By DEIRDRE CRIMMINS
Starring Katie Douglas, Carson MacCormac and Aaron Abrams
Written by Carter Blanchard and Eli Craig
Directed by Eli Craig
RLJE Films and Shudder
If there were a slasher film bingo card, CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD could fill up nearly the entire card. A generational killer with a flashback before the opening credits. Small town far past its heyday. Buncha teens up to no good. And one teen who just moved to the town with her newly single father. So many bingo dabbers would be ready for action! But in the hands of director Eli Craig, all of this is intentional and referential to the history of slashers.
Craig is best known for co-writing and directing Tucker and Dale vs Evil. In the fifteen years since that film’s release, no other meta, self-parodying horror films have even come close to snatching the crown off of that film’s trucker-hatted head. Its genius is rooted in simultaneously inhabiting and satirizing the genre, without sacrificing either the jokes or the unpredictable gore.
CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD is different. It is based on the young adult horror novel of the same title by prolific writer Adam Cesare. The film is aware of horror history and plays into the assumed fluency the audience has with its lineage, but it is not a satire. It is a good ol’ fashioned slasher and should be judged against those expectations rather than the director’s previous work.
CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD focuses mainly on Quinn (Katie Douglas). A new kid in a new school, Quinn hopes to lay low for her senior year and escape the farming town of Kettle Springs that her father (Aaron Abrams) dragged her to. But lying low is tough when she makes a group of friends on her very first day, which just so happens to be the eve before Founder’s Day. The tradition-steeped day of merriment and parades brings the whole town together to celebrate its legacy and look forward to a potentially bright future.
This gaggle of teens has a terrible reputation around Kettle Springs, and multiple harbingers warn Quinn to stay far away from them. Being a typical teen, she does the exact opposite and sneaks out to spend even more time with her new clique. After all, there are cute boys there, and they’re the only ones willing to tell her all about the curse that has haunted the town’s history.
As soon as the story of the Baypen corn syrup factory fire and the corresponding creepy clown (the factory’s mascot) emerge, things go downhill. As far as they can surmise, Frendo the clown is not just some story. He is real, and he is after them specifically. Some of the teens are hunted down individually, while others are forced to face off against the evil clown as a team.
Some of the kills in CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD are truly excellent. Body parts are removed and relocated, doorbell cams are foreboding, and no hobby is safe from a deadly Frendo encounter. The corresponding jump scares are fun too, and often lead to laughs right after.
While CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD has the typical trajectory of the remaining survivors trying to solve the mystery of who is trying to kill them, the film also layers in a heaping slab of generational angst. True, the teens here are often up to no good, but the reaction to their behavior is wildly disproportionate and eventually develops into an exploration of the ultimate whodunit within.
Overall, the performances in CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD are completely suitable for what the cast is asked to do. None of the actors stand out or elevate the material, but none of them distract or diminish it either.
What gets in the way of CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD ascending to slasher greatness is a lack of grasping for greater things. Nothing here is an egregious misstep, but it does not seem to be too preoccupied with doing anything beyond the motions it is going through. Without a thicker schmear of satire or humor or sheer terror, it remains in the space of being a perfectly fine film.
That is not to say that it is not a solid version of exactly what it is trying to do. Even the title delivers exactly what is promised, and does so quite well. But beyond a few great comedic bits, the film does not apply for any extra credit.
Delivering an enjoyable, bloody, and sometimes funny horror film is no small feat. Though CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD never strives to grow beyond its foundation, it does a sound job within that space.
CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD from RLJE Films and Shudder is now playing only in theaters.
