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:

Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025)

Streaming Service: Netflix
Movie Name/Year:  Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025)
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Length:  1h 30min
Rating: R
Director: Matt Palmer
Writers: Matt Palmer, Donald McLeary, R.L. Stine
Based On: Fear Street book series by R.L. Stine
Actors: India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, Katherine Waterston, Lili Taylor, Chris Klein, Ariana Greenblatt, David Iacono, Darrin Baker, Ella Rubin, Rebecca Ablack, Ilan O'Driscoll, Ryan Rosery, Damian Romeo, Dakota Taylor, Luke Kimball, Eden Summer Gilmore, Brennan Clost, Cecilia Lee, Joseph Chiu, Tom Keat, Dale Whibley, Christopher B. MacCabe, Joanne Boland, J.D. Nicholsen, Colin Platt, Alexander Eling, Jai Jai Jones

IMDb Blurb: When the "it" girls competing for prom queen at Shadyside High start to disappear, a gutsy outsider discovers she's in for one hell of a prom night.

Cat’s Point of View:
On the heels of taking a look at the Fear Street trilogy, it was only natural for us to bring you a review for the latest installment of book adaptations from R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series.

Fear Street: Prom Queen took place on the Shadyside timeline between the 1978 camp massacre and the 1994 events. Sara Fier’s curse was still in full effect during the events of this teen slasher – though it wasn’t the focus of this story, as it was in the trilogy.

This movie was quite the trip through nostalgia for me. Thankfully, it wasn’t the blood, guts, and trauma. The big hair that defied gravity with aid from copious amounts of hairspray, the fashion, and the idioms of the time were spot-on. It was like I was back in 1988 again for a little while. I had a real laugh out loud moment when I heard the phrase “gag me with a spoon!” (That was a real saying back in the day. I might have said it a time or two…or three.)

Fear Street: Prom Queen both played with familiar horror tropes and teen slasher camp, and offered us something new. It was a love letter to movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Scream (1996), and Carrie (1976)… sort of put through a blender with Mean Girls (2004). I wasn’t mad at it, either.

I really enjoyed a few of the inventive kills by the red-raincoat slasher. The heavy-duty paper cutter desk machete was a brilliant murder tool. A hint of that was shown in the trailers and it was something that actually got me excited for the movie, and interested in new twists and turns were in store. Seriously, every kid has looked sideways at that dangerous contraption because we know that thing is capable of taking off fingers… or more.

We do need to address the proverbial elephant in the room, however. Fear Street: Prom Queen has gotten some rather low ratings across the board. A lot of the key complaints focused on character building and having enough to invest us in the plight of the characters.

I feel like Prom Queen suffered by comparison to the trilogy from 2021. There were 3 whole movies where we got to know those characters and what they were going through, with whole movies devoted to back-story. Prom Queen focused on new characters that weren’t featured in the trilogy, so we were having to glean info on the fly rather than having all the details spoon-fed over multiple installments.
Personally, I thought that the balance was fine between the current events of the film and flashes of background. There were breadcrumbs to follow. I fell for a couple red herrings along the way. The twist was fantastic and had me palming my forehead.

This was a solid offering for a retro teen slasher. The acting was good, the killings unhinged, and it was a generally accurate time capsule for the era it depicted. If this sort of thing is your cup of tea, or maybe rather spiked punch, I’d encourage you to give it a try.

Fans of Stine’s Fear Street series do have at least 2 more films to look forward to, according to R.L. Stine’s interview with The Hollywood Reporter. I can’t wait to see which one’s next.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 28%
Rotten Tomatoes Popcorn Meter Score – 24%
Metascore – 41%
Metacritic User Score – 4.3/10
IMDB Score – 5.1/10

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5

Movie Trailer:

Fear Street: Part Three - 1666 (2021)

Streaming Service: Netflix
Movie Name/Year: Fear Street: Part Three - 1666 (2021)
Original Title: Fear Street: 1666
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Length:  1h 54min
Rating: R
Director: Leigh Janiak
Writers: R.L. Stine, Kate Trefry, Phil Graziadei, Leigh Janiak
Based On: Fear Street book series by R.L. Stine
Actors: Kiana Madeira, Elizabeth Scopel, Benjamin Flores Jr., Randy Havens, Julia Rehwald, Matthew Zuk, Fred Hechinger, Michael Chandler, Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, Olivia Scott Welch, Lacy Camp, McCabe Slye, Ashley Zukerman, Jordana Spiro, Jeremy Ford, Charlene Amoia, Mark Ashworth, Todd Allen Durkin, Ryan Simpkins, Ted Sutherland, Gillian Jacobs, Darrell Britt-Gibson

IMDb Blurb: In 1666, a colonial town is gripped by a witch hunt that has deadly consequences for centuries to come, while teenagers in 1994 try to put an end to their town's curse before it is too late.

