By George & Josh Bate
From Psycho to Halloween to Scream to Terrifier, the slasher genre has endured for over half a century now. An oversaturation of men wielding bladed weapons and hunting after teenagers in the 1980s eventually led to a state in which, in order to compel, modern slashers must possess a certain level of craft or innovation. Sometimes this comes from putting a creative twist on the genre (e.g., last year’s In a Violent Nature, which told a slasher from the perspective of the killer) and other times the hindrances of unoriginality are easy to ignore due to the sheer filmmaking craft on display (e.g., Ti West’s X). With Clown in a Cornfield, director Eli Craig’s attempts to do both result in a fairly routine slasher, although one that packs innovative kills, a creative twist, and the foundations of interesting social commentary.
Based on the YA novel of the same name by Adam Cesare, Clown in a Cornfield follows Quinn Maybrook (played by Katie Douglas), a high school student who moves to the small town of Kettle Springs with her father (played by Aaron Abrams) following the death of her mother. As the town suffers following the closure of the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory, a mysterious figure dressed as the town’s mascot Frendo the Clown begins killing teenagers. With Quinn making friends with some of these teenagers, she soon finds herself in the middle of a blood-soaked celebration of Founder’s Day that puts her life and the lives of her father and new friends at risk.
Clown in a Cornfield checks every box of what makes a film a slasher. There are naive teenagers, a small town, an autumnal setting, and, of course, a masked killer. It isn’t until over the halfway point that the film begins to diverge somewhat from the slasher formula, although this divergence is far from groundbreaking.
The beginning of the film establishes quite a few moving parts to work with. The history of Quinn and her father aside, the film contends with the culture and lore of the town of Kettle Springs, its history with making corn syrup, the town mascot Frendo, and a group of teens who are obsessed with creating mini slashers films for their YouTube channel. All this information is delivered to the audience in a rather jumbled way, which hinders immersion into the story and the commentary the film eventually goes for.
In serving as an adaptation of a YA novel, Clown in a Cornfield certainly aims for wide-audience appeal. From its innovative kills to punchy one-liners, this is a film that will play great in a crowd, especially one full of teenage horror fans. With the target audience of most modern horror either being family/children or adults, Craig’s film is refreshing in its focus on teenagers, both on-screen and off-screen. The director treats the often overlooked YA demographic with respect, never dumbing down his film nor making it too mature for people of this age to handle. Appropriate comparisons for Clown in a Cornfield include the Fear Street trilogy on Netflix and 2019’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, all of which are based on books geared toward audiences who haven’t reached adulthood yet.
Without the filmmaking craft of something like X, Clown in a Cornfield relies on a point of innovation in its narrative to set itself apart. This comes in the form of a plot twist that, while not breaking any new ground for the slasher genre, works quite well in the context of the film. Although it is not explicitly revealed until the end of the film, a certain moment in the middle of the film makes the forthcoming twist abundantly obvious. The twist itself represents an attempt to subvert expectations of the slasher genre but doesn’t quite do enough to achieve that aim. It greatly resembles the plot twist of another film (one we won’t explicitly name in this review, although you can check out the comparison for yourself here). What the twist succeeds in doing, however, is create a foundation for some surprisingly poignant and topical commentary about generational gaps and teenagers in the modern age. It may not be as clever of a slasher as Scream and yet Clown in a Cornfield features an interesting and scathing technique on modern America.
Leading the film is Katie Douglas, known for her roles as Abby Littman in Ginny & Georgia and Jackie Sullivan in Pretty Hard Cases. Douglas plays the moody, vulnerable, and charismatic teen lead well, while offering something a bit different as the main character of a slasher. She is surrounded by a number of other actors playing her teenage friends (and Frendo’s potential victims). The actors playing these teenagers are a little on-the-nose with their performances, although this mostly works given the tone of the film.
What doesn’t work as much is an overpopulation of ill-fitting music spread throughout the film. While the score from Brandon Roberts and Marcus Trumpp is effective, Clown in a Cornfield features far too many pop, techno, and dance songs from indie artists. Rarely does a song’s inclusion feel appropriate for a given scene, with their ultimate effect often being that it takes one out of immersion within the film. This feels like a minor critique, but the songs feature so heavily and detract so greatly at times that it is worth noting.
VERDICT: 6/10
Clown in a Cornfield may not reinvent the slasher genre, although there are innovative kills, poignant social commentary, and a decent twist that make it an enjoyable watch. A jumbled beginning with too much lore and history leads into a routine slasher flick, until a mid-film twist injects much-needed life into the proceedings. The twist, while not breaking any new ground and greatly resembling the twist from another movie, comes as a surprise and lays the foundation for poignant, topical social commentary later on. A strong turn from Katie Douglas as a somewhat unconventional slasher lead is coupled with over-the-top performances from several supporting actors and an unfortunate overuse of ill-fitting songs throughout the film. Most commendable for Clown in a Cornfield is the film’s attention to a target audience of teenage horror fans. The often overlooked YA demographic can enjoy an exciting slasher that is neither dumbed down nor too mature with Clown in a Cornfield, fitting given the YA novel it is based on.