Clown in a Cornfield Lives Up to That Tremendous Title

Clown in a Cornfield is such a succinct yet evocative title for a horror movie. Your villain and your setting are right there, plus all the awful connotations your imagination can whip up regarding both. Eli Craig’s new slasher has a lot to live up to with a title like that, but the director of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil knows what he’s doing. He’s got all the ingredients: appealing characters, a small town with a huge secret, a ghoulish killer, and an underlying message that makes sure the film is about more than just a killer clown splattering victims around a cornfield—though rest assured, there’s still plenty of that. After a preface set in 1991 that immediately delivers—kids partying in a cornfield are ambushed by a maniac with very large shoes—we cut to the present day and get a closer look at Kettle Springs, Missouri, a farm town that’s fallen on hard times since the Baypen Brand Corn Syrup factory closed. The company’s mascot, a grinning clown named “Frendo,” still looms over the ... Read full article.