Cornfield's clown wields many weapons

Wary of Bozo and his kind even before Stephen King wrote It--but nonetheless a horror fan--I failed fighting any resistance against Clown in a Cornfield. Its title alone shot out a magnetic pull preventing me from closing my eyes despite the presence of a white faced grinning fuzzy headed killer. A splatter film through and through, the movie could also go by the title “Clown with a Chainsaw,” or pitchfork, or sledgehammer, take your pick (with an axe perhaps). Allowing for the genre’s relative imperviousness to charges of excessive gore—of course it’s gory-- director Eli Craig joins Carter Blanchard in adapting Adam Cesare’s popular young adult book with a nod to horror favorites—not just Stephen King and his clown/corn moments but with an opening sequence harkening to Jaws when a young woman strips and runs into…not water, but a cornfield where she meets…not a shark, but a smiley faced clown. The story quickly switches several decades later when a 17-year girl moves into the area, declining since its factory stopped producing Friendo clown toys. Local teens find their history amusing and get a kick out of posting videos of Friendo as serial killer, leading to suspenseful and ironic moments when they mistake real deaths for gags. Director Craig's helpful weapon comes from moving his camera especially well in high-speed chases through that title cornfield. The movie offers effective pop-up moments, along with insightful and/or sarcastic asides like “we’re all going to be teenagers without heads.” And, unlike the impact of Jaws, which I admit comes to mind anytime I go snorkeling, I hardly ever venture into cornfields so feel pretty safe for the moment.