Hitting the big top: Killer ‘Clown’ has ‘It’ going on
The movies have taught us that cornfields yield more than kernels. In Iowa, it was the spirits of the 1919 Chicago White Sox. And now, just to the south in Missouri, harlequins have emerged from the field of maize dressed as an obsolete brand mascot bent on terrorizing members of Gen Z. So, natch, their story has been fittingly dubbed “Clown in a Cornfield,” an evocative title signaling a tongue-in-cheek take on how a combination of greed and government buffoonery has victimized the youth of rural America.
In adapting Adam Cesare’s novel of the same name, writer-director Eli Craig (“Tucker & Dale vs. Evil”) has fashioned a bloody-good satire that mixes and matches elements of horror with the coming-of-age experiences of a grieving, rebellious teen threatened by both the demons in her head and the malevolent adults in her new home of Kettle Springs, Missouri.
Far removed from their former life in Philadelphia, Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) and her family physician dad, Glenn (Aaron Abrams), have migrated to the Midwest to escape the trauma of her mom’s death, or so Dad hopes. Quinn? She’s not so sure. She thinks Glenn is just running away from reality. It’s caused a rift in their once-close relationship, a fissure exacerbated by Quinn quickly falling in with the “wrong crowd.”
In actuality, her new friends are more targets than delinquents, hunted by the town’s hierarchy for being disrespectful and failing to uphold the traditions exemplified by the upcoming Founders Day celebration. It appears the origins of this escalating feud lie in the derogatory videos Quinn’s new pals have been posting on Instagram, most of which ridicule the town’s creepy mascot, Frendo the Clown.
Once the symbol of the berg’s booming corn syrup industry, Frendo has come to represent the decay and rot of a community that’s fallen victim to globalization. Instead of blaming themselves or their corrupt political leaders, a powerful group of adults – I call them the Ku Klux Klowns – has directed its vengeance on Gen Z, falsely accusing Quinn’s companions of setting the fire that destroyed the old Baypen factory.
Mysteriously, the teens begin meeting gruesome fates, one by one, always in the presence of Frendo look-alikes wearing clown masks and sporting big, floppy shoes. And always within steps of a cornfield. Neither the sheriff (Will Sasso) nor the town’s most influential resident, Arthur Hill (Kevin Durand), seems to care, believing these homicides to be justifiable. But the killers never bargained for an adversary as steely as Quinn. She may not know how to drive a stick shift or operate a rotary phone, but she can spot evil a mile away.
Thus, the stage is set for a bloody face-off between a small town’s past and its future. Sure, it’s cynical. What horror picture isn’t? But what Craig (son of Sally Field) and co-writer Carter Blanchard have concocted is almost always clever. And while it’s seldom as funny as they’d have us believe, it has a certain charm that owes a huge debt to Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” series.
Like those masterpieces, “Clown in a Cornfield” capitalizes on gore and guffaws to make legit points about homophobia, sexism, classism and just about every other ism imaginable. You’re amused, while also being alerted to the absurdities of our society. It’s revealing intelligence beneath the cloak of stupidity. Craig hasn’t quite mastered this subgenre yet, but he’s on his way, abetted by a solid, if not always sparkling, cast of little-known actors. But he hits the jackpot with Douglas. Largely a veteran of teen-in-peril TV movies, she displays some solid acting chops, whether the tone is deadpan or deadly serious. And her chemistry with Abrams is discernible and authentic.
You’d prefer more scenes between them than Quinn and her mostly nondescript inner circle of Rust (Vincent Muller), Janet (Cassandra Potenza), Ronnie (Verity Marks), Matt (Alexandre Martin Deakin) and Tucker (Ayo Solanke). Oh, yeah, and Carson MacCormac as Arthur Hill’s son, Cole, a prospective love interest for Quinn, if not for his closely guarded secret.
There are times when Craig pours on the blood and sentimentality a bit too thick, but then that’s to be expected when the subject is corn. And this “Clown” is about as corny as you can get. In this case, that’s a good thing. So, friends and countrymen, you’d be wise to lend your ears.
Movie review
Clown in a Cornfield
Rated: R for teen drinking, language throughout and bloody horror violence
Cast: Katie Douglas, Carson Maccormac, Aaron Abrams, Will Sasso and Kevin Durand
Director: Eli Craig
Writers: Carter Blanchard and Eli Craig
Runtime: 96 minutes
Where: In theaters May 9
Grade: B
