I like almost any kind of cinema and do not limit myself to any particular genre. You could say that I try to find the merit in almost anything and one of my favorite types of films to try to find a diamond in the rough is in the lower-budget horror films.
I didn't know anything about this film going in and chose it only because of its rather stupid title. I'm sure there are a bunch of people out there that are scared of clowns and corn, since the 80's has been associated to being a very bad place to get stuck so I think the combination kind of works.
Does the film work? Well, yes and no
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They don't waste any time introducing you to what is the real issue in this small town and we quickly discover that the "Clown in a Cornfield" is exactly what it says. A literal clown in a cornfield who for reasons that are not explained, feels compelled to kill off some teens every now and then.
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Jump scare? Check. Diverse group of attractive 30-year old teenagers? Check Boobs? Nope. Ok so it is not exactly like 80's horror movies but it is close.
So the story starts out in the only way that a film like this can start, with attractive, confident, and introverted "Quinn" moving to the small town of Kettle Springs because her father is a medical doctor and this small town needed a doctor....or something.... whatever it doesn't matter.
This sort of setup is necessary in films of this sort to justify how and why the people who live there explain to the audience what the "deal is" with this town to Quinn and thereby, to the audience without using a narrator. It's quite common and if you think about almost any horror film of this type that has ever been made you need a newbie in order to explain to the audience what the hell is going on.
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The clown is the mascot of a company that made something (it's not important what that product was) but due to "reasons" the factory had to be shut down and this had ill effects on the community that depended on it for jobs. The older people in town blame the teenagers, because that is what adults do I guess, and the teenagers carry on making out, drinking, smoking weed, and just not having a care in the world - just like in real life... I think.
Anyway, the story isn't actually all that important because this was always going to boil down to a scary clown hunting teenagers in the corn just like the name of the film would suggest. It's not fantastic, but you can see the production value in this one was a bit powered up and I looked and saw they had a cool million dollars to work with on this one. That is "fuck all" money in today's cinematic universe to I am actually quite impressed with how well-made this film is considering the monetary limitations they were working with.
There is a market for this sort of thing and there has been a lot of lower-budget horror movies made in the past year or so and while they don't make (or lose) Disney or Marvel money, this one managed to turn an 800% profit with virtually no marketing at all - so that is impressive to me.
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personally I don't have any sort of heightened fear of clowns but I know that a lot of people do, so that might make it scarier for some. The jumpscares don't happen too often but there are some scenes where tension is built up in creative ways that I actually applaud. There is also a "twist" in there that while not as shocking as the creators might have hoped, it was more impactful than the story of say "Jason" from Friday the 13th.
If you appreciated Tucker and Dale vs Evil, which I think is a masterpiece of horror, you will be happy to know that Eli Craig is the director of both films. This one doesn't have the incredible silly edge that Tucker and Dale had, but they do a decent job with what had to have been a run-of-the-mill script.
Someone believed in it enough to greenlight a cool million for though, and overall I stayed entertained long enough to not be checking my phone all the time.
Should I watch it?
Honestly, I'm not going to try to make this film out to be something amazing because it definitely is not that. It is a slasher film that basically follows down the same path that many such films did in the 80s and beyond. The storyline is rather dumb, as are the situations that the kids find themselves in. What ends up happening, aside from a twist towards the 3/4 mark, is all very predictable but still, I found it entertaining.
The teenage angst built in was inevitable, but there is plenty of it so go ahead and prepare yourself for that. Overall, it was a worthwhile 90 minutes but if you are not a fan of slasher gore films, this one is not going to change your mind about that.
This is still in theaters so at the moment it can only legally be purchased or rented with various streaming services. It is not on Netflix. I've read somewhere that it is included with a Shudder membership for free, but since I don't know anyone that subscribes to that I cannot confirm this