Displaying items by tag: Aaron Abrams

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD

US, 2025, 96 minutes, Colour.

Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormack, Kevin Durand, Will Sasso.

Directed by Eli Craig.

An arresting title. However, while it is true in the early part of the film, by the final confrontations and climax, there are very many clowns in the cornfield.

There is an interesting central plot of interest to audiences. However, it needs to be said, that like many of the horror films of the first half of the 2020s, especially those with an emphasis on slashing and gore, the death sequences are very graphic, the kind that action fans with horror tastes applaud but which many audiences would in their eyes from.

With that warning, the focus of this review is on the plot. The film opens in the 1990s, the party, young people drinking and laughing, one of the party going out into the cornfield and being confronted by a murderous clown, Fendo. So, there are the visuals of the cornfield, mysterious, sometimes sinister. There is also the closed-down factory for the production of corn syrup. The logo for the factory is Frendo, the clown.

The main action of the film is in the present. Teenager Quinn and her doctor father move to the town of Kellie Springs, Missouri, on the death of her mother. Tension between father and daughter. At school, she makes many friends, especially the son of the Mayor. The on is very strong on tradition, especially with the parade with floats featuring a giant Frendo. During the parade, one of the floats goes up in flames. The Mayor, Kevin Durand, is the promoter of the tradition. He is backed by the local sheriff.

The youngsters have their parties and, once again, a clown emerges from the cornfield and their deaths. In fact, there are quite a number of the characters, drinking, running away, afraid, and a building number of slashing killings. Before many of the killings, the intended victims open an ominous Frendo music box, signalling death. Quinn’s father becomes involved, having to treat some of the wounded Frendos but uses his medical skill to come to the rescue.

Quite a lot of tension, young people, the chases, hiding, defending themselves – but, the interesting aspect is the revelation that the Mayor and the sheriff are leaders with so many of the citizens dressing up as Frendo viciously and attacking the younger generation, including the children, condemning them for not being loyal to the traditions. (The film was released in the first year of the second Trump administration – and the audience watching identifying the older generation and their attitudes with the overwhelming support of Trump in the 2024 election.)