For day one of Halloween season viewing, might I suggest tuning into Shudder’s original film Clown in a Cornfield? It’s the perfect mashup of clever (and bloody) kills, goofy storyline and solid acting performances. Plus, it was directed and co-written by Eli Craig, who brought us Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, so you know it's going to have some laughs built in.
And though it is not technically a Halloween-themed movie, we get scenes with bonfires, cornfields and clowns, so I would call that close enough.
This film starts off with a bunch of teens having a party in Kettle Springs, Missouri. Two of them are quickly slaughtered by someone dressed as Frendo the Clown, the mascot of Kettle Springs’ Baypen Corn Syrup factory.
After that, we are sent to the present, where teenager Quinn and her father are moving to Kettle Springs an undetermined time after the death of Quinn’s mother. She is decidedly unimpressed by the place, but quickly makes some friends at her new school. She seems to get pretty cozy with the mayor’s cute son Cole and his friends.
The group tells Quinn how the town more or less fell apart after a fire destroyed the Baypen factory, and how most of the townspeople blame them for the fire. For funsies, they enjoy filming videos that feature Frendo, but the funsies go away pretty quickly once it becomes evident that a killer Frendo is on the loose.
Quinn quickly gets into big trouble with her dad after she and her new pals are blamed for setting a float on fire during the Founder’s Day parade. Even though Quinn is grounded, teens are gonna do what teens are gonna do, and she sneaks out that night with Cole to go to a party.
The action amps up at the barn party, where a lot of people are killed in some splattery, clever kill scenes, and I laughed at loud at a few scenes. At one point, the friends find an old telephone, and though they want to call 911, they can’t figure out how to use the rotary dial.
Katie Douglas makes a likeable Quinn, and Carson MacCormac, Vincent Muller, Cassandra Potenza and Varity Marks are great as her friends. Their characters are mostly dumb, but not offensively so; too often, teens in horror movies are so obnoxious that you almost WANT them to be killed.
If you are up for a slightly campy, fun horror movie that is completely appropriate for Halloween hijinks, Clown in a Cornfield can be watched now on Shudder.