corn The Gathering: An odd improvement

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 15 June 2018]

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

Perhaps the best in the series

[omp9 · 5/10 · 18 May 2015]

The previous three Children of the Corn movie has all been theatrical releases, Children of the Corn: The Gathering is straight to video release, so you would think that this movie has a crappy production, so wrong! This movie is the best looking CotC movie ever made. Good camera-work, good editing, good directing, good sound design, good blood/gore, great casting. No doubt that this movie has good filmmakers behind the camera. Getting Naomi Watts starring was a great deal, I know this was before she became a Hollywood star, but she has a very charming and likable character and it fits her perfectly. Not only Naomi Watts, but the whole cast is great, and that's nothing usual in a CotC movie. Storywise is The Gathering a little different, it is like crossing a virus film with Children of the Corn, it kind of works i guess, some might not like it, I can see that. The Gathering has also a more serious tone and is much darker than previous movies. The Gathering is a different kind of CotC movie, but almost all of them are different, that's one of the things i like best about this series, unlike Friday the 13th where every movie is exactly the same, you know what they say, Children of the Corn movies is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

The best of the sequels

[bdobson · 3 September 2001]

Deciding that there should be a comment here that explains slightly more if a movie "sucks" or not, which is not much of an opinion. While none of these films with the exception of the first film are masterful, this is the best of the sequels. It has more of a supernatural element than some of the others but still manages to keep things moving and even a little suspenseful. This fourth installment also has a very high rating on the gore scale as well with some rather gruesome killings. If you have not yet seen this one but have others in the series it is worth the time. However, all said, it is for hard core genre fans only.

It's ok, nothing special.

[fibreoptic · 5/10 · 15 May 2004]

Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering strikes me as a very average horror movie with a few good gore scenes but of course we all know that gore doesn't make a horror movie good, right? It's all about some dead preacher kid that comes back from the dead to wreak terror on a community living in the countryside by making all the children sick and when they get better turns them weird and makes them start losing their teeth.

I have a few problems with this movie.

*SPOILERS*

1) It is in no way related to the first three Children Of The Corn movies.

2) None of the children actually kill anybody, all the killing is done by the dead preacher kid.

3) As far as i noticed there was no sign of any town in this, just a few places in the countryside.

4) Not once was there a relation to the children and the corn apart from a corn field that the preacher kid killed the sheriff in.

5) Not once was there a mention of 'he who walks behind the rows'.

6) Unlike the preacher kids counterparts in the first 3 films he doesn't do any preaching at all. Strike you as odd?

7) The actual story (what little there was) seemed rushed and ended up muddled.

8) What the heck ever happened to Gatlin?! Not good enough to include anymore eh?!

9) These Children Of The Corn movies (except the first one) aren't that good. Kind of taints the first one.

However, there is plenty of cool gore scenes and erm decent acting by a few of the cast. Better than the third movie though. I've only seen Children Of The Corn 1-4 so i guess i'm going to have to endure the rest. 5/10

The kids aren't alright!

[Coventry · 4/10 · 19 June 2005]

"Children of the Corn" is one of the least exciting franchises in horror cinema ever and all the sequels are average at best. Part two, three, four or five...what's the difference? When you've seen one, you've seen them all. This fourth entry is bearable, but only thanks to the starring of Karen Black and a young Naomi Watts who plays the lead-role. The premise here has got nothing to do anymore with the original Corn-movie and introduces a 'new' type of spiritual evil that takes over the minds of young children in an offbeat Nebraska town. Grace takes a break from university to look after her ill mother at home but she soon discovers that pretty much everyone in town has issues. Especially the children, who all get feverish together and take over the personalities of kids that lived in town 60 years earlier. The script of this straight-to-video production is a giant mess and the substance is far too ridiculous to evoke any scares or atmosphere. The plot actually hasn't got anything to do with corn or cornfields so it's clear that the makers exclusively used the name to make their marketing campaigns easier. There's only one reason to check out this film and that is – of course – the gore! We witness a couple of very gruesome deaths here, committed with typical farmer tools like shovels, pitchforks and (yay!) scythes! You see that the bloodthirsty children in Nebraska interpret the term "harvasting season" very seriously...

in name only sequel

[movieman_kev · 3/10 · 6 June 2011]

Grace (Naomi Watts) comes home to Grand Island, Nebraska to take care of her seemingly mentally ill mother, not knowing that all the children of said hometown have come under a unknowable affliction that has them murdering the older generation. All of this,of course, has jack all to do with any of the previous 3 films in the series.

The acting runs from merely acceptable to sub-par, the plot line is extremely predictable, and the scares are nonexistent. Naomi would go on to decidedly better horror fare with The Ring films, while this franchise would continue to limp along in squaller never even reaching the low standard of mediocrity. And to think this was actually one of the 'better' COTC sequels. Chew on THAT for awhile.

