CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD Review: Caught Between Gateway Horror and Hardcore Gorefest

After the death of his wife, doctor Glenn Maybrook (Aaron Abrams) moves out to the rural factory town of Kettle Springs with his teenage daughter Quinn (Katie Douglas) in an attempt to give them both a fresh start. However, when an old town boogeyman dressed as local mascot Frendo the Clown starts killing teenagers in gruesome ways, it turns out that this move may have been a mistake in Eli Craig’s adaptation of the popular YA horror novel, Clown in a Cornfield.

While Dr. Maybrook is excited about getting a new lease on life away from the memories of his late wife, Quinn sees this as a selfish move and resents both him and the town immediately. Hesitant to make friends, Quinn sort of falls into a clique of love YouTube pranksters who are leaning into the urban legend of the killer clown. When a party thrown by the mayor’s teenaged son turns into a bloodbath at the hands of the real Frendo, it’s up to Quinn and her posse to figure out what’s really going on before they all get picked off.

None of the adults in town seem too concerned about the carnage, with Sheriff Dunne (Will Sasso) and Mayor Hill (Kevin Durand) brushing the kids off at every opportunity. There’s a tricentennial coming up, and the mayor wants no part of anything that will cast a shadow over his town. Frustrated, Quinn and her rather disposable gang of friends find that it’s up to them to figure out the Frendo’s game, but the longer they wait, the fewer there are remaining to put up a fight. It looks like it’s going to take a miracle to come out of this alive, or maybe just a bit of illusion.

Clown in a Cornfield is sure to scare up a Gen Z audience with its teen-friendly banter and just-gory-enough series of creative kills. However, horror vets might have a harder time picking up with this scrappy little slasher is putting down. Occupying an awkward space between gateway horror and hardcore gorefest, it is unclear exactly who the intended audience is for the film. Too gory for the tween YA readership of the book, and maybe too slight for those old enough to see it theatrically, it sits in an unfortunate limbo.

Director Eli Craig has been chasing the runaway critical success of his cult classic Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil since its 2010 release, but has yet to deliver on that early promise, and Clown in a Cornfield again falls just short of the mark. Not funny or gory enough to match up with that previous success, Cornfield falls firmly in meh territory, though it will likely be bolstered by the theatrical experience;  unfortunately, that’s not how most people will end up seeing it.

Though Tucker & Dale was aimed squarely at an older audience than Cornfield, the two films share a comedic spirit, but the latter lacks the kind of cast who can really deliver the way that Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine did in the earlier film. Thankfully, there’s no such thing as a lazy Kevin Durand performance, and though his screen time may be limited, his impact is heavy and carries the final act of the film. He’s easily the best part of the film, and sadly underutilized in favor of the younger actors, most of whom have serious likability problems.

Clown in a Cornfield is going to be a new favorite movie for a bunch of teenage horror geeks, and its hard not to be thankful for that. Sadly, the film flounders and wastes its potential with scattershot tonal dissonance, unlikeable supporting cast, and a baffling coda that completely ignores the actions of the previous twenty minutes of film. A lesser mix of Children of the Corn, Hot Fuzz, The Wicker Man, and any number of cursed small town films, Clown in a Cornfield is not the blast it should be, and that’s a bummer.

Review originally published when the film debuted at SXSW in March 2025. Clown in a Cornfield opens Friday, May 9, only in movie theaters, via RLJE Films and Shudder.