Cast:Katie Douglas as Quinn, Aaron Abrams as Dr. Glenn, Carson McCormack as Cole, Vincent Mueller as Rust, Kevin Durand as Arthur Hill, Will Sasso as Sheriff Dunn, Cassandra Potenza as Janet, Verity Marks as Ronnie

Written By:Carter Blanchard (Independence Day: Resurgence) and Eli Craig, Based On The Book By Cesare

directed By: Eli Craig (Tucker and Dale Vs Evil)

Studio: IFC/Shudder

Release Year: 2025

Runtime: 96 minutes

Audio Description Produced By: Descriptive Video Works

Written by:

Narrated By: Bill Larsen

What Is It?: Adapted from a book, a doctor moves to a sleepy midwestern town with his teenage daughter, who quickly falls in with a group of friends. However, this town has a dark secret, and a legend of a clown that kills off juvenile delinquents. Did she just make the wrong set of friends?

What Works: there is a clown, and it is in a cornfield. It was surprisingly bloodier than I thought it would be, coming from the director of Tucker and Dale Vs Evil. I did like the teens cast in the film, even if most of them are criminally under written and barely serve as archetypes. There’s some creativity here, and I’m sure it worked better in the book. It seems to want to be a comedy/horror, so even though it isn’t totally successful, it does make for a slightly more entertaining movie than the films it reminded me of. Instead of thinking about tucker and Dal, which I adore, I couldn’t help but shake the Children Of The corn remake, and a disappointing horror title Escape The Field. Of the three, I’d rather watch this film again, though the bar was very low.

What Doesn’t Work: Character development. There isn’t any. None of the parents feel like parents, and the most interesting actors (Will Sasso, Kevin Durand) aren’t really given much to do. The twist might be surprising but it also felt hokey. I kept wondering how kids in this friend group went missing, and their family wasn’t looking for them. If the whole town is operating under this secret, wouldn’t the parents be way more involved? I forgive the one actor who plays his role like he’s Lurch from Addams Family, because I always knew he was poorly directed to throw off the scent.

the Audio Description: it mostly works, but I had a few little road bumps. They almost all have to do with the reveal, and are steeped in horror, but basically this film has a certain twist it seems determined to pull off, and the audio description has to change gears in how it describes things. I’m not sure it was the best way. I also stayed through the credits and never heard anyone take credit. i know who usually does audio description for IFC/Shudder, but this felt like it would have been their weakest description since In A Violent nature.

Why You Might Like It: You find clowns entertaining, and you prefer horror movies that aren’t scary, but still have some gore to offer. Any direct comparison that comes to mind of recent films is worse than this, but more serious, straight forward horror titles, like the original Children Of the Corn do it better.

Why You Won’t Like It: You hate clowns. Also, if you do prefer horror movies to actually be scary, this isn’t for you. And I don’t mean that in a “I wasn’t scared.” Sort of way, but rather the film just isn’t shot full of high tension, or jump scares. It isn’t really interested in being scary, but instead tried to be fun, and maybe funny.

Final Thoughts: A disappointing teen slasher from the director of the far superior Tucker and Dale Vs Evil.

Rotten: 5.5/10