While it doesn’t quite live up to expectations, Clown in a Cornfield (2025) still manages to tick the box of a creepy clown picture, as Frendo the Clown and his trademark wind-up Baypen toy of doom prepare to carve up some unsuspecting teenagers.
Eli Craig’s Gore Scores but the Jokes Crash and Burn
Small-town America and its cornfield backdrop that glows under the moonlight make for a healthy dose of some fun massacre chaos. A slasher adapted from Adam Cesare’s 2020 horror novel of the same name. Though we haven’t read the book to compare, the plot here feels wishy-washy and shallow, but at least there’s a clown.
The movie’s attempt to inject subtle laughs is a flopper, like when the new girl in town, Quinn (Katie Douglas) pulls a John McClane-style Die Hard monologue, whining about not knowing how to drive stick while our killer clown closes in. A scene so forced, it yanks you out of the moment. Director Eli Craig, who nailed laughs in 2010’s Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, can’t find a "comedy" formula that works here, but on the other hand nails it on the bloodshed.
Parade Pomp and Prankster Teens Stir Kettle Springs’ Pot
Meet Quinn, the 17-year-old teenager and main character, stuck following her dad, Glenn (Aaron Abrams), from Philly to the snooze-fest that is Kettle Springs, a Midwestern nowhere town policed by the intrusive Sheriff Dunne (Will Sasso), who plops into their diner booth uninvited to welcome Glenn as the new doctor. This place used to live and breathe corn syrup, with its beloved mascot, Frendo the Clown, front and center. But ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory went up in flames, Kettle Springs has been a crumbling shell of its former glory.
The residents cling to their pride, desperate of restoring the town’s success and unwilling to let their obsession with its corn syrup legacy fade away. They deck out the town square for the 100th Founders Day parade, drawing everyone together in a wave of celebration adorned with corn imagery and a big, ballooned-up iconic Frendo the Clown mascot floating over a sea of nostalgic locals.
The parade’s biggest cheerleader is Mayor Arthur Hill (Kevin Durand), who is also the father of Cole (Carson MacCormac). Cole’s part of Quinn’s new friends, a group who film prank videos online. The folks in town point to the teens as being responsible for sneaking into the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory and causing the fire. Their reputation is further not helped when they target the parade for one of their pranks.
Frendo’s Vague Vendetta Shreds Unlikeable Teens
"Don't Fuck with Frendo" is the heeded warning told to Kettle Springs' youth, a rule set in 1991 when the movie opens with a flashback showing Frendo the Clown targeting teens partying in a cornfield. It paints Frendo’s motives too vague in our opinion, like the filmmakers forgot a crucial clue, turning the clowns rampage into a broad, seemingly decades-old grudge against all youths.
Making it a one-off personal vendetta against these brats would’ve hit harder, since, except for the gun-happy Rust (Vincent Muller), they’re so unlikeable you’re practically cheering for the clown. These punks bully their teacher and wreck the town, so Frendo’s vigilante rampage feels like well-earned justice.
Quinn and the hysterical group of teens often flails through the plot as if they’re bombing a bad acting class. The silver lining is that we can count on Frendo to pick up the slack and deliver some inventive kills, with the movie even throwing in a slick Field of Dreams nod to round it all off.