My Grade: D+

Just give me my check and I'm otta here! This is creeping me out big time!

[sol1218 · 5/10 · 10 June 2010]

***SPOILERS*** The 4th installment of "He who walks behind the Rows" who's never even mentioned, much less seen, once in the movie. We do have a corn filed in it that has really nothing to do with the plot but has the local town's sheriff Biggs of Grand Island Nebraska, Richard Gross, slaughtered in it while out at night looking for runaway Marcus Atkins, Lewis Flanagan III. Marcus went a bit nuts after he was infected with a mysterious illness that made him forget who he is and start thinking that he's in fact someone else. Like all the other kids of Grand Island who were infected by it.

We have pre-med student Grace Rhodes, Naoma Watts, traveling home to Grand Island to visit her crazy mom June, Karen Black, and her 14 year old brother James, Mark Salling,and younger sister Margaret, Jamie Renee Smith, for the summer. It's then that Grace gets a job with the town physician Doc Larson, William Windom, whom she worked for before going away to collage. It's at Doc's clinic that strange things begin to happen with it suddenly being overcrowded with children who came down with high fevers and suffering from mercury poisoning. No one knows what's causing these strange maladies until we get the low down towards the end of the movie from the elderly and almost senile Nock sisters Jane & Rosa, Salle Ellis & Marietta Marich, about some boy preacher named Josiah who was kept young by his followers by stuffing him with mercury in order to stunt his growth.

It's seems that the preacher boy was later burned at the stake by his disappointed, in him growing up, followers and is now back seeking revenge by getting the children of the town to slaughter all the adults for what they, or their parents and grand parents, did to him. There's also the side story to who's to replace this Josiah who's to come from the same background that he came from: In being abounded by his or her parents.

Very confusing story especially in what the purpose in it is of showing grasshoppers or locust as evil messenger's of the devil without explaining why. We do in fact have some very shocking slasher, with the use of a scythe, scenes in it that makes the movie worth watching if you have the stomach to see them through. Even these scenes get a bit overdone with in one case poor Doc Larson who was cut in two earlier in the film getting shot to pieces by his assistant Grace, who didn't recognize him, with a shotgun as his other half, the bottom part of his body, was lying in state.

***SPOILERS*** It's Mr, Donald Atkins, Brant Jennings, young Marcus's dad who finally finds the magic bullet, filled with mercury, that can put an end to this horror. Atkins together with Grace drives down to the old Spelling Barn where the possessed town children are holding a rally, or human sacrifice, in order to save them from themselves. Even though Donald did the driving through the corn field it was Grace who did the blasting with her shotgun who finally put an end to this bloody, with all the kids cutting their hands open and dripping their blood into what looked like a wooden punchbowl, insanity. That's until the next cornball "Children of the Corn" flick comes to video store of theater near you to start it all over again.

An Improvement Over the Previous Picture

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 2 June 2020]

This film begins with a young medical college student by the name of "Grace Rhodes" (Naomi Watts) returning home to Grand Island, Nebraska because her mother "June Rhodes" (Karen Black) is suffering from a nervous condition which has seriously impacted her ability to take care of her other young children. After examining her, the town physician "Dr. Rob Larsen" (William Windom) believes that June's problems are directly related to the nightmares she is experiencing and prescribes some medication to help her regain some much needed sleep. This makes sense to Grace who offers her services at the local clinic during the day while the kids are at school before returning back home to take care of everyone in the afternoon. Unfortunately, not long afterward all of the children begin to develop strange fevers which soon overwhelms the local clinic and requires both Dr. Larsen and Grace to devote all their time there. To make matters even worse, strange murders begin occurring around town and the children seem to be somehow involved. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film was a definite improvement upon the previous picture in that it maintained the tension from start-to-finish. Admittedly, there were a couple of weak scenes here and there but even so I thought it was worth the time spent to watch it and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Naomi Watts and Karen Black are reason enough to see it

[drownsoda90 · 7/10 · 4 August 2006]

"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.

Different

[HorrorEnjoyer · 5/10 · 17 July 2009]

This one is very different from the first three and the main reason of it is that it's actually scary and really clever to some point, with dream-visions and strange disease, that hits all the kids. This is different kind of horror - you won't laugh at this one like you did at first one("Outlander!"), or second(immortal Indian + granny being smashed by the house or thrown through the window), or third(that ridiculous looking creature at the ending). The performances of the kids are really good and if you're new to the horror genre this movie can even give you nightmares. I can't understand why this one, or some others have such a low rating here in comparison to some other horror flicks, especially newer ones, I give it 3.775/10 on my personal list and 5/10 by IMDb standards. I would give it second place at the series, just under the first one.

