I am all the time nostalgic for the early aughts remakes of horror classics and their slasher copycats. Friday the thirteenth with Danielle Panabaker. Home of Wax with Paris Hilton. Nightmare on Elm Avenue with Rooney Mara. Rob Zombie’s Halloween. Then there have been those you would discover enjoying on cable tv in the midst of the evening — Unsuitable Flip, Keep Alive, Noticed, Hostel, Sorority Row.
They weren’t all the time good films, however I beloved them anyway. I felt like I used to be watching one thing transgressive (although that wasn’t essentially the case) and, although my tastes have expanded, I can nonetheless activate any one among these films and have an excellent time. Clown in a Cornfield
jogged my memory of the perfect of those movies. It’s a enjoyable B-movie with well timed parts and a few thrilling kills. It will not be far more than that, however generally that’s sufficient.
Clown In A Cornfield Is aware of It is Foolish
That is Why It Works
Clown in a Cornfield relies on a younger grownup novel by Adam Cesare, tailored into a movie by director Eli Craig, maybe finest recognized for Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Clown in a Cornfield retains that movie’s humor as we observe Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) as she strikes to Kettle Springs, Missouri from Philadelphia together with her father (Aaron Abrams). The city is unusual, haunted by the closing and subsequent hearth at an area manufacturing unit and the most recent horror film clown, Frendo.
The native youngsters have taken to creating prank movies the place one among them is murdered by Frendo, making them resistant to violence and the specter of it. Quinn rapidly ingratiates herself with this group, however one thing is clearly off with them and the remainder of the city. The teenagers’ idiocy is performed for the correct quantity of guffaws and Clown in a Cornfield strikes at a brisk sufficient tempo that it’s simple to overlook a number of the cracks.

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It jogged my memory of one other current slasher — Eli Roth’s holiday-themed Thanksgiving. That, too, was gentle on depth however stuffed with grotesque kills, gross-out humor, and dumb youngsters. In a manner, it’s comforting due to that. So, too, is Clown in a Cornfield, which has a throwback really feel that makes me really feel like I’m as soon as once more on the films in 2008 sneaking right into a slasher film.
And that’s the perfect form of feeling, isn’t it? As a result of Clown in a Cornfield could be gut-churning and gnarly. It might play into teen horror tropes with the attention that they’re tropes, utilizing that confidence to make it really feel excellent. It’s additionally fairly hilarious, enjoying many moments for laughs with simply the correct timing. Humor and horror can typically be a tough stability to hit excellent and although not all of Clown in a Cornfield lands, the solid is recreation sufficient.
Like discovering the remake of Texas Chainsaw Bloodbath on the USA community in the midst of the evening, you might come throughout Clown in a Cornfield on Shudder and resolve to place it on. You received’t remorse that call. Higher but, see it in a theater if you happen to can. This one feels prefer it’s made for a crowd like that, one the place everyone seems to be having enjoyable laughing on the movie, squirming on the gore, and laughing at themselves for getting swept up in it within the first place.
Clown in a Cornfield premiered on the 2025 SXSW Movie & TV Competition.