Clown in a Cornfield Film Review
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Playtime for Frendo!
17-year-old Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) has just moved to tiny Kettle Springs, Missouri, with her dad, Glenn (Aaron Abrams), who has taken a job as the local doctor. Quinn is still reeling from the recent passing of her mother, who died of a drug overdose.
The Philly girl experiences culture shock in the isolated rural town, but she is able to quickly find a new friend group and a potential love interest, Cole (Carson McCormac).
Quinn discovers that Kettle Springs has a history of tragedy and dark secrets. Years ago, a mysterious assailant dressed as Frendo the Clown (the town mascot) brutally murdered two teenagers in a cornfield.
The perpetrator was never caught. Now, as the town’s Founder’s Day festivities get underway, Frendo returns to stalk and slaughter a new generation of teens. Can Quinn and her friends survive the madness?
Clown in a Cornfield is based on the novel of the same name by Adam Cesare, which I reviewed in March. I was actually surprised at how faithful it is to the book. The storyline and major plot twists are essentially the same.
Predictably, however, the themes in the Clown in a Cornfield film are vaguer than the explicit overt political commentary in the book. The generational conflict in Kettle Springs remains a huge part of the story, however. If forced to choose, I’m gonna say the book is slightly better than the movie, because there’s more depth to the story.
The film is directed and written by Eli Craig, who is best known for the cult hit Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Not surprisingly, he includes plenty of dark humor and gore. Clown in a Cornfield has surprisingly good production values for a $1 million film. Craig does a nice job making it appear more expensive.
Clown Crossbow Cornucopia!
Katie Douglas is the star of the show as Quinn. The 26-year-old actress seems too worldly and sophisticated for the teenager that she’s portraying. I couldn’t quite buy her as a 17-year-old. Other than that, she’s great. Douglas delivers a sharp, funny, and tough performance.
Every slasher movie needs a memorable final girl, and Quinn is one of the better ones of the past couple years. Douglas has scream queen potential if she keeps making horror movies.
Clown in a Cornfield is filled with self-aware humor. Much of it is funny, although the “hip teens who are familiar with horror movie tropes” thing is way overdone. This stuff was fresh back in the ’90s, but it’s been done to death at this point.
The jokes that land the best are about the teens’ cluelessness about old technology (like rotary phones) and their utter helplessness when their smartphones don’t work.
Abrams and McCormac also give good performances. Abrams doesn’t have a ton to do, but he is likeable as a concerned dad who is worried about losing his daughter after already losing his wife. McCormac’s Cole, the movie’s most complex character, will keep non-book readers guessing if he is a Frendo target or a suspect.
The characters are a major contrast from the last slasher movie I reviewed, Until Dawn. That film had zero interesting characters. This one has three, and that makes an enormous difference in the film’s entertainment value and overall quality.
Frendo is also a better villain than any of the Until Dawn monsters. Speaking of Frendo, he is more giggly and snarky than the book version, but his motivation is essentially identical.
Rating
Although it’s not quite as a good as the novel, Clown in a Cornfield packs enough thrills to be one of 2025’s best slasher films. I would like to see Eli Craig and Katie Douglas return to adapt the book’s sequels.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece): 7.5
Interested in watching Clown in a Cornfield? Stream it here:
