Being Film #7 for Hooptober 2025
Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Not so much a dud as a “well, I was definitely expecting more from this” kind of letdown. Maybe I finally hit the age where I just can’t relate to the kids of today, because despite coming from a guy who’s proven to successfully subvert the tenants of horror with comedy before, Clown In A Cornfield can’t get over the gulf of some seriously unlikeable kids. That and some clunky jokes combine to make a film that looks good, wraps up succinctly, but ultimately leaves you empty in the end.
THE QUICK SUMMARY: After the death of her mother, Quinn and her dad move out to the small, folky town of Kettle Springs to rebuild their lives at a new school and a new job as the town doctor. They get there right before the 100th anniversary of Founder’s Day, where the entire town holds a celebration of the town’s bedrock, the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory, recently burned to the ground under mysterious circumstances. But that doesn’t stop the town’s addiction to their mascot and face of Baypen, Frendo the Clown! And it certainly doesn’t stop Frendo from his job of making sure to rid town of those undesirables who seek to change the way things are. Even if that include Quinn and her new friends…
There are so few horror comedies that genuinely get both sides of the genre fence. Shaun Of The Dead and Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon are at the top of the list for me, and right alongside it is Eli Craig’s debut Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. So I was excited to see what he would bring to his adaptation of Adam Cesare’s 2020 novel of the same name. Alas, what he brings is a film that fails to engage until about the halfway point, where the “twist” if you want to call it that kicks into gear. From there it’s admittedly a fun ride to the end, but without any real investment in the characters who are under siege it just feels like a film running on rails.
No doubt some of that stems from the by now familiar trope that serves as the explanation for the happenings in Kettle Springs – I won’t spoil that here but suffice to say you’ve seen this movie before. It doesn’t take away from some of the more enjoyable moments like an attack at an afterparty where secrets are revealed and there’s a trek through a drain pipe. Craig certainly knows how to shoot a scene, but it’s never over the top or really funny enough to work tonally.
You can dig into some of the commentary about the generational gap, but it’s served more as the oil that greases the gears of the plot more than a real satirical edge. And sadly the scariest thing about Clown In A Cornfield are the repeated scenes of a jack-in-the-box being left as a forecast of someone’s inevitable demise – it’s timed to go off just before you expect it to, providing a fun shock. Well, fun the first time, not the four other times it’s repeated throughout the movie. When I find myself rooting for the Dad before he actually gets involved (seriously, he gets Quinn a car AND WiFi and she just complains and complains) you know this isn’t working the way it was intended.
Oh well, maybe I just hit Dad age and this works for the kids. That’s okay.
Cinema Dual 
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