Reel Review Roundup

Clown in a Cornfield (MA)

Directed by: Eli Craig

Starring: Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac

Review by: Julian Wright

The title succinctly captures what gore fans are in for with this rural slasher based on the book of the same name.

After experiencing a devastating loss, Dr Glenn Maybrook (Aaron Abrams) moves his teenage daughter Quinn (Katie Douglas) from the city to small town Kettle Springs, Missouri for a new job and fresh start.

It is a small, boring town with a checkered past and dwindling economy after its booming corn syrup factory (with a clown mascot named Frendo) burned down.

Against everyone’s warnings, Quinn falls in with a misfit group of trouble-making YouTube pranksters who have ruffled the feathers of the town’s older generations.

In the lead up to the town’s 100th festival celebrations, a killer clown begins targeting the group members one by one, before striking at a night time farmhouse party.

Carnage ensues.

Clown in a Cornfield has all the delicious horror genre cliches we have grown to love over the past several decades, while putting a fresh modern spin, with a fun cast, fleshed out characters, wit and some social commentary.

Director Eli Craig spends time building characters we care about, angling towards more of a dramatic tone when establishing the plot and characters, before treating us to the gore and funny one-liners.

Couple minor quibbles: the killer reveal is one of the least surprising in a slasher in a long time and Craig doesn’t take the carnage quite far enough.

It is all silly fun – Craig could have benefited from letting loose a bit more.

But in a time when the beloved slasher installment is few and far between, Clown in a Cornfield satisfyingly scratches an itch.

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