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
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