Naomi Watts plays Grace Rhodes, a medical student who returns to her tiny Nebraska hometown to care for her ailing mother June (Karen Black). She's just in time to witness a plague of sorts overtake the towns' children: they suffer convulsions & fevers, and are soon turning murderous and taking the names of kids who were killed years ago. The villain this time is the maniacal spectre of a boy preacher (Brandon Kleyla), who is commanding the children to do his bidding.This really doesn't have very much to do with Stephen Kings' story, other than the prospect of a boy preacher, evil children, and a small nowhere burg. Instead, director / writer Greg Spence and his co-writer Stephen Berger take the opportunity to spice up the tired old formula with a bit of science (as Grace and friendly local doctor Rob Larson (William Windom) do their tests, and a strong touch of the supernatural. Undemanding horror fans will be pleased with the savagery of the killings (one poor chump farmer REALLY gets it bad near the beginning) and the areas' atmosphere.Plus, there's a chance here to see a future Hollywood star paying her dues in this sort of thing, and Watts does a solid job as the kind of tough, intelligent, ass kicking heroine certain to win audience favour. Veteran character actor Brent Jennings is likewise good, in a rare major supporting role as the area resident who helps Grace save the day. Jamie Renee Smith is an appealing child actress as Graces' much younger sister. And Black & Windom are always good value in anything.All the necessary exposition / back story is dumped into one key scene, and the attempt by the filmmakers to throw us for a loop with a supposed "big twist" doesn't really work. Most people will probably see it coming. But overall, this entry in this seemingly never ending series is good for some amusement.Six out of 10.

Before the credits, creepy Karen Black (as June) lets a menacing kid into her isolated small-town Nebraska house. He has a deep wound in his hand, so Ms. Black goes to get some bandages. She breaks a glass, the kid gets ugly and Black wakes up. Apparently, it was a dream. After the credits, we meet Black's attractive daughter Naomi Watts (as Grace Rhodes). A medical student, Ms. Watts is taking a semester off to see what's wrong with, and hopefully help, her possibly psycho mother...As luck would have it, Watts has arrived just in time for "The Gathering". Area kids get feverish and act weird. They come from the original one, who possibly inhabits in the corn field. His story is told, later. The story is stupid, but looks like it would be fun make for all the kids in the cast. Nice to see veteran William Windom as the kindly doctor (Rob Larson) and Brent Jennings (as Donald Atkins) performs his heroic role well. When the cameras are kept still, Greg Spence directs smoothly.**** Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (10/8/96) Greg Spence ~ Naomi Watts, Brent Jennings, Karen Black, William Windom

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+

This movie is a real ridicules one with its story but at least he movie is a well made one, which still makes the movie a decent one.To be honest, I really liked the movie during its first halve. The movie however then turns South pretty fast when so much ridicules is happening that you just start to loose interest. It's first halve was still mainly build-up, it's too bad that the pay off was not halve as good however.None of the Children of the Corn movies have a real believable concept or story of course. The whole idea behind the movies is pretty tiresome but at least some of them still have some good horror moments in it. Fans of the genre shall therefore still somewhat enjoy this movie as well. The movie is being pretty good with its horror, which makes it all the more too bad that too little is actually happening in the movie, due to the fact that it just doesn't have a very good pay off, after its fine build up. You still feel that director Greg Spence understands the genre, so lets hope he'll do something good with it some day. The previous entry in the series had Charlize Theron in it, in her very first movie role. Her role was about 15 seconds long however. This movie has Naomi Watts in it before she got famous. And yes, her role is much bigger. She actually is the main lead of the movie and she shows her talents. She makes her character a good one, while basically ever other young actress would had turned the characters into an annoying, helpless young adult, like you'll see in so many other genre movies like this. It also has Karen Black in it, who perhaps should had got a bit of a bigger role in the movie. There was plenty of room for it but for some reason they decided not to give her more to do in the movie.It's a pretty well made and good looking movie, though you'll probably start to loose interest fast once the second halve of it kicks in.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/