Eli Craig’s “Clown in a Cornfield” is, at first, precisely what you suppose it’s, till it applies just a few twists that make it funnier and solely somewhat bit smarter than you’d count on.

Is {that a} suggestion? In an period of most mainstream films being a sequel, prequel, remake, rebrand or “rebirth,” it’s refreshing to discover a stalk n’ slash horror comedy that’s somewhat bit higher than most.

Nevertheless, coming from Craig, who beforehand directed and co-wrote the hilarious slasher film “Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil” (2010), which is among the finest movies of its kind (the sort being “The Cabin within the Woods” and “Scream”), I anticipated much more.

The plot: Quinn (Katie Douglas) and her father (Aaron Abrams) expertise private tragedy and search to rebuild their lives by shifting to a small city. We all know from the pre-title sequence that the city has a historical past of homicides, involving individuals being murdered by mysterious figures dressed as clowns.

Whereas Quinn is straight away distrustful of her new environment, she is passionate about Cole (Carson MacCormac), a good-looking native who expresses his curiosity…by giving her the reward of a windup jack within the field with a clown inside.

Uh oh.

The excellent news is that, whereas “Clown in a Cornfield” depicts the mayhem occurring over the city’s Founder’s Day, the movie itself is so a lot better than the dreadful “Founder’s Day” (2023).

The unlucky information is that “Clown in a Cornfield” isn’t as sharp or humorous as one other film it carefully resembles, Eli Roth’s career-best “Thanksgiving” (2023), which additionally has a holiday-parade-gone-bad sequence.

A lot of Craig’s movie is in regards to the distinction between the present and prior technology, with plenty of jokes made on the expense of younger people who can’t survive with out Wi-Fi, are unable to drive stick shift and don’t know easy methods to dial a rotary cellphone.

A few of these gags are very humorous however the horror works higher than the comedy, if solely as a result of the gentle scares are constant. I wished extra jokes and fewer bounce scares.

Of the forged, the perfect work comes from character actor professionals Kevin Durand (who actually ought to have been Oscar-nominated for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”) and Will Sasso (whose insane depiction of Steven Seagal was certainly one of my favourite issues on “Mad TV”).

The apparent query – is “Clown in a Cornfield” nearly as good as “Killer Klowns from Outer Area” (1988)? Nope, not even shut. “Killer Klowns from Outer Area,” the gonzo sci-fi/horror masterpiece from the Chiodo brothers, exploited each angle doable of face-painted serial killers. Craig’s movie is excellent however, for starters, to ensure that it to compete with “Killer Klowns,” it at the very least wanted a catchy theme tune.

I suppose this isn’t going to assist anybody identified with coulrophobia, which is the worry of evil clowns. Neither is the “IT” spinoff collection, “Welcome to Derry,” which is because of hit MAX any day now.

All of those evil clowns recall to mind my pal Ryan, who proudly advised me he went to clown faculty and studied the artwork of clowning. I haven’t seen Ryan in a very long time and marvel what he’d make of his artistry changing into often known as fodder for violent horror films.

“Clown in a Cornfield” has an underwhelming begin, a powerful and thrilling center, after which an ending that over-explains and fizzles out. It feels just like the sort of teen-baiting slasher films that Dimension tossed out within the late Nineteen Nineties- not “Scream,” however “Phantoms” (1998). A minimum of “Phantoms” had Ben Affleck…Affleck was the bomb in “Phantoms.”

Anyway, when you see “Clown in a Cornfield” this weekend, I extremely advocate benefiting from the chance to see the movie at a drive-in movie show. The distributor has the movie scheduled to premiere in fairly just a few drive-ins.

I recommend going to carload.com and discovering out when and the place “Clown in a Cornfield” is taking part in. Ideally at a drive-in surrounded by a close-by cornfield.

Two and a Half Stars