Shudder Day: Clown in a Cornfield (2025)

 A Film that was recommended by people on FB.
It is by a Director of a Film I liked.

Let's tackle our coulrophobia and kalampokiphobia in one fell swoop!

Welcome to the Town of Kettle Springs.

They love Corn and Clowns.

Our Heroine is a new Girl with her Doctor Dad moving into Town a la Arachnophobia.

She makes friends with the 'cool kids' that have turned the Town's Mascot (above) into a Horror Character via YouTube Short Films.

They make enemies of the main Adults in Town (like the Sheriff, their Teacher and a Shopkeeper) along the way.

While filming a video, she spots a masked clown in the background...

In spite of what her Dad says, she goes to a Party by the Cornfield.

However, they get company in the form of Frendo the Clown...and more!

It all leads to a reveal- which I won't SPOIL- about who is doing the killing and why.

In lieu of an actual Shot of the reveal, I'll give the next best thing.

To find out how it plays out, stream it now.

A fun Film, as long as you let it build up properly.

For better or worse, this is very much in the mold of what Modern Slasher Films are.  
If you're a fan, that's great.
If you're not, just be patient.

The Film builds up nicely to a climax involving the Clown and our Heroes.
They are mostly a likable bunch.

As always, the big selling point here is the gore and the creativity involved.  It delivers.

This one doesn't exactly break any new ground, but stomps it quite nicely.
Will posting this picture help my engagement by including Art?

A fun Film that is very much in the mold of what Modern Slasher Films are.  For better or worse, it does that exactly how you'd expect (and also well).

Tubi Thursday: Fear of Clowns 2 (2007)

 In 2011, I reviewed the Original (here).  I had no idea that there was a Sequel.
Well, it came out in 2007.

In 2024, I finally get around to it.  Enjoy...

To recap (if you can't be bothered to read the previous Review), this lady had a Fear of Clowns, but also only painted them.

After 2 pointless sub-plots, she escaped this muscle-bound Clown who wanted to kill her.

Some vague amount of time later, he's escaped and he's made some friends.  They should put that on the Poster!

The Cop is also suffering from some rare (made up Brain Disease) to boot.  The pay-off is pretty much nill.

Alongside the Orderly (who's along for the ride), he gets two other Patients to go full Bozo.

They do look alright...it's just a shame that the 'Three Clowns' Plot is as useful or interesting as the Three Jokers Plot.

The Film replaces Sub-Plot Padding with, well, Slasher Film Padding.

We get Cop freaking out Scenes.
We get more random Characters that exist only to die.

We also get a whole section involving some Farmers and this lady from *Adult* Films.

This is enough to get it to 85 minutes, but is it good?

No.  It's not.

*****

I'm happy to see that my lack of excitement to get around to watching this was pretty warranted.  I said that the original was 'decent.'

This one had potential- more killers, more action and more stakes.
This one didn't deliver.

One of the three Clowns is killed off in only his 2nd appearance, while the surviving one just kind of wanders 2 Scenes behind everyone until the Finale.

This is also what is referred to as 'An Idiot Story.'  In short, it only works because everyone is an idiot.
For instance, our Hero plans a trap for the Clown...but his buddies don't actually prepare- at all.
They literally leave their guns in their cars and don't have them for the Finale.

Chalk one up for Something Deadpool Can Do, But Other Films Can't.

There are glimpses of a good- or at least better- and more entertaining Film here.  Adult Film Star, for instance, gets cut in half (in one swing, mind you) and they *almost* pull off the effect, with her slowly 'realizing' her situation.

I wanted to go 'Wow- this one is an improvement.'  Sadly, it's not and most of the Cast have done little since.

On the plus side, I did check and there's no 3rd Film.  As such, I won't be getting another surprised in 2037...

A low-budget Horror Film with a decent idea behind.  Sadly, it is confusing, drawn and out and underwhelming.  Boo?

Grease Painted Death: Fear of Clowns

Well, that's direct!  

Today's film is all about the fear of clowns and how it can affect people.  Skipping all pretense, they just called it Fear of Clowns.  

However, the movie is much more than that.  

In reality, it is a fairly-short film that is padded out by two unnecessary sub-plots that make it last 90 minutes.  As a bonus, it has an anti-climax ending and a conclusion right out of a Project Terrible film.  

Which one?  

Wouldn't you like to know!  

The movie is a fairly low-budget and doesn't really feature any stars.  Does this hold the movie back or liberate it?  To find out the answers to all of the questions raised above, read below...

The film begins with a random dream sequence that serves no purpose.  

I should be used to those by now, really.  On the plus side, it's not the cliche 'opening kill' scene...

Our heroine is a painter who has one subject- clowns.  She is having some personal problems- including a divorce and custody battle- but that is abated a bit when she meets a handsome, rich man...

Unfortunately for her, she's being stalked by a Clown who chews steroids instead of cotton candy.  

I should also point out that the make-up job, while creepy, is not the same on the menu or DVD itself.  How do you mess that up?!?

Pointless sub-plot #1: A random, rich guy hires her to make a painting of his father- a famous clown.  She does it, in spite of finding out that he was a child molester.  

She gets paid and... that's it.  No, really.

The plot gets a bit convoluted as our heroine is going through a romance, as well as being stalked by the clown and having a man following her that was hired by her soon to be ex-husband, which leads us to...

Pointless Sub-Plot #2: A man is hired by the ex-husband to kill her, even though he's probably going to get custody.  

His attempt fails- although his plan wouldn't have fooled nobody to begin with- and he dies.  

To further kill this sub-plot, the husband is also killed...by the clown...who he also sent to kill her.  Confused?

The film comes to a head as the killer clown confronts our heroes at a movie theater where they are having a private date- more on that in a later post.  After a lot of stalling and chasing, he gets caught.

Don't worry, he escapes after the action is all over...apparently.  The End.

I ain't 'fraid of no clowns!  The plot of this movie could have been good, really it could have.  However, the execution is a bit faulty and the script does it a disservice.  

The film is also not helped by the inclusion of two pointless sub-plots mentioned above.  

Seriously, what was the point of the 'you're hired to do this painting' sub-plot?  The killer has no connection to the man?  

The whole thing is not a plot to trick her?  

All she gets is paid- more than was planned in fact.  

To further add to this nonsense, she takes the job to hire a better lawyer for her divorce case...which pretty much ends when the husband is murdered!  

I also love the amazing redundancy of the husband- hiring TWO different people to kill his wife.  Furthermore, he connects himself by having a former patient- who is somehow out, while still being insane- do the job.  

On top of that, he doesn't tell the non-clown killer about the clown...unless they just added this plot explanation later.  

Notice how I'm not talking about the leads at all?  Well, they're boring as hell and don't add much to the film.  They don't do a bad job, but they also don't make me care.  

Overall, this is a decent film, but nothing more.  There are certainly worse killer clown films out there...

Up next, a film that should be awesome.  Sadly, it's as dull as dishwater, in spite of featuring a famous comedian from the '80s.  Stay tuned...