A generic teens-in-peril slasher, 'Clown in a Cornfield' can't cut the crop

Is determination thing arsenic dependable arsenic the slasher formula? It waxes, wanes and winks its mode done taste cycles but it endures; malleable yet sturdy, precocious oregon lowbrow (usually low), requiring conscionable a fewer cardinal elements: immoderate teenagers and a masked killer. A tiny municipality would beryllium nice. Change up the costumes and the weapons and it practically writes itself. Enter “Clown successful a Cornfield” from “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil” filmmaker Eli Craig.

This slasher does precisely what it says connected the tin: A murderous clown emerges from the cornfields of Kettle Springs, Mo. and mauls misbehaving teens to shreds. In an opening prologue acceptable successful 1991, Craig signals the silliness with which we should bask the film: A aboriginal unfortunate marvels astatine the size of a footprint successful the damp ungraded and the clown’s shoes springiness him distant with a squeak arsenic helium impales our unfortunate soul.

What sets this peculiar movie isolated is its provenance, adapted from a 2020 fearfulness caller by Adam Cesare. That literate root does springiness this different light, disposable genre romp a spot much heft, though the backstory and generational past that’s alluded to isn’t wholly explored onscreen. Craig and Carter Blanchard collaborated connected the screenplay adaptation, and the movie relies connected the benignant of quickie reveals and twists that audiences would expect from this benignant of thing.

Craig is self-reflective portion being appropriately reverent to the tropes of the genre. The closest caller examination would beryllium Eli Roth’s “Thanksgiving,” different outrageously costumed slayer movie, and portion Craig doesn’t person Roth’s gleefully sadistic creativity erstwhile it comes to kills, his teens are a spot much amusive to beryllium around, particularly the snarky Quinn (Katie Douglas), who moves to Kettle Springs with her doc dada (Aaron Abrams) and instantly falls successful with a radical of fashionable YouTube-obsessed classmates who marque fearfulness films connected their phones astir their municipality mascot, Frendo, of the maize syrup factory.

Quinn starts crushing connected Cole (Carson MacCormac), the scion of the town’s founders. Every year, they observe contented with the Founder’s Day parade, foregrounding Frendo’s iconic visage. But it seems arsenic soon arsenic Quinn shows up, things commencement to spell wrong. Teens commencement turning up dead, evil clowns commencement revving their chainsaws. It’s initially challenging to archer what’s existent and what’s an elaborate prank.

There’s a taxable that drifts done “Clown successful a Cornfield” astir teens and their phones and however we unrecorded our lives done screens and ever-present cameras, but Craig ne'er afloat threads that needle. At a clip erstwhile it’s progressively hard to discern what’s existent and what’s not, particularly connected our phones, that much blase communicative ne'er gets told, successful favour of much throwback-style bloodbaths and showboating bad-guy speeches.

“Clown successful a Cornfield” is fun, to beryllium sure, but feels astir arsenic important arsenic a maize puff. Douglas is beguiling capable with her humorous, spunky performance, and MacCormac capably keeps up with her. Will Sasso and Kevin Durand are invited supporting players arsenic a fewer of the oddly assertive municipality elders. While things get a small excessively “Scooby-Doo” astatine times, Craig smartly keeps it moving: This is simply a airy and breezy matter with a fewer unexpected twists, immoderate societal commentary that doesn’t wholly onshore and not capable staying powerfulness to beryllium genuinely memorable. Ah, well: Cesare already has 2 sequel novels published, truthful there’s already plentifulness much Frendo the Clown acceptable to beryllium harvested.

Katie Walsh is simply a Tribune News Service movie critic.