Cat’s Point of View:

The third and final act of Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy made for a satisfying book-end to the three-film run of this story.

The first movie sparked so many questions, and the second offered few answers, whetting the appetite for more. Fear Street Part Three: 1666 offered not only an origin story to this tale of a curse enveloping twin cities, but also a fitting resolution in the “present day” where the narrative began in 1994.

Part Three offers revelations that aren’t quite as shocking as they likely were intended to be, and yet the twisty shenanigans still entertained.

I understand some of the detractors from this third installment complaining that it felt like this was 2 whole movies smushed together. In some ways, it could be seen that way. I, however, appreciate the way that the extended flashback occurred. It more viscerally brought us into the story of the origins of the curse that befell Shadyside. It pulled our present-day characters into the parallel scenario of the past.

The setting of 1666, while likely a year selected for the numerical significance with its dark connotations, did fall in a period of time when witch fever was still high between the general timeline of The Burning Times in Europe and the Salem Witch Trial era in the 1690s. The segment from the past felt plausible and harrowingly fitting to that time period.

The transition between the past and the present were done well. I enjoyed seeing how the familiar faces wove into the past and brought the situation in 1994 into greater focus.

Of course, the climax was as campy as you would expect based on the build-up from the first 2 teen slasher installments. There was still plenty of blood to be spilled and inventive plans to be hatched.

Over all, I really enjoyed the entirety of the experience of this trilogy. I do strongly suggest that anyone interested in Fear Street Part Three: 1666 go back and watch the movies in order. Just a reminder that they are a continuous story from Part 1 through Part 3. Netflix does offer skippable recaps, but why read the Cliff’s Notes when the whole of the tale is so entertaining? Each movie ends with a “to be continued,” and is nicely concluded with this third installment.

Sometimes trilogies don’t pay off in the way you would hope, and leave questions and missed opportunities in their wake. This was not the case with the Fear Street trilogy encompassing 1994, 1978, & 1666.

If you’re a fan of R.L. Stine’s work, or the nostalgic horror of campy teen slasher flicks, this trilogy and specifically its conclusion will be right up your alley.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 89%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 76%
Metascore – 68%
Metacritic User Score – 6.5/10
IMDB Score – 6.6/10

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4.5/5

Movie Trailer:

Fear Street: Part One - 1994 (2021)

Streaming Service: Netflix
Movie Name/Year:  Fear Street: Part One - 1994 (2021)
Original Title: Fear Street: 1994
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Length:  1h 47min
Rating: R
Director: Leigh Janiak
Writers: R.L. Stine, Kyle Killen, Phil Graziadei, Leigh Janiak
Based On: Fear Street book series by R.L. Stine
Actors: Maya Hawke, Charlene Amoia, David Thompson, Ryan Torres, Noah Bain Garret, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Ashley Zukerman, Kiana Madeira, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger, Matt Burke, Matthew Zuk, Olivia Scott Welch, Jeremy Ford, Elizabeth Scopel, Eric Mendenhall, Todd Allen Durkin, Jordyn DiNatale, Lloyd Pitts, Kevin Waterman, Emily Brobst, Keil Oakley Zepernick, Michael Chandler, Lacy Camp

IMDb Blurb: A circle of teenage friends accidentally encounter the ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued their town for over 300 years. Welcome to Shadyside.

Selina’s Point of View:
I’m going to start by saying I was a rabid fan of R.L. Stine as a kid. I read every single Goosebumps that came out. Hit up the Scholastic book fair with the few dollars my mom gave me and bought out any R.L. Stine books I came across. Because of that, Fear Street: Part One – 1994 felt like a warm childhood hug.

It’s a horror that utilizes a bread slicer as a weapon, so I understand how strange that sounds. Cat and I have been discussing what goes into the definition of a “comfort movie” for someone, and I think this fits right into that discussion. My favorite comfort movie is Jurassic Park (1993), after all, and people get eaten in that.

But I digress.

I never read the Fear Street books, but the story still feels familiar. It’s reminiscent of 80s and 90s horror flicks like Friday the 13th (1980) and Scream (1996). It follows a lot of the same familiar horror movie rules and still manages to end in a way that’s a bit unexpected.

