by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Kevin Durand, Will Sasso, Vincent Muller
Intro:
… a fast-paced, amiable slasher flick with a handful of big laughs.
Whenever a popular book is being adapted into a movie or TV series, you’ll be faced with a veritable peanut gallery of people informing you that you should “Read the book! The book is always better.” While this is almost always the case, it does mean your eventual viewing of the movie will be clouded by the fact that it’s a lesser product. Such is the case with Clown in a Cornfield, the latest horror/comedy from Eli Craig (Tucker & Dale vs Evil, Little Evil) and a fun riff on the slasher genre … but (say it with me now), it’s not as good as the book.
Clown in a Cornfield is the story of pint-sized teen Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas), who along with her dad, Dr. Maybrook (Aaron Abrams), has moved to the faded midwestern town of Kettle Springs. Quinn is mourning the loss of her mother from an overdose and the fact that she now has to live in the middle of a creepy hick town that seems obsessed with a fire that destroyed the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory and its grinning mascot, Frendo the Clown. Then, Quinn’s new friends begin to vanish under mysterious circumstances, and it seems that ol’ mate Frendo ain’t all that friendly after all…
Clown in a Cornfield starts off as a very traditional slasher movie and then the plot twists and turns into something a little different, a bit more interesting. It’s not going to change the way you view these types of films, but it’s a neat iteration in a very tropey genre. The problem with Clown is that it seems so intent on rushing through the set-up that it doesn’t give the audience time to enjoy the status quo before it’s brutally subverted.
There’s a lot to like here, mind you. Performances are solid with Katie Douglas doing excellent work as the scrappy Quinn and Kevin Durand always reliable as the town’s creepy patriarch, Arthur Hill. Eli Craig, who arguably directed the perfect horror/comedy with Tucker & Dale vs Evil, brings a lot of style and energy to the proceedings, but it succeeds more with the comedy than the horror. Because the film comes in at a slender 96 minutes, a lot of the plot beats are rushed through, which leaves little time to generate atmosphere or suspense. It’s not terminal but it does give the sense that something is missing from time to time.
Now, you should probably remember that these are the observations of one who has read the source material. For everyone who hasn’t, Clown in a Cornfield will likely be a fast-paced, amiable slasher flick with a handful of big laughs. Meanwhile the rest of us will monotonously mutter those words in a low hushed voice, “yeah, but the book was better.”