Great installment to the Children of the Corn series!

[bluefrog-5 · 10/10 · 31 August 2006]

This is a very well done film indeed. It is very scary, and the plot is well done. It does differ in some ways from the first three films though. Unlike the first three there is not just one child leading them all. Most people don't realize this but "He Who Walks Behind The Rows" is actually one of the main characters in the film. It was revealed by director Greg Spence that a crucial deleted scene features two characters telling Naomi Watts that the children called Jociah by another name: "He Who Walks Behind The Rows". Once you realize this the film is more enjoyable to watch if you are a fan of the original Children of the corn movie.

A new perspective on The Children of the Corn

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 14 December 2003]

This is pretty different from the first two(and possibly the third, haven't seen that yet), but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I liked the fact that there was no mention whatsoever of "He who walks behind the rows". That was the most annoying thing in the first two movies for me, especially when it turns out it is in fact a god of the corn... that's just too far out. Instead, we here have a preacher child, who controls the children. I think that's a very good twist, since now the enemy is personified. No black clouds, no lightning and no moving corn. Much better. It does still have some of the corny(no pun intended) stuff, especially in some of the death scenes. It does have a better plot than both the first movies in my opinion, but it's somewhat ruined by a few things; bad acting by some of the actors, a few ridiculous death scenes, and at some points it is slow. I personally think the whole influenza thing was better than the lightning from the first two movies, but some fans of the original might hate it. 7/10

it has Naomi

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 8 October 2020]

Medical student Grace Rhodes (Naomi Watts) returns to her hometown of Grand Island, Nebraska to care for her agoraphobic mother June (Karen Black) as well as her younger siblings, James and Margaret. June is haunted by nightmares of children. The children in the town are turning weird under the influence of an evil child preacher.

This franchise is trying to regroup. It works to some extent. It helps to have Naomi Watts leading the way. In the end, it doesn't have enough thrills. It's not scary. It's not cinematic. It's only intriguing for Naomi Watts having her first leading role. It's a year after her epic turn as Jet Girl.

Naomi Watts Brings Life to a Pathetic STV

[lola541 · 28 July 2003]

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

The best of the sequels in a ridiculous franchise.

[ThrownMuse · 5/10 · 26 April 2005]

Grace (Naomi Watts) leaves medical school to return to her small country town and help her psychologically ailing mother (Karen Black) take care of her younger siblings. Her mom keeps dreaming of creepy farm kids that attack her, and soon Grace finds herself having similar dreams. Soon, all the kids in town come down with a mysterious fever and the body count begins. I watched this drunk awhile back and thought it was boring. After a re-watch, I find it to be the most polished and watchable of the COTC sequels that I've seen. It is unrelated to the previous ones and a good attempt at making a unique installment in the franchise. Naomi's great and Karen Black is hilariously psycho, as usual. But it gets stupid quickly, with a ridiculous "bad mom" theme. As expected, the child actors are awful.

My Rating: 5/10.

it was lot better then i thought it would be

[atinder · 5/10 · 19 December 2011]

This time in the movie of this horror series based on works by Stephen King.

a medical studen,t who has moved to the country side, to discover what evil force is holding away with the town's children.

It as some really good intense moments and the story flowed really well.

I really enjoyed some of the real cool deaths scene, which were really well made and can be z tad gory, some of the deaths were really clever.

The acting in this was decent, from the whole cast!

I enjoyed this movie, good movie, but it was not as good as the Children of the corn 3 but I am still going to give this movie, a 5 out of 10

No, it's not porn

[Bored_Dragon · 4/10 · 4 February 2019]

Nine for the erection I get every time Naomi appears on the screen, and all other aspects of the film do not exceed five. Sexy leading actress and a sorry excuse for the story may pass in porn, but I expect a little more from the alleged adaptation of King. Average rating... skip this nonsense, and if you are really tempted to see Naomi, you can always google her or see her in some better movie. You are more likely to spend the night with Naomi if you drop in at her door unannounced, than to get any benefit and fun from this crap.

4/10

Not Even Close to the Original - LAME!

[Rainey-Dawn · 4/10 · 7 May 2016]

This one is a bit LAME! Josiah comes to town as "He Who Walks Behind The Rows" dressed like none other than Issac (from the original film). Issac was a reverend/preacher and acted as such. This Josiah does not preach, he only gives all of the children a very high fever then, suddenly, a handful of them kill. Latti-daddi-dah what a film. It's more of a slasher film and does not feel like a real supernatural horror as it should - like the first film did and still does today.

This film is focused on a young nurse coming back to town to help her seemly gone crazy mom (played by the wonderful Karen Black) that it distracts and takes away from what "Children of the Corn" is all about. What should have been done for this film instead: a preachy Josiah to all the kids in order to reflect the first film and the heart of the story.

