Clown in a Cornfield (2025) | Review

 

2025 | R | 96 mins | Directed by Eli Craig

Clown in a Cornfield marks the return of director/writer Eli Craig. In 2010, Craig struck gold with the cult classic Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. After doing only a handful of projects since then, Craig returns with this which is based on a novel of the same name. Leaning in heavily to the dark comedy and horror elements, Clown in a Cornfield ends up being a surprisingly fun movie that subverts your expectations.

The movie follows Quinn (Katie Douglas), as her and her dad (Aaron Abrams) move to a small town called Kettle Springs to find a fresh start. Kettle Springs has seen some recent issues since the town's corn syrup factory closed after a fire, things just haven't been the same. Adults in the town are trying to make their once great town like it used to be while the kids in the town just want to party, make prank videos and get out of the town as quickly as they can. There's a strong back and forth between everyone in the town. That is, until Friendo, the mascot of the former corn syrup factory, a creepy clown who decides that the only way the town will get back to its ways it to get rid of the rotten kids who now inhabit the town.

In the beginning, Clown in a Cornfield feels like a typical slasher movie. There's the set up with the new kid in town that starts hanging out with a bad crowd and then eventually the kids start to get picked off one by one. It all feels generic but there's nothing particularly bad about it either. Once the story gets into the second half of the movie is where things change, and the story decides to go in another direction. This bodes well for the movie as it gets to a point where the audience doesn't know what will happen next. It's a perfect way of subverting the audience's expectations and when a movie does that, especially a horror movie, that will always bump up the excitement.

There are several fun moments here. Eli Craig knows how to perfectly balance the horror and comedy. The jokes are usually quite funny, but they never overdo it with the comedy and know when to play things just right in the more serious parts. When the horror elements are in play, they work well including lots of, mostly, practical effects for the blood and gore. Friendo the Clown is a great new character to add to the never-ending list of good horror movie villains. The character is creepy, but the movie does some fun things with him to make him a more known presence.

Katie Douglas does a great job as the lead. Her character has the perfect personality of being a final girl and Douglas' performance adds a lot of charm to the character. Character actor Kevin Durand is a lot of fun here as he is getting to do what he does best with this character. Will Sasso is an interesting choice to play the town sheriff but he's quite funny in the role, doing his best southern bumpkin accent. The rest of the cast here is fine but there aren't really any standouts besides Douglas. A lot of the teenage characters are mostly just playing stereotypes but there are a couple that they end up doing some interesting things with and that was not expected.

Overall, Clown in a Cornfield is a bloody good time. It is able to mix horror and comedy together well without one overshadowing the other. Once things get going and the movie starts to subvert your expectations is when things really start to get fun. This is a worthwhile horror/comedy that works more than it doesn't.

Grade: B