There are some plot holes that could be attributed to either the books or the adaptation. I have to hold it against the film, though, because I’m unfamiliar with the original material. Some people die in situations that don’t make sense, seeing how the secondary characters manage to stay safe as long as they do.

Despite that, the acting is on point, and the film is a pleasure to watch. For horror fans, I could absolutely see it being someone’s comfort flick.

Cat’s Point of View:
I was rather surprised to discover that we hadn’t already reviewed the Fear Street trilogy that had premiered as Netflix Original features back in 2021. I remembered that I had watched them and enjoyed them. I also recall distinctly writing about them. Alas, it was apparently just regarding my #12 entry on July 2021’s Top 20 list, where I placed all 3 together as a unit due to their release dates following only a week apart within that same month. I digress…

When the newest Fear Street movie, Fear Street: Prom Queen (2025) hit Netflix recently, it took me back to my fond memories of watching the first three. It would be weird if we covered the newest without visiting the trilogy that came first, though. Thus, here we are.

I was happy to watch Fear Street: Part One – 1994 again to refresh my memory. This time, my daughter was excited to watch with me. She hadn’t been into horror movies when these first released. We fell all the way down the rabbit hole and binged the trilogy. I’m only covering the first installment here, however.

Part One sets the stage for the overall adventure. There’s a good bit of lore both touched on in obvious and subtle ways. Some of the characters don’t seem to have quite as much depth in this first bit of story, but trust me when I say that things do develop as the overall 3-part story arc progresses.

From odes to the era in which this movie was set and the slasher genre to the details that highlighted the contrast between neighboring rival towns of Sunnyvale and Shadyside, this really felt like a R.L. Stine book come to life. Of course, he is the author of the Fear Street series these stories were adapted from.  One of the aspects I appreciated about these films, beginning with Fear Street: Part One – 1994, was that the production team wasn’t afraid to lean into the darkness and give the teen-scream series an R rating. Stine’s Goosebumps series felt more appropriate to the PG-13 range. R. L. Stine is great for offering chills for a wide age range.

One thing to note about this trilogy is that it is not, in fact, an anthology as I originally guessed. Each movie leads directly into the next. While the three films lean heavily into the time mentioned in their titles, they are exploring an interconnected story that spans hundreds of years. The end of each movie closes with “to be continued” and dives right into a sneak peek at the next installment. It was very easy to binge all three, and Netflix also offers an option to skip the recap in the next installment.

If you’re a fan of slashers, I’d highly recommend giving the Fear Street trilogy a try. 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 84%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 63%
Metascore –  67%
Metacritic User Score – 5.8/10
IMDB Score – 6.2/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3.5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4.5/5

Movie Trailer:

Killer Countdown - 5ive Girls (2006)

Streaming Service: Amazon Prime Video
Movie Name/Year: 5ive Girls (2006)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 1h 35min
Rating: Unrated
Director: Warren P. Sonoda
Writer: Warren P. Sonoda
Actors: Ron Perlman, Jennifer Miller, Jordan Madley, Terra Vnesa, Barbara Mamabolo, Tasha May Currie, Amy Lalonde, Krysta Carter, James Kidnie
 
Blurb from IMDb: Five wayward teenage girls are sent to a reformatory and discover they possess unique powers to battle the ancient demon, Legion, which holds thrall over the sinister institution.
 

Selina's Point of View:
To say 5ive Girls was a disappointment would be an understatement.
 
If I'm honest, I wasn't expecting a masterpiece. I went into it as blind as possible, but looking for the right movies for our Killer Countdown, I definitely saw more about the films than I would have liked, including ratings and a few reviews.
 
One of the bad things about reviewing movies this old is that we're likely to hear other opinions before we write ours. I don't love that, and I worry it will influence what we think.
 
Still, I went into 5ive Girls as open-minded as possible. After all, Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Sons of Anarchy) is in it. It couldn't be that bad… right?
 

I'm sorry to say it's rough. None of the acting was great – even Perlman's. There just wasn't enough material to work with. It was formulaic at best and an excuse to see women pretending to be naked teens at worst. There were plot holes everywhere – sometimes just unfinished ideas. For instance, the film insinuated that Perlman's character was a predator, but the story never really did anything with it, and the movie tried to redeem him instead.
 
It didn't work. It just felt like an unnecessary addition. Edginess, for edginess sake.
 
I added an extra point to my rating because I didn't entirely hate the ending. It wasn't great, but it had potential. A better writer and some better acting could have made that part decent.
 
Unfortunately, I don't think there was enough to the rest of the story for it to have been salvageable.
 

Cat's Point of View:
Okay, so I'm a sucker for anything with Ron Perlman in it. He's occupied an odd warm fuzzy place in my heart since I was little and watched Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990).
 
