CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD
(director/writer: Eli Craig; screenwriters: based on the novel by Adam Cesare, Carter Blanchard; cinematographer: ; editor: Sabrina Pitre; Music: Brandon Roberts, Marcus Trumpp; cast: Carson MacCormac (Cole), Aaron Abrams (Dr. Maybrook), Cassandra Potenza (Janet), Verity Marks (Ronnie).Vincent Muller (Rust), Kevin Durand (Arthur Hill), Will Sasso (Sheriff Dunne), Ayo Solanke (Tucker), Alexandra Martin Deakin (Matt); Runtime: 96; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Marty Bowen, Terry Dougas, John Fischer, Wyck Godfrey, Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis; RLJE FILMS/Shudder; 2025)
“The film is at its best when it offers a droll critique of the current culture.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Eli Craig (“Tucker & Dale vs. Evil”/”Little Evil”) is director/writer of this all too familiar type of modern-day teen slasher film, that’s unevenly co-written with Carter Blanchard. It’s based on the 2020 YA horror novel by the Philly writer Adam Cesare. Though beautifully shot, the indie film offers only a syrupy story with a dark humor and a lot of unpleasant kills.
Kettle Springs, Missouri, is a dying Midwestern small town after being a booming manufacturing town in the ’90s. The town’s ruin came about when teens were targeted to be killed without a motive, by the evil Frendo the Clown, the friendly town mascot, who represented the local Baypen corn syrup factory until it burned down.
The teens of today have long forgotten that serial killing part of their town history., and have moved on.
This new Frendo story is told from the POV of the troubled teen Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas), who recently moved here after her mom died and her doctor father (Aaron Abrams) wanted a change of scenery in a quiet small town.
It’s a dull town, where Quinn’s warmly welcomed by her peers–the popular Ronnie (Verity Marks) and Janet (Cassandra Potenza), and is thrilled to be noticed by the handsome and personable bad boy Cole (Carson MacCormac). Others in this trouble-making clique are Matt (Alexandra Martin Deakin) and Tucker (Ayo Solanke).
The MAGA town, built on misinformation, is divided between extreme conservatives and liberals. In this tense atmosphere it holds its traditional Founders Day celebration to ensure their small town values continue.
But with the celebration comes the reappearance of Frendo, and the killings of teens returns. The early vics are the vulnerable, the horny, the Black teen students, and Quinn’s group.
The film is at its best when it offers a droll critique of the current culture, and shows how real is the penchant for violence by the isolated moderns and how unfortunate it is that their failure to team up with the other side to work for a better life for all deeply effects their community.
It played at the SXSW Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 3/14/2025 GRADE: B-
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