By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
"Clown in a Cornfield" delivers most everything you'd want from a horror film. It offers jump scares, relatable characters, scream-at-the-screen moments, and buckets of blood from gloriously gory kills.
Directed and co-written by
Eli Craig ("Little Evil"), with a screenplay by
Carter Blanchard ("Independence Day: Resurgence") and
Adam Cesare (author of the 2020 novel "Clown in a Cornfield"), the movie brings together sharp writing, dark humor and makes for an interesting twist on the teen slasher genre.
Set in the fictional small town of Kettle Springs, Missouri, a tight-knit community wary of outsiders, the story follows Quinn (Katie Douglas, TV's "Ginny & Georgia") and her father, Dr. Maybrook (Aaron Abrams, TV's "Children Ruin Everything"), as they adjust to their new life since moving here and he is now the town doctor.
Still grieving the loss of her mother and struggling with a strained relationship with her father, Quinn finds it even harder to adapt, especially with the added frustration of spotty cell phone reception that leaves her feeling more isolated than ever.
Just when it seems like all hope is lost, Quinn encounters their friendly neighbor, Rust (Vincent Muller, "TV's Watson"), who offers a much-needed glimmer of support. He even gets the green light from Quinn's dad to walk her to school on her first day. During their walk, Rust and Quinn talk about the town and Quinn is baffled at how anyone could actually live here.
Her time in class doesn't go as smoothly as she had hoped. She clashes with her teacher, Mr. Vern (Bradley Sawatzky, "Aberdeen"), and lands in detention--along with the entire class--after they pull an embarrassing prank on him.
But the good news is Quinn has made new friends with classmates Cole (Carson MacCormac, "Shazam! Fury of the Gods"), Ronnie (Verity Marks, TV's "Following Yonder Star"), Janet (Cassandra Potenza, TV's "Haunted Wedding"), Matt (Alexandre Martin Deakin, TV's "The Next Step"), and the group's lone black guy, Tucker (Ayo Solanke, TV's "A Carol For Two").
The teens are considered troublemakers by most every adult in Kettle Springs, and not without reason. They have gained a following on social media by leaning into the town's creepy folklore, especially the legend of Frendo, a clown-faced mascot from the local and long-defunct Baypen Corn Syrup Factory that burned down years ago. Dressed in clown masks and staging fake murders, their pranks only fuel the town's bad reputation and enrage the older residents.
But the jokes stop cold when someone in a real clown mask starts killing them off one by one. Quinn and her friends beg Sheriff Dune (a scene-stealing Will Sasso, TV's "Neighbors from Hell") for help, but he brushes them off, convinced it's just more of their attention-seeking antics.
Could it be that Sheriff Dune, local store owner Otis (Jean-Jacques Javier, "Ordinary Angels"), and the rest of the adults have finally had enough and are sending a message in the most horrifying way possible? Maybe.
But writer-director Eli Craig isn't clowning around here. He smartly avoids easy answers, piling on the suspense with each twist and making sure you're squirming right up to the last moments of "Clown in a Cornfield's" taut, blood-soaked 90-minute runtime.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 5:17 p.m. and 6:47 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Go Ahead And Look At This Trailer For
"CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
