This review was originally published on May 10, 2025, as a part of our SXSW Film & TV Festival.

I’m always nostalgic for the early aughts remakes of horror classics and their slasher copycats. Friday the 13th with Danielle Panabaker. House of Wax with Paris Hilton. Nightmare on Elm Street with Rooney Mara. Rob Zombie’s Halloween. Then there were the ones you could find playing on cable television in the middle of the night — Wrong Turn, Stay Alive, Saw, Hostel, Sorority Row.

They weren’t always good movies, but I loved them anyway. I felt like I was watching something transgressive (though that wasn’t necessarily the case) and, though my tastes have expanded, I can still turn on any one of these movies and have a good time. Clown in a Cornfield

reminded me of the best of these films. It’s a fun B-movie with timely elements and some exciting kills. It may not be much more than that, but sometimes that’s enough.
Clown In A Cornfield Knows It’s Silly

That’s Why It Works

Custom Image by Yeider Chacon

Clown in a Cornfield is based on a young adult novel by Adam Cesare, adapted into a film by director Eli Craig, perhaps best known for Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Clown in a Cornfield retains that film’s humor as we follow Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) as she moves to Kettle Springs, Missouri from Philadelphia with her father (Aaron Abrams). The town is strange, haunted by the closing and subsequent fire at a local factory and the latest horror movie clown, Frendo.
The local teenagers have taken to making prank videos where one of them is murdered by Frendo, making them immune to violence and the threat of it. Quinn quickly ingratiates herself with this group, but something is clearly off with them and the rest of the town. The teens’ idiocy is played for the right amount of laughs and Clown in a Cornfield moves at a brisk enough pace that it’s easy to miss some of the cracks.

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It reminded me of another recent slasher — Eli Roth’s holiday-themed Thanksgiving. That, too, was light on depth but full of gruesome kills, gross-out humor, and dumb teenagers. In a way, it’s comforting because of that. So, too, is Clown in a Cornfield, which has a throwback feel that makes me feel like I’m once again at the movies in 2008 sneaking into a slasher movie.
And that’s the best kind of feeling, isn’t it? Because Clown in a Cornfield can be gut-churning and gnarly. It can play into teen horror tropes with the awareness that they are tropes, using that confidence to make it feel just right. It’s also quite hilarious, playing many moments for laughs with just the right timing. Humor and horror can often be a hard balance to hit just right and though not all of Clown in a Cornfield lands, the cast is game enough.
Like finding the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the USA network in the middle of the night, you may come across Clown in a Cornfield on Shudder and decide to put it on. You won’t regret that decision. Better yet, see it in a theater if you can. This one feels like it’s made for a crowd like that, one where everyone is having fun laughing at the film, squirming at the gore, and laughing at themselves for getting swept up in it in the first place.
Clown in a Cornfield premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival and is now playing in theaters.

Clown in a Cornfield

7/10

Release Date

May 9, 2025

Runtime

96 Minutes

Director

Eli Craig

Writers

Eli Craig, Adam Cesare, Carter Blanchard

Producers

Georges Bermann, Wyck Godfrey

Aaron Abrams

Dr. Glenn Maybrook

Katie Douglas

Quinn Maybrook