When I first saw this movie, I was watching it on television with Ashtyn. We were in our bed, up late a few years ago. We had both seen the original Children of the Corn movie and Ashtyn had seen a few of the other sequels. However, neither of us had seen Children of the Corn 4.

The Chesserific Plot

In this movie, Naomi plays Grace Rhodes. She has been away at school and has returned home to her Midwestern Town. It does not specifically say where in the Midwest she is, but it is a state, which has a lot of farm country in it much like Gatlin in the first film.

Grace has returned home because her mother, June (Karen Black), is unable to handle taking care of the house and her two younger children. She has some sort of mental condition similar to bi-polar. The house is a mess, she wears some sort of nightgown or muumuu most of the time, and she is agoraphobic, which prevents her from going past the end of her driveway.

Grace’s brother James (Mark Salling) is embarrassed by June’s behavior. He spends a lot of time out of the house and when he does show up his anger that is aimed at his mother is apparent. The youngest of the Rhodes children is Margaret (Jamie Renée Smith). Though she is too
young to really understand how crazy her mother acts, she knows life is
better with Grace there. In fact, she even says she likes Grace taking
care of her better then letting their mother do it.

Grace does not know how long she is going to be on leave from the University she is attending so she asks for her job back. She is going to be working at the town clinic with the doctor that takes care of everyone in the town including her mother, Doc Larson (played to perfection by veteran character actor, William Windom).

As Grace arrives for her first day of work, a pandemic breaks out. All of the children seem to be going through a transformation. Doc and Grace believe it is simply the flu. However, their fevers all spike up to nearly unbearable (105+) levels before dropping down again. The problem becomes so unbearable Grace spends more than one night at the clinic and asks for the help of her nurse/best friend Mary Anne (Samaria Graham).

Meanwhile, back at home, both James and Margaret are experiencing the exact same symptoms. Margaret seems more affected then most of the children, who are also taking on different names/personas. Little do the adults know that their children are being possessed by the spirits of a dead cult of corn children.

This cult was run by a boy preacher named Josiah, before Isaac was even imagined. Josiah, in fact, is often referred to as the original evil. Many COTC fans even believe Josiah is the evil spirit behind He Who Walks behind the Rows.

While this fact remains undetermined, the plot twists and turns until the children are led to Josiah. At this point, it is only a matter of time before they take over and the adults are vanquished for good. Young
Margaret, has a very special roll in this, but what Josiah has in store for her may shock even the most prolific horror fan.

Okay, I am kidding on the last point. I will not spoil the movie for you though so that is all I have to say about this movie’s plot.

Dissecting the Corn-y Story

This story veers somewhat from the plot in the first three films. However, Josiah is a bit more reminiscent of what Isaac was to the children of the corn. Unfortunately, Josiah does not even have half the bite of Eli in part three of the COTC series. It would be a mistake to compare him to Isaac in any other way simply because Isaac would win.

I liked this movie enough to have watched it not
once, but twice. That has to mean something. The acting is worth it and
even if the story is cheesy, there are some good jump moments,
especially near the end.

The Bottom Line: Children of the Corn 4 has excellent actors. In fact, it has one of the most famous casts, thanks to the presence of Naomi Watts. While Linda Hamilton is perhaps the most famous in the entire series, Naomi Watts is the most famous actor of today (except for maybe the Charlize Theron cameo in COTC 3) to be in any of the movies in the Children of the Corn Series. While the acting is good, you may be deflected by the cheesy plot. Then again, horror such as the COTC movies was meant to be cheesy so that may be a good thing.

In the grand scheme of things, Children of the Corn 4 ranks 4 out of 7 in the entire series. It was not the best, but not the worst. You should consider adding the entire series to your DVD collection so you can check them all out and compare them for yourself.