I only watch this one just because Stephen King's name is attached to it and to *try* to enjoy another CotC film. :/ 4/10

Umm, okay

[crystal_tuxedo · 1/10 · 10 June 2002]

You know, just when you think that the world is merciful, movies like this come along. The actors that appear in them should be punished. It's fantastic that Naomi Watts somehow rose from this trash to being a critically acclaimed actress.

The Best Film in the Series?

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 7 March 2013]

All the kids in a town over night become feverish and have convulsions. The next day they start to become evil, change their names for those of kids killed long ago, and then start killing any adult in their path, in vicious and mysterious forms.

Not only does this film star talented actresses like Karen Black and a young Naomi Watts, but the direction is very solid and great performances were given by everyone. Others have said this is the best film in the series (even outdoing the original), and I think that a case could be made for that. Certainly it is better than part three, which is ironic considering that this film was straight-to-video and part three actually appeared in theaters.

The entire franchise is a bit silly, and how it resulted in so many sequels (seven?) is beyond me. The original is now considered a classic, but I am not entirely sure why. It seems like the idea was to make as many sequels as possible until the original had to be considered a classic by default.

Final Chapter

[Cappella · 3/10 · 6 January 1999]

Children of the Corn IV, already the fourth one. This wasn't the baddest one, Children of the Corn III was much worse. Children of the Corn I & II were thrillers while III, IV, V & VI are Horror movies. This part is played in Grand Island.

It has got some shock parts included, but the acting is really worse.

Naomi Watts (dangerous beauty), Brent Jennings (alone in the dark), Samaria Graham (nothing to lose).

(4/10)

Really good sequel

[JimSthers · 10/10 · 14 December 2001]

I find this to be the second best of the series(my fave is part 5), this one has suspense, gory deaths, is well acted, and it has Karen Black, one of my fave actresses of all time. It also has a large body count and enough graphic violence to satisfy gore hounds.

Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering

[HorrorFan1984 · 6/10 · 20 October 2020]

The COTC series takes a step away from the Gatlin/He Who Walks Behind The Rows plot of the first three films, focusing on a new evil child leader who plans to wipe out Grand Island, Nebraska of all adults.

A young nursing student by the name of Grace returns to her small home town to take care of her recluse mother June, and her young siblings James and Margaret. June hasn't left her property in quite some time out of some sort of fear of an evil presence. She has an eerie recurring dream of a young boy attacking her at one point. Eventually we see a random old man open up a boarded up barn and well which has a dead boy at the bottom of it, the same boy June saw in her dreams. The opening seems to bring the boy back to life as he climbs out, killing the man. Wearing the classic Isaac hat from the first film, he proclaims that he has "come for the children".

Grace gets a job working at the local clinic while she's in town taking care of June. All of sudden, the children in the town all start coming down with serious fevers but no other flu-like symptoms which stumps Grace and the town doctor (Dr. Larson). Eventually, the kids begin to say to their parents that they are children who have died years prior in town. After one of the parents in town is brutally murdered, it becomes obvious that the children are involved in something supernatural. Can Grace discover the truth about this new religious child leader before Grand Island is wiped out?

I enjoyed Children of the Corn IV as a stand alone film. Watching it in it's entirety, it really did not have any connection to the first three films of series. There was no mention of He Who Walks Behind The Rows and it did not mention Eli from the 3rd movie. It wasn't even set in Gatlin, the town in this one was Grand Island, Nebraska. The same overlapping theme was the evil supernatural force that possesses a young boy to turn children against adults. There was an interesting little mystery that Grace solves as well regarding the leader Josiah.

The one thing that this movie has more than any of the sequels is top notch acting. We get heavy hitters like Naomi Watts and Karen Black, as well as some really good performances by Samaria Graham and William Windom. I thought the characters were fleshed out well enough to keep my interest. Karen Black's character June was one in particular that you felt badly for, mostly due to Black's performance.

All in all, Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering was a step above most direct-to-video films in the horror genre. A fresh story with excellent actors made this one of my favourite sequels of the franchise.

6/10

Nostalgic

[okainavar · 5/10 · 14 September 2023]

Continuing my marathon of this saga. For some strange reason I remember watching this film and not the second and third films, I say strange because I didn't use/usually to watch films out of chronology. I remembered the nightmare at the beginning of the film, the sick children, the old woman being afraid to leave the mailbox line but being forced to leave, who were going to return with business from the barn. I believe that this film works on its own, you don't need to watch any of the previous ones to understand this one. I didn't remember that Naomi Watts was the protagonist and I didn't recognize the actor who played the musical series Glee. For some reason I prefer this film to the first one but I'm going to give it the same rating because I believe it doesn't deserve a 6. Film Watched on September 14, 2023.