Clown in a Cornfield Parent Guide

Like most high school seniors, Quinn (Katie Douglas), did not particularly want to move to a dying midwestern town for her final year of school. But following her mother’s death, her father Dr. Maybrook (Aaron Abrams) needed a change, so he moved them both to the middle of nowhere.

Luckily for Quinn, she makes a few new friends quickly – especially Cole (Carson MacCormac), who’s caught her eye. Unluckily, her new friends seem to be perennially in trouble. Some of it is earned, but it really seems like the town is out to get them. And when the town’s clown mascot, Frendo (Jeff Strome), appears in the flesh and starts butchering teens, it becomes apparent that the town really is trying to kill them.

Does anybody else remember back in the ancient past (approximately 2016) when we experienced a minor plague of clowns randomly appearing in public? It feels like this movie missed its marketing train by almost a decade. That said, Clown in a Cornfield is a pretty snappy little slasher, and it doesn’t waste much time on the usual inane teen drama that screenwriters use to bulk out the runtime. After all, you can’t spend the entire ninety minutes butchering teenagers. Think of the fake blood budget!

Obviously, this is not a family film – slashers seldom are. Our misbehaving teens bootleg booze, trespass, and do whatever they can think of to take the edge off of living in the town that time forgot. As a reward, they spend the movie being chased by maniacs, and the ensuing gore and profanity compose a non-trivial share of the film’s runtime. Lighthearted despite the gore, this is a movie that knows it’s playing for genre fans as it merrily traipses down the lane of goofy yet familiar tropes.

I’m kind of surprised this flick isn’t getting a release closer to summer break or Halloween, but it’s a nice departure from the torrent of action films coming down the pipe at the moment. Clown in a Cornfield is sure to find its audience despite its release window. Much like Snakes on a Plane, the title really tells you all you need to know about the film. There’s no mystery as to where this one is headed. If you don’t like the bloody irrigation of crops in rural areas, the movie doesn’t want your business in the first place. It’s like the little sign outside of a roller coaster: You must be this weird to ride.