CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD
**
Directed by Eli Craig.
Starring Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac.
Horror, US, 96 minutes, Certificate 15.
Released in cinemas in the UK on 6th June by Entertainment Film Distributors Ltd.
How is it that the figure of fun that is the clown has become the cinematic bogeyman of the 21st century? What is it that is going on in the world that has us facing our fears with the likes of the white painted faces and leering grins in the likes of Pennywise and Art the Clown and their blood-soaked shenanigans? Looking to join these two leading icons of coulrophobia is Frendo, yet another figure of fun who has swapped coloured hankies up his sleeves and honking horns for pitchforks, chainsaws and crossbows, with an eye for using them on any teenagers ready to commit the cardinal sins of slasher movies that will mark them for death.
When he isn’t committing mass murder, Frendo is more widely known in the small flyover town of Kettle Springs as the mascot of its corn syrup factory, the main source of the town's employment until a fire in the factory brought the town to its knees. Newly arrived here are Quinn and her father, Glenn, a doctor. Both are looking to start over after a family tragedy. Quinn soon finds herself smack dab in the middle of Frendo’s latest killing spree, a pastime we first witness him indulging in during the early 1990s. With her new classmates and friends, a group including such genre staples as the obnoxious jock, bitchy blonde and hunky love interest, Quinn attempts to discover the reason behind Frendo’s animosity towards young folk and how it ties into the small town’s history.
Director Eli Craig is best known for TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL, a witty and fun send-up of the slasher genre and all of its stereotypical tropes. Based on the YA novel by Adam Cesare, the first in a trilogy, Craig manages here to throw in a couple of neat wrinkles that subvert expectations in sometimes amusing ways. At the same time, there are also a couple of instances of SCREAM type meta-commentary where the characters remark on their predicament. However, the only thing it has in common with the SCREAM saga is how tiresome such winking at the audience quickly becomes.
There is a neat twist involving Frendo that seems to set up an interesting direction for the film's plot to follow, but this is soon quickly abandoned for the usual stalk and slash antics that are otherwise presented here without any verve or invention that will keep the audience on the edge of their seats. A somewhat interesting angle of intergenerational contrasts and resentments is presented in the film's early stages, but again, the reasons for which, when revealed here, are half-baked and unsatisfying. By the time all is revealed in a choppily edited and executed finale, it is hard not to feel short-changed. No matter how you feel about Art The Clown at least he provides some value in his tendency to go overboard as far as he can as much as he can.
It is a pleasant enough watch, but despite its slightly interesting aspects, there is very little here that will leave you shaken or even that amused. If you are attempting to start a franchise—which seems to be the case here with one massive plot thread left unresolved—it feels that this is little more than a missed opportunity that fails to take advantage of, or even explore, the now tired iconography it uses here. In a genre that now relies on its clichés to be presented in fresh and interesting ways, Frendo will likely amount to nothing more than a footnote.
Iain MacLeod