What actually happens
A bad harvest and a worse prayer
The movie takes place in Gatlin, Nebraska, a farming town ringed with enormous cornfields. One year the corn fails, and the adults respond by praying for a better harvest. Isaac, a nine-year-old, has other plans. He gathers every child in town in the cornfields and starts a religion around a bloodthirsty god called He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Isaac and his second-in-command, Malachai, then lead a revolt and sacrifice every adult in town. Siblings Job and Sarah did not go to the meetings, and so they take no part.
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A road trip with a stranger in the road
Three years on, a married couple, Vicky and Burt, cross rural Nebraska on the way to Seattle, where Burt is about to start work as a physician. A boy named Joseph tries to escape Gatlin and is attacked in the corn. He stumbles onto the road and Burt hits him with the car, then discovers that Joseph's throat had already been cut. The couple looks for help and finds Diehl, an old mechanic and the last adult in Gatlin. Diehl turns them away, since he has promised the children fuel in return for his life. When he tries to steer the couple away from the town, Malachai breaks the deal and murders him.
A birthday party with a pentagram
Vicky and Burt look around the abandoned town, where they find Sarah by herself in a house. Malachai and his followers seize Vicky and carry her into the cornfield, and she ends up on a cross, waiting to be sacrificed. Burt goes into the church and finds a room of children whose leader is a girl named Rachel. They are marking Amos's birthday with a ritual that has them drinking from a star-shaped cut on Amos's body. Amos has turned eighteen, which makes him old enough for his passing, when he joins the god in the cornfield. Rachel stabs Burt, and Job pulls him out of there. Job, Sarah and Burt hide in a fallout shelter.
The sacrifice that goes to the wrong person
This is the scene to be ready for, and it comes near the end of the movie. Isaac is angry that Malachai killed Diehl, their only source of fuel. Malachai is tired of Isaac's preaching and takes over, then orders Isaac to be sacrificed in Vicky's place. Isaac warns that this will break their pact with the god and bring punishment on the children. After dark, Burt creeps into the cornfield to get Vicky out. As Isaac's sacrifice happens, a supernatural light arrives and swallows him. Burt overpowers Malachai and persuades the children to quit the cult and run. Then Isaac's walking corpse returns to punish Malachai, speaks in a demonic voice to say the god wants Malachai as well, and breaks his neck.
The ending, explained
A storm arrives, and Burt and Vicky take the children into a barn. Vicky reads Job's Bible and works out that the only way to stop the god is to burn the cornfield. Burt throws a Molotov cocktail into the field, and the fire destroys the demon along with Isaac. The couple goes back to their car with Job and Sarah, but it no longer works. Rachel attacks Burt and Vicky knocks her out. They leave on foot with the children. Burt, Vicky, Job and Sarah survive, while Malachai, Diehl and Gatlin's adults do not.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits.
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Questions people ask at 1am
Is Children of the Corn scary?
Somewhat. Children of the Corn is a 4 out of 10, with creepy kids and jump scares, but the dread is low and fades when it ends.
How does Children of the Corn end?
Burt burns the cornfield, which destroys the demon and Isaac. He, Vicky, Job and Sarah then walk out of Gatlin, because their car has been disabled.
Does the dog die in Children of the Corn?
Yes, the dog dies in Children of the Corn. It happens off-screen: the dog runs out of frame and its bloody handkerchief shows up on a car hood afterward.
Is there a post-credits scene in Children of the Corn?
Nobody has confirmed whether Children of the Corn has a scene during or after the credits.
Who is He Who Walks Behind the Rows in Children of the Corn?
In Children of the Corn it is the bloodthirsty god the children worship in the cornfields. Burt and Vicky destroy it by burning the field.