Not all his projects are slam-dunks, though. 5ive Girls fits squarely into that category.
 
If I were asked to describe this movie to someone, I'd call it an over-sexualized teen melodrama that tried hard to riff off The Craft (1996) but fell far short.
 

The story felt cobbled together, and bits of it were absolutely atrocious. There were a few interesting bits here and there but nothing of any significant substance. I had to attempt to watch 5ive Girls multiple times to get through it a single time without nodding off. I can't blame the movie for all of that, however. Chronic fatigue is always a factor for me, and I'm also still recovering from being sick. However, a good movie that invests in my attention would make it easier to fight against my narcoleptic tendencies. I had no hope here. There were too many loose ends and far too much cringe.
 
I also felt a bit of a disconnect with this entire premise as a former attendee of a parochial school – or, rather, a school run by the church. I didn't attend an all-girls school, mind you – but uniforms, weekly mandatory mass attendance, and catechism classes were all par for the course. I just had a hard time suspending disbelief in general.
 
If you don't put too much thought into it, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's the worst thing I've ever seen. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that quite enjoy 5ive Girls. I just wasn't one of them and would generally recommend a different selection if you want real chills and thrills for your spooky season.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 39%
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 4.4/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina's Rating – 2/5
Trust the Dice: Cat's Rating – 2/5
 
Movie Trailer: 

My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)

 

 

Streaming Service: Amazon Prime

Movie Name/Year: My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)

Genre: Comedy, Horror

Length:  1h 36min

Rating: R

Production/Distribution: Endeavor Content, Gotham Group, Amazon Prime Video

Director: Damon Thomas

Writers: Grady Hendrix, Jenna Lamia

Actors: Amiah Miller, Ashley LeConte Campbell, Cathy Ang, Chris Lowell, Clayton Royal Johnson, Cynthia Evans, Elsie Fisher, Erin Ownbey, Michael Wayne Foster, Nathan Anderson, Rachel Ogechi Kanu

 

Rotten Tomatoes Blurb: The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act...different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries-and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?

 

 

Cat’s Point of View:

When My Best Friend’s Exorcism popped up on my radar in time for September 2022’s Top 20 article, I was fairly chomping at the bit to watch this movie. In fact, I did watch it pretty much right away when Amazon released it. I didn’t have any problems watching it again a second time as a refresher to bring you this review. 

I’ve probably said this a million times, and I’ll likely say it oodles more - I’m absolutely an 80s baby. While my teen years were solidly in the 90s, the 1980s is the era of warm fuzzy nostalgia for me. Yeah… I’ve dated myself, but it’s fine. My Best Friend’s Exorcism was set in 1988 and resonated with me as if it were a time capsule. 

 

Before I go further, I do feel that I need to advise that My Best Friend’s Exorcism is an adaptation of a book by Grady Hendrix (Mohawk, Satanic Panic, Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks). I haven’t read the book and, honestly, really didn’t realize it existed until I was pulling a few details together to provide this review. That being said, I’m unable to advise whether or not this production follows the source material closely or not - in spirit or otherwise. I can only offer my impression of the movie, itself. 

I realize that My Best Friend’s Exorcism isn’t going to be for everyone. It wasn’t made to be in contention for Oscars or festival prizes. It’s clearly a love letter to the 80s and the awkwardness of navigating the real-world horrors of school and friendship. This is definitely far removed from the “kids with bikes” type adventure, however. It’s best to toss out thoughts of something such as Stranger Things (2016-) and think more along the lines of Jennifer’s Body (2009).

 

I resonated with this film so hard that it was fairly uncomfortable even while I enjoyed it. I loved the Trapper Keepers, the silly teen magazine quizzes, and how it accurately captured the feel of slumber-party peer pressure. I was one of those sheltered awkward girls in the plaid school uniform. I often felt out of my depth with my peers that seemed to float effortlessly through that world. Of course, Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now” was also absolutely my jam. 

My Best Friend’s Exorcism was a mixed bag of a little of everything. Some of it wasn’t as polished and cohesive, but it wasn’t anything serious enough to dim my enjoyment of the movie. The acting was solid, the effects were decent, and they nailed the setting. 

If you’re looking for some silly, if a little cringey, 80s campy horror fun, My Best Friend’s Exorcism wouldn’t be a bad choice. I would probably watch it again, myself. 

 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 53%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 35%

Metascore – 58%

Metacritic User Score – 4.7/10

IMDB Score – 5.3/10

 

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3/5

 

Movie Trailer: