Released in fairly quick succession this year have been two distinct “throwback” mainstream slashers. Hell of a Summer and Clown in a Cornfield. The two movies also come on the heels of Josh Ruben’s rom-com slasher Heart Eyes. Recently a prominent critic asked, “Why do contemporary slashers do nothing for me?” There are many ways to answer the question, but I’d posit that primarily that the “transgressive” nature of the slasher has been worn away by years of irony, or worse, lack of intelligence. What once shocked audiences now at most “grosses them out”. Perhaps it was the moment that the slasher became not only about teens and young adults, but primarily for them?
The slasher isn’t dead, but it is certainly for the most part, pummelled. What does trying to do something new mean in a genre that has seen almost every iteration possible? Nadine Whitney takes a look at two recent attempts and decides that there’s gas left in the chainsaw yet, even if it more often sputters than cuts cleanly.
Finn Wolfhard and Billy Byrk’s debut comedy slasher Hell of a Summer does one thing right: it’s refreshingly without irony. That’s not to say there aren’t jokes, but the overall tone isn’t one of winking references telling the audience that they’re deconstructing the camp slasher genre. There is a surfeit of films loudly crowing, “You know that thing you love? Here are all the tropes and aren’t they silly?” Hell of a Summer is surprisingly sincere and all the better for it. The film doesn’t claim to be original: after all, tropes are tropes for a reason, but it also doesn’t claim to be above what it is. Other than a few music cues it’s not pointing at every other foundational film of its ilk and pretending it’s smarter than them. No neo-Wes Craven irony. If there is such a thing as a cozy slasher, Hell of a Summer is it.
Fred Hechinger is the Camp Pineway devotee 24-year-old Jason Hochberg who has seemingly spent most of his summer there either as a camper or a counsellor. “How many chances do you get in life to spend summer at Camp Pineway?” Jason asks his mother as she drives him into the campgrounds. The answer is a resigned sigh, “A lot, apparently.”
This year Jason’s trying for team leader and considering most of the other counsellors are teens, it’s likely he’ll be given the job. By default, he gets the position when the camp owners seemingly leave a note telling him they’re away and he can look after the place. “Away” in this case is murdered in the opening scenes by someone wearing a devil mask.
The main issue Jason has is that he’s not connecting with his fellow counsellors. It’s not so much a generational issue, but more that Jason is oddly enamoured with the summer camp where his name appears on the wall for runner-up in the archery competitions. He takes Camp Pineway very seriously, to the point he’s somehow regressed to the never-quite-salad days of his yearly time there marking his personality. The other camp counsellors for the most part know exactly why they are there: get wrecked, get laid, do very little, get paid. Only Claire (Abby Quinn) doesn’t sneer at the older guy who definitely should have moved on with his life by now.
The rest of the crew feature archetypes (some updated). There is the mean girl and social media influencer, Demi (Pardis Saremi) with her bad-boy boyfriend, Mike (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai). Nice guy and gender studies student, Chris (Finn Wolfhard) whose best friend Bobby (Brian Byrk) would be the butt of everyone’s jokes if Jason weren’t that. Musical theatre queen, Ezra (a delicious Matthew Finlan), Vegan – which in this film counts as a personality descriptor – Miley (Julia Doyle). Goth, Noelle (Julia Lalonde), and general cool girl, Shannon (Krista Nazaire) who is Chris’ love interest.
None of the group seem at all concerned with setting up the camp for the arrival of the campers, and they’re definitely not interested in Jason’s enthusiasm. When the devil masked killer begins to hunt them down one by one, there doesn’t seem to be a spare brain cell amongst the group and panic sets in very quickly. Who could be responsible? Could it be the one person who seems to want to stay at Camp Pineway forever?
The kills are, for the most part, generally uninspired or happen off screen (although there is one that will raise a cackle). Additionally, the ‘who done it?’ reveal happens slightly early, and the motivation is fairly weak, but some of the script and acting has the smarts to keep it engaging and funny, even if the gore factor is relatively low as is the desire for any of them to survive the proceedings.
Hell of a Summer is a trifle - neither a disaster nor a breakthrough movie. It is refreshing that it doesn’t annoyingly wink at the audience because it would’ve been unbearable if it had. Mildly entertaining with the occasional spark of real comic writing and timing.
Coulrophobia – the movie. That could be the tagline of Eli Craig’s adaptation of the award-winning young adult novel Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare. Just as Hell of a Summer doesn’t go too overboard with ‘slasher’ tropes, Clown in a Cornfield embraces them wholeheartedly which leads to a load of red herrings and a quite good time trying to figure what is going on and why.
