Clown in a Cornfield (2025) Film Review: Sloppy teen splatter feature subverts expectations, with messy results

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For many years, clowns have cemented themselves into the horror genre and have become a popular rendition of the evil entity our heroes must overcome, imagined as either supernatural or a deranged serial killer terrorising teenagers. Look no further than Pennywise the Dancing Clown in Stephen King's 1986 bestseller IT and its memorable television and film adaptations, or more recently, Art the Clown, who has traumatised many viewers with his creatively brutal kills in Damien Leone's notorious Terrifier (2016 - ) film series.

Set in a seemingly peaceful, fading midwestern town, another malevolent clown known as Frendo, a symbol of bygone success, emerges to wreak terror on a group of unsuspecting teenagers. Whilst the teaser trailer promised a tongue-in-cheek, thrilling time at the theatres, the end product unfortunately disappoints with a confused tone and a flimsy, weak screenplay.

The movie is an adaptation of the 2020 novel by Adam Cesare and directed by Eli Craig, who has dabbled with the genre previously, such as the slasher parody Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010). The film's marketing appears to be purposefully misleading, building up a fun B-movie style teen splatter feature; however, without giving too much away, the film exists as a modern meta commentary on the genre and subverts expectations with a surprise reveal behind the motivations of the killer clown(s). Whilst an interesting concept in theory, the underwhelming execution and underdeveloped social commentary sadly let the film down.

Admittedly, the movie begins with promise, showcasing an effective Jaws-inspired opening kill as a young couple's romantic rendezvous in the cornfield quickly takes a gory turn when our masked perpetrator arrives on the scene.

A high school party in the cornfield soon dissolves into chaos and bloody carnage

Despite priding itself on challenging the status quo, the movie still follows a conventional formula with generic teenage characters who receive little development and solely exist to be picked off one by one. The kills themselves have all been done before, and the fake blood itself looks exactly that - cheap and unconvincing. There is the recycled trope of a recently deceased parent and the gruesome events of the narrative bringing an estranged father and daughter together. The over-reliance on predictable jump scares certainly does the film no favours.

The screenplay and script are, quite frankly, a mess. Any attempts at building suspense typically fall flat due to misplaced comedy undermining the tension of a scene, and the dialogue for the teenagers is borderline laughable (and not in a good way!) with unrealistic, forced lines which instantly take you out of the moment. The movie is more akin to a crime thriller once the reveal takes place, and there is a decent Joker-like performance from Kevin Durand during these scenes, whose charisma and sinister turn are able to carry the foreshadowed change of direction. The rest of the performances are not much to write home about; however, as the characters are so unforgettable and bland, it would be difficult for anybody to effectively bring them to life.

The signature clown strikes a group of hapless teenagers...in a cornfield

Although there are plenty of flaws to be found, props must go towards the costume department for their creative input. The clown design is striking and suitably creepy, evoking the traditional, old school vibe with its use of reds and whites and the signature grinning mask. The overall look of these clowns felt similar to the now iconic appearance of Bill Skarsgård's unsettling Pennywise getup in IT (2017) and its sequel.

All in all, despite a couple of features that do deserve some merit, Clown in a Cornfield ultimately struggles with balancing its conflicting ideas and is, unfortunately, a case of misleading marketing that detracts from the overall quality of the final product. The characters are stereotypes, the writing is lacklustre, and the 'scares' feel cheap. Promising, yet problematic.

Check out the trailer for Clown in a Cornfield (2025) below, and please let me know your thoughts in the comments!