Clown in a Cornfield (2025)

Streaming Service:  Shudder / AMC+
Movie Name/Year: Clown in a Cornfield (2025)
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller, Dark Comedy
Length:  1h 36min
Rating: R
Director: Eli Craig
Writers: Carter Blanchard, Eli Craig, Adam Cesare
Based On: novel "Clown in a Cornfield" by Adam Cesare
Actors: Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Vincent Muller, Kevin Durand, Will Sasso, Cassandra Potenza, Verity Marks, Ayo Solanke, Alexandre Martin Deakin, Catherine Wreford, Daina Leitold, Jean-Jacques Javier, Noah Craig, Heath Vermette, Bradley Sawatzky, Jeff Strome, Dylan McEwan, Kaitlyn Bacon, Blake Taylor, Anders Strome, Samantha Hutchings, Robert Borges, BJ Verot, Darren Ross, Krystle Snow, Alan Castanaga

Shudder Blurb: Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time. Welcome to Kettle Springs. The real fun starts when Frendo the clown comes out to play.

Aaron Abrams and Katie Douglas in Eli Craig’s CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD.
Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.

Selina’s Point of View:
Fifteen years.

Fifteen long years since Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010) and I still recognized the flavor of Clown in a Cornfield. I wouldn’t have been able to name writer/director Eli Craig from memory, but I knew I recognized the feel of the flick.

When we first saw Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, I fell in love immediately. Nothing about it was anything I’d ever seen before, and the humor was deliciously dark. I saw bits of that here.

I’ll admit, the beginning didn’t have me hopeful. It felt very Friday the 13th (1980). Like it would be following an overused slasher recipe from start to finish.

Craig is creative with that kind of thing, though. He has a recipe. He follows the recipe. From whatever different angle he can find. In this case, the recipe was followed through the eyes of the new teen norms.

Verity Marks, Cassandra Potenza, and Katie Douglas in Eli Craig’s CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD.
Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.

I’m a Millennial. Cat’s a Gen X. When we were in high school the world was different and that showed in our movies. Bullies took aim at anyone even remotely different. Parents were removed and indifferent to their kids. Teens were all sex-crazed maniacs. You know all the tropes and, if you don’t, watch Scream (1996). It lays them all out for you.

Clown in a Cornfield knows what you expect. It uses that. It even provides a prologue from the 1990s to set you up for all the expectations it wants you to have. Then it looks at the familiar slasher stories we all know so well through the eyes of the next generation. The kids that are growing up with more tolerance and parents that go to therapy.

I thought I had the story down by about a quarter of the way through. I wrote down my predictions in my notes and waited for them to come true. Only one did and not in the way I expected.

Clown in a Cornfield was fun. It was everything you want from a slasher and somehow not at all what you expect.

I don’t know much, if anything, about the projects Eli Craig has headed since 2010, but if he gives the rest of his work the same unique perspective as Clown in a Cornfield and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, then I’m guessing they’re worth a watch too. 

Kevin Durand in Eli Craig’s CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD.
Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.

Cat’s Point of View:
I’ve been eagerly anticipating Clown in a Cornfield since I had a lovely chat with Kevin Durand (The Strain, Locke & Key, Abigail) at Geek’d Con last summer. He’d mentioned the film as one of his upcoming projects. Of course, he couldn’t say anything else other than he was in it – and I’m glad for the lack of spoilers for this one. As usual, Durand didn’t disappoint.

Once I looked a little further into the production info available at the time, I couldn’t help but notice that Eli Craig (Tucker and Dale vs Evil, Brothers & Sisters, Little Evil) was directing. I didn’t expect this corn-fed slasher spree to duplicate the brilliant lightning in a bottle that was Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010). I did, however, feel it was a reasonable hope that if Craig pulled off one of my favorite movies of all time as his horror genre debut, the chances were going to be good I’d enjoy Clown in a Cornfield.

The title alone is worth some giggles – especially when you realize it’s somewhat of a modern twist on a throwback teen slasher. You know, where the teens are all the ones getting slashed.

I enjoyed how the Clown in a Cornfield paid homage to the slasher villain staples from Scream (1996) and Friday the 13^th (1980) through Halloween (1978) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), among others. There were laughs sprinkled through the tension. While this bloody fun ride didn't have the obvious elements of the near 4^th-wall breaking of some modern elevated horror, I did enjoy how Clown in a Cornfield poked fun at generation gaps and some of the tried-and-true clichés. It subverted expectations and when I thought I had it figured out, there was a twist out of left field.

Will Sasso and Carson MacCormac in Eli Craig’s CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD.
Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.

If you’re thinking to yourself that the Terrifier (2016) franchise has the killer clown sub-genre market cornered, think again. Frendo certainly isn’t Art the Clown, but neither of them is IT’s (1990 or 2017) Pennywise, either. There’s plenty of room at the Slasher Circus.

Aside from aforementioned Durand, I was generally pleased with the overall cast here, as well. There was a good mix of fresh faces with recognizable ones. Katie Douglas (Level 16, Mary Kills People, Lazareth) was absolutely a stand-out. I was also happy to see Aaron Abrams (The Lovebirds, Code 8: Part II, Children Ruin Everything) here too. (Abrams was actually one of the very few cast members that was in all 3 of the Code 8 productions, from the Kickstarter proof of concept short in 2016 through both movies starting with Code 8 (2019). I digress…)

What I didn’t realize at the outset of this bloody adventure through corn country was that Clown in a Cornfield was based on a novel. There is, in fact, a series of books featuring our friend Frendo. I am curious as to whether or not we’ll get to see more of them come to life in sequels.

For now, however, you can find Clown in a Cornfield on Shudder/AMC+ beginning Friday, August 8^th.

Frendo the Clown in Eli Craig’s CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD.
Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder. An RLJE Films & Shudder Release.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 73%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score –57%
Metascore – 55%
Metacritic User Score – 5.0/10
IMDB Score – 5.6/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 5/5

Movie Trailer: