No assembly RequireD

Sometimes things are exactly like they appear. Small town farm America, creepy empty atmosphere…enter the horny drunk teenagers. It’s 1991 in Kettle Springs, a middle America city shoved in the middle of a fly over state. Everything seems quie (although not innocent) for these teens but if there is anything that horror fans (or just those that can point out the obvious) know it’s that wandering into a cornfield to have sex isn’t going to end up well. And you’d be correct as it doesn’t take long before these teens find their lives cut short at the hands of a bloody demise. But hey that’s 90’s and for today’s generation that might as well be ancient history right? Welcome to CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD a wild, hysterical and bloody adaptation of Adam Cesare’s 2020 novel of the same name. For this adaptation it is Eli Craig at the helm. Best known for his comedy horror “Tucker & Dale vs Evil” Craig continues to prove to his audience that expect the unexpected. And yet it seems hard to imagine for those unfamiliar with the novel (which includes this critic) that anything can come as a surprise from a title called CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD. It pretty much feels all spelled out for us. And while we don’t see the titular clown in the opening kill we can be safe to assume he will pop up at some point. But what CORNFIELD does best as a film is not just dive head on in to all the tropes that made 80s/90s slashers so popular but also delivering a modern twist that I’m sorry no Letterboxd user will expect no matter how much they claim to have seen it coming. In summary sense CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD is a fucking blast and may be the biggest surprise hit out of the South by South West Film Festival. It very much is the kind of film that at first benefits from an eager big crowd hooting and hollering at every kill but what makes CORNFIELD all the more exciting is that feeling when watching it where you discover that this is destined to be a new Halloween staple and Frendo the Clown is a horror icon in the making. So yea sometimes things really are what you expect them to be and other times they are a Clown in a mother fucking cornfield.

Quinn (Katie Douglas) is already miserable. The last place she wants to be is nowhereville Kettle Springs and she isn’t afraid to let her optimistic yet sad eyed father (Aaron Abrams) know her frustration. Their new home smells like dead animals (because it’s full of them) and worst of all there is no Wi-Fi! CORNFIELD adapted from a script by Craig and Cater Blanchard lets us know early on that Quinn is very much a teen of her generation. A Gen-Z girl with little to no patience and a small town is the last place that can keep up with her standards. And yet that isn’t the main disturbance in Quinn’s life, no instead that is the death of her mother that her father seemingly has run away away from to become the local town doctor leaving Quinn to try and figure out the ways of the local teens. And much like any horror movie of its generation the teens that surround themselves around Quinn seem to fit the criteria of horror movie standards. There’s the douchey jock, the wannabe queen bee, a nerd, and a basket case. Okay maybe it’s not that “Breakfast Club” but Quinn does meet her newfound friends in detention where they inform her that they spend their time beating the boredom by making YouTube videos of town menace Frendo the clown. Frendo is an urban legend that seems to be the teenage answer for everything that goes wrong in the town. Kids go missing? Frendo the murderous clown did it. The infamous corn syrup factory burns down? Gotta be Frendo. But as any horror aficionado knows you don’t test your luck with maniacal murderous beings. When Quinn’s new friends make her the victim of a new prank video Quinn notices someone lurking in the background. Could it just be another prank or is Frendo more than just a campfire story. Look you wouldn’t be wrong in thinking CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD feels all too familiar at this point and yet the film before even reaching its most devious twists and turns wants you to know this is no call back film. It’s cast of young newcomers including Douglas, Cassandra Potenza, Carson MacCormac, Verity Marks, Ayo Solanke and Alexandre Martin Deakin have a lot of weight on their shoulders. They are both stereotypes as well as characters beyond their limitations embodying the new generation that while stuck in a town of the past keep looking towards the future. Even knowing that their future may never go beyond Kettle Springs they are all well aware that there has to be something better than their small-minded town and elder townspeople. Where new modern slashers like the Scream reboot and Thanksgiving keep looking behind CORNFIELD keeps looking forward.

There’s tons of fun to be had throughout CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD so much so that this critic hesitates to spoil any of the surprising fun. Instead there can be a great focus on the way director Craig and the entire cast is fully committed not just to the bit of running away from a masked killer clown but even more so to the notion that yes these young actors have found themselves in a genre they most likely grew up on but it’s a perfect time to make the genre their own and expand far beyond what the past has wonderfully given us. The entire film is a testament to the anger felt amongst generations no matter what the era is, but this time around it brings forth the idea that many of those in the boomer and Gen X era seem to have quite the anger towards gen-Zers. Sure some of their past times may seem peculiar but at the end of the day at some point we too (millennials and older) were seen as strange to those above us. In fact CORNFIELD really feels less like a subredditor’s response to the new and more like a young person’s fears that these people who cannot let the past go may eventually get what they want. A world where no progress moves forward and instead any new ideas both good and bad gets killed off before they get a chance to grow. But even with this semi-serious mentality CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD is the kind of big time audience pleaser that is packed with brutal kills, cheer worthy moments and a final girl that is both smart and dumb enough to feel authentic at every turn. Douglas is a joy to watch feeling in the same realm of another final girl fighting off a clown such as Sienna Shaw, with Art the Clown. As Quinn Douglas’ frustration comes through while also the playful manner of just wanting to be a teen and sick of this annoying fucking clown that keeps ruining her hookups or drunken parties amongst her new friends. So many final girls are seen as women who keep pushing back and with good reason) but even as Quinn tries to accept her situation Frendo has something to say about that.

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD is the kind of movie that with the proper audience you will always remember seeing for the first time. It’s the kind of film not destined to be a cult favorite but rather a favorite just in general. For those that know what is to come, they will certainly eat up the adaptation of Cesare’s book as will those who think they know what they are getting. It isn’t that CORNFIELD has the greatest film trick up its sleeve, in fact far from it, but what makes it great is that it defies expectation simply based on prior experience. This is not meant to be a tribute or throwback but a pushing of the train. To bring forth the idea that the slasher an old genre can still have fresh life in it, and when you see the missteps of slashers in recent years it’s a welcomed entry into new ground. To break the fourth wall of this review to be in the room during CORNFIELD’s South by South West premiere was to experience an overall feeling of shock and awe. To be reminded that no matter how familiar something feels there is always a new danger that is lurking around the corner, or in this case a mistreated cornfield. So yea the familiar is enjoyable and we’ve all see the killer clown before but I promise you Frendo is an entirely new thing and while the town of Kettle Springs may be stuck in the past Frendo is the future and you don’t. fuck. with. Frendo.  

A-

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD premiered in Narrative Spotlight section of the South by South West Film Festival. It will be released in theaters May 9th by RLJE Films and Shudder.