SXSW 2025 Review:
"Clown in a Cornfield"
Clown in a Cornfield is a classic case of a film failing to live up to its amusing and intriguing title. Yes, co-writer/director Eli Craig’s humor-fueled, blood-splattered adaptation of Adam Cesare’s 2020 novel does feature one killer clown, Frendo, lurking in a cornfield and other places where unsuspecting teens ready for the slaughter congregate. (Level 16’s Katie Douglas leads the cast of imperiled teens as Quinn Maybrook, a newcomer to the town of Kettle Springs.) And while this post-modern slasher has more on its mind than blood and guts, Craig never succeeds in elevating his costumed boogeyman and their objective beyond the ritual slicing and dicing of a rural community’s high school students. Craig tries to position the bloody demise of Kettle Springs’ young folk as a smart and essential statement on the nation’s current generational divides. But the motive is so flimsy that it reduces Clown in a Cornfield to just another conventional horror comedy. Heck, it does not even possess the same level of fun and personality as the recent Scream sequels or this year’s Heart Eyes, the latter of which managed to mix horror and romcom sensibilities with ease and distinction. Even the kills are somewhat ho-hum. The only time Clown in a Cornfield shows any imagination, and squeezes tension out of its premise, is during a revealing late second-act massacre. Even Frendo’s mask and costume—modeled on the mascot of a bankrupt local corn syrup company—is rather drab. Adam Cesare has already published two sequels to Clown in a Cornfield. But Craig’s adaptation of the source novel does not suggest there is a need to know more about Frendo than Clown in a Cornfield imparts. And, as with countless Children of the Corn sequels and reboots, this wasted opportunity fails to make a cornfield a scary place to be stuck in. Posted: March 23, 2025. Web site: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2025/films/2206325 |
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