Clown in a Cornfield is the new movie directed by Eli Craig, based on the book with the same name, written by Adam Cesare (Of which I have not read). This movie had a lot of film festival buzz, with a majority of people who saw it early calling it a great slasher. But with many slashers being released each year, it can be hard to stand out. Does this one stand out or offer anything special?

Anyway, this movie is about Quinn and her father moving to a new town for a fresh start. When she makes new friends and makes YouTube horror videos with them, until their towns mascot, Frendo the clown, starts a massacre. In which the concept felt pretty generic. As much as I like slashers, this one didn’t stand out by concept, so maybe watching the movie would show me why there is hype around this movie.

So, starting with the positives, I have shared my distaste in reveals in slashers and how many slashers do that now. However, this movie does it in a great way to where the mythology of the town they’re in expands and it elevates the movie, to where a prequel isn’t a bad idea. I also think the comedy of this movie felt natural and not forced, making for a nice comedy slasher. While talking about slasher, some of the kills were great, specifically the Final Destination type kill they go for, and the on with the chainsaw in the cornfield. I think that is should be said that the buildup for the kills were sometimes better than the kills themselves.

With the mixed, I like the character of Quinn, however it feels like her role was written for Jenna Ortega, (I don’t know if it’s like that in the book) which once I saw that, I couldn’t take my mind off it. I also thought the female characters were not interesting and felt boring. While the guy characters were funny, the women characters felt like generic serial killer victims. Also, the dialogue of the movie was pretty hit or miss. It was great at the start of the movie and just went downhill. While some people won’t care about that, some will about the pacing, of which this movie is very fast paced, which at times can work in its favor, while other times it doesn’t.

Overall, I can’t be mad at this movie as you’re getting what you paid for. I think this movie stands out due to the town and the lore you can get from it, but otherwise it was just a fun slasher. I’ll give the movie a 4/5 as I think it’s something (for the horror fans at least) that you should see in theaters.