“Clown in a Cornfield” Review
Director: Eli Craig Screenwriter: Carter Blanchard, Eli Craig Cast: Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Kevin Durand, Will Sasso Distributor: Shudder Running Time: 97 min. MPAA: R
After helming the highly subversive Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, director Eli Craig doesn’t bring that same satire to the standard slasher stagings of Clown in a Cornfield. But for being the type of story a capable horror director could craft in their sleep, he doesn’t snooze on finding what can make a film like this more rousing than routine. If his previous movie showed you how typical slashers can be turned on their head, this one is meant to show how much fun they can be, even amid the mindless moments of a teenage slaughter fest.
The small town of Kettle Springs is celebrating its centennial, and its newest resident is the teenager Quinn (Katie Douglas). Naturally, she has an outsider attitude that doesn’t sit well with her nervous father (Aaron Abrams) or the scrutinizing local adults, including a far-too-chummy sheriff (Will Sasso) and an insecure teacher. However, she garners some outsider friends, ranging from the empathetic Cole (Carson MacCormac) to the sweet hunter Rust (Vincent Muller). While Quinn appreciates the quick friends, she’s not exactly cool with their viral pranks involving clowns that frighten with their murderous tactics. It’s the perfect cover for some real murderous clowns to have the element of surprise.
True to the masked serial killer’s theme, Clown in a Cornfield embraces its goofy nature while still having a coherent enough story to fit the mystery, loaded with twists. There are some quality kills that involve slashed throats and a head decapitated by a lifting weight. Of course, the question might arise of how exactly a killer clown could decapitate someone with a weight that is clearly not sharp enough to make a clean cut. The answer is simple: It doesn’t matter. It just looks neat, and it’s an absurd kill for teens deceived by clowns they think are playing a prank. This mindset works for the story as well, where the various clowns committing the murders are doing so out of the town’s adults, attempting to keep their village pure of the youth they believe is poisoning culture. Now, how have they been killing teens for decades, yet still have a town bustling with teenagers and families? Again, it doesn’t matter. It’s a decent theme for the teens to fight back against elders with gorilla-glued rose-colored glasses to their wrinkled faces, concealed in the clown motif.
There’s just enough winking in this film for the slasher silliness to endure. It finds some decent punchlines to go along with the many scenes of teens getting arrows to the face and pitchforks in their guts. The actors are all fine for this material and never feel like they’re trying too hard for a laugh. It helps that the film has the familiar comedic actor Will Sasso stepping effortlessly into the role of a sheriff, having faith in the slapstick and script to carry his comedy. There are also some sparks of thrills throughout, as when one killer clown crashes the big party in the cornfield and then many clowns with various weapons, playing like the most nightmarish version of Field of Dreams.
Clown in a Cornfield is fun enough to get lost in its charming maze of clown killers and blood-soaked corn. A serviceable premise is given a chipper spirit that makes the film come off more like a labor of love than banking on the title to carry the appeal. There’s not much reason for a clown to be in a cornfield, and a film this wise never tries to find some tired origin for the mystery. Sometimes you just have to accept the circus you’re presented with and be more amazed by the sights and sounds of a clown exploding into blood than question how that could happen in a car crash. Clown magic? Yeah, sure, let’s go with that.
