There’s been a long connection in the world of horror films between clowns and corn syrup. Clowns are generally creepy, off putting and in some cases, horrific. With the best example being Stephen King’s ‘Pennywise’, they’ve brought terror to audiences for years, while corn syrup has been the main ingredient in the perfect fake blood recipe for many decades now!
Welcome to Kettle Springs, Missouri. The small flyover town where clowns and corn syrup come hand in hand! The town was built up around the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory and still celebrates its rich and sticky history. The Baypen mascot ‘Frendo the Clown‘ is honoured and the town’s infatuation with corn is on display each year during the Founders Day parade!
New arrival Quinn (Katie Douglas) is surely living every 17-year-old girl’s dream, relocating from Philadelphia to this hotbed of rednecks with her father Dr. Glenn Maybrook (Aaron Abrams). But with the loss of her mother having hit her father hard, this sea change is what he needs.
Before long, Quinn makes acquaintance with teens her own age; a group of prank video obsessed troublemakers keen on under-age drinking and partying. Despite being warned to keep away from these bad apples, Quinn falls right in with them. Soon, she and her new friends are being blamed for every misfortune befalling the town (which is only about 50% correct), and this is no laughing matter as it summons Frendo the Clown to purge these ne’re-do-wells in painfully bloody and violent ways.
Eli Craig, the man who blessed the world with the hilarious Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) returns with his first film in 8 years! Once again sticking to horror, Craig writes and directs ‘Clown in a Cornfield‘, based on the young adult novel of the same name by author Adam Cesare.
Now, I absolutely loved Tucker & Dale vs. Evil and have since I first saw it. The film takes the cabin in the woods horror film cliché and completely turns it on its head. Making a parody which was predictable as all hell, and yet somehow, still just an absolute joy to experience. So, I went into Clown in a Cornfield with some high expectations.
Perhaps that was a bit of a mistake, as this is a very different type of dark comedy. Clown in a Cornfield is at times serious, gory, funny and predictable. However, the issue is that all these aspects don’t quite come together as well as they did in Craig’s previous work.
Quinn and her father’s relationship is well developed in its complexity with the short amount of time its given. Clown in a Cornfield also has some interesting twists as far as representation, in ways you wouldn’t expect of a slasher flick. Performances are also strong with Kevin Durand, hamming it up nicely as the town’s Looney Tunes Foghorn Leghorn-esque southern fried mayor, the actor following up his standout villainous role from last year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, with another memorable outing.
Clown In A Cornfield can also be a lot of fun when it’s allowed to just go all out with it’s grindhouse cheesy concept. It feels subdued when compared to the likes of the Terrifier franchise, yet still, there’s plenty of content for gore hounds to enjoy and some satisfying and creative killer clown mayhem.
On one hand, it’s a quick and dirty but earnest slasher film. The kind which is a ridiculous concept filled with stock standard supporting characters whose purpose is simply to be slaughtered. On the other hand, it’s a subversion of these types of film tropes, one which goes against the very type of movie that you expect it to be. Clown in a Cornfield can be great at doing both things individually but falls apart when putting them together.
Clown in a Cornfield is unoriginal and is just wearing the mask of satire like its villain wears the costume of a killer clown. It’s Hot Fuzz (2007) meets Thanksgiving (2023) yet without the incredibly witty script of the former, nor the refreshingly carefree approach of the latter.
Clown in a Cornfield tries to be a little too serious at times, while irreverent at other times, and at its core, the movie is a mindless fun slasher about a clown in a cornfield which doesn’t stand up against a second thought. At about the halfway point, it begins skin walking as a meta burlesque of the genre, with characters talking about being stuck in a bad 80s slasher film.