Earlier this year, Eli Craig‘s adaptation of Adam Cesare‘s bestselling YA novel, Clown In A Cornfield was finally released. Now it’s available to own on 4K.
Clown in a Cornfield is such a very fun property. The book trilogy is a fast, easy read (the second one is the best, in my humble opinion), but the story works because it feels contemporary. The characters speak like real people and the stakes are incredibly high, but there’s also a level of self-awareness that is a hallmark of all of the best slashers since Scream.
Eli Craig delivered a solid adaptation that is 90% faithful to the book with a few minor tweaks. The cast is game, the kills are R-rated, and the jokes mostly land. It’s clear that he and co-screenwriter Carter Blanchard understood Cesare’s book and what made it a story worth telling.
It also seems like Cesare and Craig got along well, as evidenced by my interview with them on Horror Queers (Trace and I also reviewed the movie in depth on Patreon, if you’re interested in more of my thoughts).
Overall, this is a fun, entertaining, low-budget film and considering its solid theatrical gross, it’s a little bizarre that the sequel hasn’t already been greenlight.
4K Extras
Having a taste of the ‘behind the scenes’ from that aforementioned interview, I was intrigued to listen to the commentary, which is the sole extra on the 4K. Alas the track, which features Craig, Cesare and actors Katie Douglas (Quinn) and Carson MacCormac (Cole) isn’t well balanced: both actors are so quiet that they are barely audible while former school teacher Cesare’s voice threatens to blow out a sound system or two.
It’s frustrating because it renders the commentary almost impossible to listen to without remote controller in hand, finger poised over the volume (hence the very low score on the extras below).
Here are 15 fun take-aways from the commentary:
- In addition to praising how nice Kevin Durand is, MacCormac mentions that he’s apparently a top 100 peloton member. Who knew?
- Catherine Wreford, who plays Crystal Hill, has two unique attributes: 1) she has a brain tumour and 2) she won The Amazing Race Canada.
- The extras in the parade sequence were under the impression that the film was a Hallmark movie (they were not told the name of the film and also because the film was shot in Winnipeg, which is where many holiday romances are lensed).
- The unicyclist in the parade is world famous (and the original script called for him to be naked).
- It seems that Craig encouraged actors to improv when they pleased, and Douglas was asked to tone down the “Fucks” because she said it a lot, especially in scenes with her father Dr. Glenn Maybrook (Austin Abrams).
- Abrams couldn’t drive stick and stalled the truck in nearly every scene. In fact, virtually no one on the production could handle a stick shift, which is amusing considering the plot point in the film.
- Alexandre Martin Deakin (Matt) specifically requested to film his death scene shirtless because he’d been working out for the role (even though it was -5°C/23°F in the garage).
- The DJ who is killed outside the barn party is Craig’s son, Noah. “I killed my own son” the director jokes.
- The entire exterior barn attack sequence with the initial Frendo attack was shot in one night. The whole production took only 28 days.
- The barn explosion was done in a single take. When the front door didn’t blow off, Craig had to touch it up in post.
- Ronnie’s joke about being killed next was a last minute script decision. There are several references in the commentary about new pages going out on the day, but both actors play it off like it was no big deal.
- Cesare had to fight with publisher Harper Collins about the parents’ motivation to kill their kids because they didn’t think it was plausible. Craig admits an early (discarded) draft changed Arthur to Cole’s stepfather, but he insisted it be changed back.
- Will Sasso’s death with the cattle prod in the mouth was achieved practically using strategically lit vape smoke and blood drops for his eyes.
- MacCormac talks fondly about spending a whole day in a wire rig shooting the climax while hanging suspended above a car.
- Because the film was shot in the middle of winter, most of the exterior shoots required that snow be digitally removed.
The 4K Steelbook of Clown in a Cornfield is now available for purchase from RLJE Films
- Film: 3.5/5
- Disc: 1.5/5
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