I’m not typically a horror fan by nature, but I occasionally dip into the genre when something feels odd or offbeat enough to catch my attention. That was the case with Clowns in a Cornfield. I missed it during its SXSW 2025 screening—my usual movie buddy had no interest in seeing a killer clown in a cornfield—and I didn’t push the issue. Still, the title stuck with me, and eventually I circled back out of mild curiosity. To be fair, in its genre, it falls solidly in the middle, even if I am not the target audience.
The film follows Quinn (Katie Douglas) and her father (Aaron Abrams), who’ve moved to the struggling town of Kettle Springs to start over after a personal loss. The town, still reeling from the fiery loss of its local corn syrup factory, is caught in a tug-of-war between bitter adults and angry teens. Things turn violent when Frendo, a creepy, smiling clown mascot, starts murdering townsfolk in the name of some twisted “cleansing.” If that sounds a little ridiculous, it is. Unfortunately, it’s not absurd enough to be clever or fun. The movie plays it mostly straight, and that’s part of the problem.
Despite the involvement of director Eli Craig (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil), the film rarely finds a consistent tone. It flirts with satire, social commentary, and traditional slasher scares but never fully commits to any of them. The result is a movie that feels like it’s going through the motions, content to follow the familiar beats of a teen horror flick without trying to elevate or subvert them.
Technically, it’s competent. The cornfields are shot with an eerie glow thanks to Brian Pearson’s cinematography, and the kills are staged with a particular polish. The editing and sound design are fine, but they’re not enough to distract from the fact that you can see every twist coming a mile away. The cast is serviceable, with Katie Douglas carrying most of the emotional weight, but no one makes a strong impression. Even Frendo the clown, who should be a memorable villain, ends up feeling more like a Halloween store mascot than a true horror icon.
As someone who doesn’t usually enjoy horror, I wasn’t expecting to love this, but I was hoping for something weirder, bolder, or more fun. Clowns in a Cornfield isn’t awful, but it’s aggressively average. It leans heavily on tired tropes, delivers predictable scares, and doesn’t do much to justify its premise beyond the gimmick of a clown in cornrows with a machete. By the time the credits rolled, I wasn’t angry. I watched it, but I also couldn’t think of much to say about it other than, “Well, that happened.”