Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering

Grace Rhodes, a medical student, returns to her Nebraska hometown to care for her mother June, who is troubled by recurring nightmares, and her younger siblings. She takes a job with Doctor Rob Larson, and soon the town's children are struck by a sudden illness marked by high fever and convulsions. They recover, but they no longer answer to their own names, and adults begin turning up dead. A mysterious boy dressed as a preacher appears as the children gather into a violent group under his leadership.

The film is a horror thriller set in a small Midwestern community and belongs to a series of loosely connected stories about murderous children and a cornfield cult. Greg Spence directed from a screenplay he wrote with Stephen Berger, and it was his first feature as director; his second, The Prophecy II, followed in 1998. Naomi Watts plays Grace, with Brent Jennings, Samaria Graham, Jamie Renée Smith, Brandon Kleyla and William Windom among the credited cast.

Dimension Films and Miramax produced the film, which runs 85 minutes. Audience response has been weak: it holds a 4.3 rating from about 5,900 votes on IMDb and a 4.5 from roughly 180 votes on TMDB, indicating a modest following even within the franchise.