“Clown in a Cornfield” leaves a bit to be desired. Below, we give you our four main takeaways from “Clown in a Cornfield.
TRAILER
TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS
4. A New Wave of ‘90s Slashers
Eli Craig’s new horror film, Clown in a Cornfield, is the latest in a steadily growing new wave of slashers that are overtly indebted to the films of the ‘90s. This is less an indictment of the film and more a byproduct of the nostalgia cycle, a factor which Clown in a Cornfield feels aware of. The film opens with a prologue that is literally set in the ‘90s, and shortly thereafter has a modern-day character remind their father that the ‘80s were four full decades ago, so it is a work that is actively in conversation with the chasm between generational values.
The ‘90s were a time where the straight-forward blood, gore, and tits of ‘80s slashers became a bit more nuanced and reserved. Films like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer (writer Kevin Williamson’s impact on the genre really cannot be overstated) embraced a more giallo-adjacent whodunit structure for their slasher stories, and now, that has come full circle. Recent releases such as Thanksgiving, Founder’s Day, the pair of newer Scream sequels, and Heart Eyes have all made explicit returns to this era of slasher cinema with varying returns. Clown in a Cornfield manages to fall distinctly in the middle of the spectrum, as it utilizes the structure in an interesting way, but does so at the cost of the themes and characters in its story.
3. Warring Intentions
In order to really dig into the positives and negatives of Clown in a Cornfield, we’re going to have to get a little spoiler-y, so be warned. What begins as an extremely conventional ’90s-indebted slasher film (so conventional that there are scenes that feel literally cherry-picked out of 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Thanksgiving) ultimately pivots hard with a second-act twist that raises the stakes and refocuses the story the film is telling. For me, the opening half of the film prior to this twist felt consistently aimless and dull. Conversely, while I wasn’t entirely sold on the validity of the actual twist itself, I did enjoy the closing half of the film far more.
It felt as if, with all its cards finally on the table, Craig and co. were really able to strut their stuff. For the first time, the film’s tone coalesced into something more than the sum of its parts. There were even a handful of really inventive visual gags that blurred the line between suspense in service of horror and suspense in service of comedy that I really enjoyed. In tandem with this, the cast is (as you might expect in a slasher film) whittled down to its strongest and most well-defined characters, making for a far more engaging and compelling experience.
Having said all of that though, I can’t help but feel like the twist simply wasn’t worth the amount of time that had to be devoted to setting it up in the first half.
2. Muddled Themes
The themes at the heart of Clown in a Cornfield are substantially heftier than one might expect, but its not something that the film is ill-fitted to tackle. Given the inherently nostalgic nature of slasher films such as this, making the film overtly about a generational divide in values is a fascinating idea. However, amidst the cobbled-together storyline and indulgences in slasher tropes, the film ultimately can’t help but lose the thread several times over.
By its end, Clown in a Cornfield has settled into a very specific thematic thesis statement, but its one that feels incongruous with many of the elements established earlier in the film. For a work that feels so optimistic about the future of younger generations by its ending, it feels strange for it to devote huge swaths of time early on to how egregiously unlikable many of the supporting young characters are, and ultimately leave them to die grisly deaths with little-to-no redeeming qualities. It would have been far more on-theme for these deaths to be played as grisly and visceral, cutting down a young life short, but many of them are played for laughs and comeuppance, something that is counterintuitive to the film’s larger themes.
1. The Third Act Works
Despite all of these foundational problems and bits of faulty wiring spread throughout the film’s runtime, the strength of the post-twist second act, the refocusing of the story on its actual central characters, and its refined clarity of theme all converge to make for a hooting-and-hollering-inducing third act. Not only are there payoffs, satisfying confrontations, and cheer-inducing one-liners galore, but it also feels like the only time in the film that the ’90s-era slasher structure finally earns its keep. Here, Clown in a Cornfield is able to successfully revel in the clichés of the genre while also subverting them, formally illustrating the generational gap through its very filmmaking and storytelling in the same way that the narrative is. For the first time, the film’s form and content felt as if they were in lock-step, and it made for a thoroughly enjoyable conclusion.
RGM GRADE
(C)
Overall, Clown in a Cornfield is a bit of a mess, but it presents several infectious joys along the way to a strong conclusion. For what it’s worth, there’s a single-take gag in the middle of the film that involves characters covering one another’s mouths in the midst of a chase sequence that I will be thinking about for years to come.
