Author Adam Cesare took the horror literature world by storm with his Young Adult novel, Clown in a Cornfield. With no less of an endorsement from the great Clive Barker on the cover, expectations were high for this slasher sensation. Cesare delivered a unique and thrilling book which took a stale slasher sub-genre into the modern age. When Temple Hill Entertainment acquired the film rights, horror hounds began salivating for a new iconic slasher franchise. With two follow up books already on shelves, will this film adaptation spring a new iconic horror series, or dry up to wither away like a cornstalk that has not seen rain in a month?
Quinn Maybrook and her father move to the heartland of America in search for a new start. At first glance, Kettle Springs appears to be the country nightmare that big city Quinn imagined. Little does the high-school senior know, the nightmare is just about to begin. The savvy student quickly makes new friends with the cool kids, who inform her that their little slice of paradise is recovering from a recent accident that has shook the town to its core. Quinn’s new besties have taken to exploiting the town through popular social media horror videos, much to the dismay of the community’s elders. When the videos start becoming all too real, Quinn realizes that she is the unsuspecting new lead in a real-life horror show. Kettle Springs dark history comes to light as the youth of the town attempt to survive a cleansing that has haunted the area for decades.
The book was better. Probably the most used phrase in the horror world. Nothing personifies this more than this pale-faced film version of the novel. Director Eli Craig and writer Carter Blanchard miss almost every mark during a choppy rapidly paced bubble gum film that would have been better placed in the late 90’s. The creative and well executed kills make the carnival carnage ride worth a view, but every other aspect during the run time plays like a ferris wheel that is out of order. Most likely due to budget constraints, the film is oddly filmed in Canada with Canadian actors. While Craig does a decent job with a setting that could pass as middle America, the casting and performances are laughable. This unlucky group of teens look and sound more like hockey fans than then children of Midwest laborers. Audiences will have to check their tickets to make sure they came to a horror film instead of a film revival of Degrassi Junior High. Katie Douglas’ feeble attempts to create a new scream queen but turns in a meager performance that makes Quinn look like a confused brat that turns into a heroine out of the cold northern blue. If the performances were soft, that says nothing of the pace of the film. How Blanchard, who only needed to condense a great novel into a spirited thrill ride, missed just about every plot point from the source material will be a great horror film mystery, one which might only be solved by an animatronic genie at a carnival. The mind-boggling plot continues as the production simply decided to skip over the best part of the book (also probably due to budget constraints,) and put the film in hyper drive to a forced third act. The novel played very much more as an adult level work, even with a silly R-rating, the film adaptation rolls through like a PG-13 sideshow that will be much more enjoyed by the Goosebumps crowd those that prefer Friday the 13th style slashers. Horror hopes were high for a new franchise that could match the intensity of the book series. With a new Final Destination film hitting the screens next week, it appears that Frendo’s cinematic reign of terror will be finished quicker than a child devouring a cotton candy stick.
Scream Score: 6.5/10