If you haven’t seen director Eli Craig’s Tucker and Dale vs Evil, it’s a must-see. If you don’t see his latest–Clown in a Cornfield–you’re only missing out on a moderately entertaining slasher flick that doesn’t come close to reaching the same heights.
Following a teenage girl named Quinn (Katie Douglas) who moves to a small farm town with her dad, Clown in a Cornfield has her and her new friends targeted by Frendo the Clown, a sadistic killer who–you guessed it–emerges from a cornfield to slaughter his victims. The result is a bloody if basic slasher that checks the boxes but fails to take advantage of the fact that everyone in the world finds clowns terrifying.
Clocking in at a generous 95 minutes, Clown is lean, fast paced, and well made. Craig delivers some solid and quasi-gory deaths mixed with plenty of bloody entertainment, highlighted by a satisfying sequence where the killer clown emerges from–yes–the cornfield to reveal his true intentions, and causing the girls playing with the severed head of their friend to realize that what’s squirting from inside is not red corn syrup.
Douglas makes for a fine Final Girl; she’s got the looks and the chops to deliver the goods. The supporting cast is a little less memorable, both in appearance and characteristics; one of Clown’s failings is that you never really care about who lives and who dies.
As clever and original as Tucker and Dale vs Evil is, it’s somewhat amazing that Clown in a Cornfield is about as straightforward as they come. Craig shouldn’t be expected to turn the genre on his head every time he makes a movie, but as fun and entertaining as this one is, it’s a slasher we’ve seen countless times before. Good-looking teenagers will die and we’ll eventually find out who is behind the mask, with some silly motive.
Even lacking originality, Craig could have taken Clown to the next level by leaning into his killer clown. The mask is creepy enough, but as the titular villain, Frendo is wholly unremarkable. He never attempts to toy with his victims or otherwise be a clown; he’s just a dude wearing a clown outfit who likes to kill people.
Clown in a Cornfield is fast-paced, entertaining, and easy to watch, but it’s no horror classic. It really just made me want to go watch Tucker and Dale vs Evil again.
Review by Erik Samdahl.
