Clown in a Cornfield: Fails To Pack A Punch (Early Review)

In 2010, Eli Craig put audiences through the woodchipper in his feature directorial debut, Tucker and Dale vs Evil. The hilarious dark comedy plays on the tropes of the woodsman slasher positioning two lovable drunkards against their perceived villainy from a group of stereotypical teens. In the film, Craig displays a great understanding of the horror comedy balance of the genre, presenting the woodsman as feared slashers from one perspective and lovable idiots from the other. That balance is something that Craig has struggled to capture since. 2017’s Little Evil and now Clown in a Cornfield both struggle to find that comedy horror balance, with the stereotypes he worked with so effortlessly in his debut now becoming a primary concern.

Craig’s examination of the genre’s many tropes and cliche makes the inevitable Scream comparison rear its ghastly head with its teen cast engrossed in an element of filmmaking while referring to the tropes they find themselves in. Clown in a Cornfield, however, does not construct a memorable cast or deconstruction of form, instead speeding through character development in service of mildly engaging kills and rushing to the film’s second act. This pacing keeps the film from being particularly boring, but the lack of character development outside of their stereotyped archetypes makes the film’s second and third acts fail to land as hard as possible. Instead, the film merely feels like a mildly entertaining yet skippable exercise in the genre and one which is aware of its own pitfalls, but is unable to examine or move out of them.

Craig’s latest follows Quinn Maybrook (Douglas) and her father, Dr Maybrook (Abrams) as they move to the small town of Kettle Springs in pursuit of a new beginning. The town, known for its Founders Day Festival and Corn Syrup icon Frendo the Clown, is wrought with trauma from a tragic fire that caught the town’s factory, the apogee of the town’s production. Quinn quickly finds herself entangled with the popular clique in school, a group of mischievous teens who drew the ire of the town’s many locals due to their viral slasher videos representing the town’s mascot as a violent and merciless killer. Reality soon begins to mirror the videos as Frendo starts to pick of the teens one by one, as Quinn and her friends try to make it to the next night.

At only 96-minutes long, Clown in a Cornfield does not waste any time, following up its great cold open with a time jump, introducing the audience to its characters and inciting incidents. Very reminiscent of Thanksgiving, the film centers its action around the latest Founder’s Day festival as Quinn gets closer to Cole (McCormac), the son of mayor Arthur Hill (played hysterically by Kevin Durand) and heart of gold in the troubled group. As their bond grows, so does the body count, and as the film saw its first few kills, it begins to run into its first problem. Slashers such as Thanksgiving and Scream work partly due to their cast. Although not everyone may recall each detail of the characters from the former, it is easy to remember its gimmick, some fun lines, and their eventual demise. In this case, the film puts so little in its character development that nothing lands with impact. Additionally, the road to get there feels rushed and partly unpaved, so to speak.

That being said, the rough ride to get to Craig’s play on the genre is mildly worthwhile as the gore and humour picks up as the film begins to kick into gear, providing audiences with the carnage expected from a film like this. Ancillary to this is the film’s Canadian locale and cast. Actors such as Durand and Will Sasso show up and grab hold of each scene, they’re in. Durand, in particular, has a hilarious small-town hick accent that is hilarious, but vastly underused, as Arthur Hill. Meanwhile, the Canadian influence of the film goes beyond its cast, extending to its choices of music, such as Buck 65’s Wicked and Weird, undoubtedly the film’s highpoint.

Despite this, its Canadian charm is not enough to make up for its sheer lack of characterization or memorable set pieces throughout its first act and a half and as a result, Clown in a Cornfield is another unbalanced miss from Eli Craig.

Score: 57/100

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Brad Simon

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