Whisper House Press

Film Title: Clown in a Cornfield

Director: Eli Craig

Writers: Carter Blanchard, Eli Craig, Adam Cesare

Starring: Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac

USA Wide Release Date: May 9, 2025

Zerbe’s Rating: 3⭐ out of 5⭐

Having read Clown in a Cornfield, Adam Cesare’s book about a murderous clown in a small town drowning in dying Americana and family politics, I thought the movie had the potential to be this generation’s Scream. Was I clowning myself? (wocka wocka)

Quinn Maybrook (Douglas) has just moved to Kettle Springs, Missouri with her doctor dad (Abrams) (who seems to have been partially cloned from Scott Bakula). We learn that Quinn’s mom recently and tragically overdosed and died, and the pair now need a fresh start. We meet some new friends for Quinn, and learn about titular clown “Frendo”, the mascot of Baypen Corn Syrup and Kettle Springs’ claim to fame. Quinn’s new friends have a YouTube channel where they post found footage style Frendo “kills” they stage for their audience. When a real Frendo appears and actual bodies start piling up, can Quinn and her friends survive?

Some positives: The film is directed by Tucker and Dale director Eli Craig. Katie Douglas is more than solid as the film’s final girl. The movie is rated “R,” and the kills do not skimp on the violence (although I think at this point any kill involving a jump scare with a mirror has to be considered a sin?).

The film also has some great talent in the form of Will Sasso as the sheriff and Kevin Durand as the town patriarch. Durand, particularly, has done some impressive work lately in Abigail and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Oddly, I think the casting director should’ve swapped these two actors’ roles. The sheriff gives off a much more ominous vibe in the book than Sasso presents in the movie, and Will Sasso seems to be doing a variation of his Jesse Ventura impression. Durand has the authority and malice to better pull off the sheriff’s role.

At the end of the day, the movie is a little too simplified and formulaic, given the source material. While the book begins with some modern day backstory, the movie begins with a ‘90s flashback because…nostalgia? I’m puzzled as to why the production team made this change. I guess they wanted some immediate clown-based horror (though it sort of breaks the continuity of the story). A fun subplot is also teased too soon and subsequently revealed awkwardly compared to the book.

All of the teen characters besides Quinn are a little devoid of personality. I just didn’t care about them here, whereas I was rooting for even a throw-away character in the book.

Two nitpicks: They can’t decide who fellow high school girls Janet and Ronnie in the film are to Quinn, which ties into the whole “devoid-of-personality” problem. Are they friends? Enemies? Frenemies? The book was clearer. The film is also littered with extremely generic needle drops that just really annoyed me. I was longing for “Red Right Hand” from Scream!

Aside from the work from some of the strong cast and crew, I won’t be adding this to my list of classic horror. With the watered-down elements on display, I can’t see any other fans of the book doing so either.

Robert Zerbe’s writing has previously appeared in Trembling With Fear and on the Creepy podcast. He has yet to hack his obsessive-compulsive disorder into something useful. Robert lives in Florida with his wife, two children, and love of movies. You can follow him on Bluesky at @runonsandwich.

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