The tensions between the “generations” rarely includes Generation X as the conservative fun police who actively seem to dislike the teens who are now their kids, students, and the people looking at them as if they’re the old folk who know nothing. Most media seems to focus on the Boomers vs. Millennials, which has left Gen X pretty much exactly where they want to be – quietly ignored. That’s not the case in Kettle Springs, Missouri – a rust belt town built on the cornfields supplying corn syrup via Baypen Corn Syrup Factory owned by the town mayor Arthur Hill (Kevin Durand) whose family are considered the “founders” of the area. The town has fallen on particularly hard times after a fire consumed the main factory leaving much of the town out of work and unable to relocate.
Into this “middle of nowhere” new Depression land arrives Quinn Maybrook (a terrific Katie Douglas) and her father who has taken up the position of the new General Practitioner, Glenn (Aaron Abrams). The relocation isn’t something Quinn wanted, but she and her father are reeling after a tragedy that has left them unanchored. Quinn just wants them to be “okay” which is not easy in a place that is extremely hostile to teenagers. On her first she is walked to the local high school by a polite “local yokel” Rust (Vincent Muller) who tells her some people aren’t what they seem to be, and she would be wise to avoid some of the students.
Within about three minutes of being in her first class Quinn is given detention by the very peeved Mr. Vern (Bradley Sawatzky). Defended by the very handsome (and reminiscent of Skeet Ulrich’s Billy in Scream) Cole Hill (Carson MacCormac) and quickly folded into his friend group which includes jock and joker, Matt (Alexandre Martin Deakin), effervescent trickster, Tucker (Ayo Solanke), Matt’s girlfriend Trudy (Daina Leitold), and mean girl, Janet (Cassandra Potenza). A group that in any other teen film would be considered the Apex cool seniors is all but ostracised by the local community. They’re the group Rust warned her about. However, for Quinn who is going to have to stick it out in this backwater until college, they represent people who at least have a sense of humour about the town and its sticky heritage built on the image of Frendo the Clown.
The cold opening of the film is in 1992 where are group of teens are sitting outside of the factory getting drunk, chain smoking, and hanging out. An attractive senior plays with the wind-up jack in the box Frendo toy and then catches the eye of her crush. She lures him into the cornfield with the promise of sexy times when suddenly Frendo appears and is distinctly “unfriendly” – slaughtering the two.
Back to the present day and Frendo is mostly considered a joke by the teens. Matt and Tucker along with Trudy and Janet spend a lot of their time creating horror videos and pranks featuring Frendo as a serial killer. The adults of the town including Will Sasso’s Sherriff Dunne, the local diner owner Trudy (Daina Letold) and a myriad of unnamed and annoyed people have no time for the new generation and their lack of respect for tradition. Too concerned with their “cat videos” to be any use to the failing community.
Dr. Maybrook is half-trying to connect with Quinn, but he’s lost in his own grief. He’s shocked that she’s clearly “acting out” in Kettle Springs and finds himself moving from “chill dad” status to authoritarian faster than he’d like. Fast is the key to the comedy slasher – it only takes three days from Quinn’s arrival in Kettle Springs for the town to become a full-bore massacre site with teenagers in the crosshairs of Frendo the unstoppable slasher clown.
Eli Craig who is best known for his hilarious and gore-soaked Tucker and Dale vs. Evil understands that lean and mean is the name of the game. Slashers have no reason to stick around for long and involved personality dissections when an evil clown is killing off teenagers in incredibly inventive and bloody ways. Dissecting is better than discussion: although to his credit, Craig and co-writer Carter Blanchard aren’t hiding the bigger themes around the film. The frustrations of the older generation to “make the town great again” by bringing the teenagers who want to find new ways to go forward to heel is something that adds a layer of relatability for the intended teen audience.
“You think you know everything,” one character spits at Quinn, whose answer is that she doesn’t but she definitely knows more than them about things like “legal detainment” and not calling young women “sweetheart.” Cole has been disavowed by his father who has shifted the blame for the factory fire on him and his friends despite the official report being faulty wiring.
‘Founders Day’ (shades of Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving and I Know What You Did Last Summer) is a chance for Arthur Hill to pontificate on the greatness of the community while promising precisely nothing in terms of bringing economic stability back to Kettle Springs. It’s also an opportunity for the people to “worship” Frendo – a mascot who now is surely only a reminder of what they no longer have.
Clown in a Cornfield knows there aren’t that many ways to make a teen slasher original and it’s okay with that. Killing off teens who have somehow transgressed (sex, drugs, alcohol) is a staple and has been for years. However, in being hilariously aware of the tropes the film is also able to (pun unintended) carve out some new ways to deliver them.
Clown in a Cornfield is, at heart, a lot of fun. It satisfies as a slasher, a teen movie, and a comedy. There are some surprises up Eli Craig’s tricky and blood-soaked sleeves that make the endeavour a damn fine example of how to wink at an audience without condescending to them.
Clown in a Cornfield
Director: Eli Craig
Cast: Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac
Writers: Carter Blanchard, Eli Craig, (Based on Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare)
Producers: Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen, Isaac Klausner, John Fischer, Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis, Terry Douglas
Cinematography: Brian Pearson
Music: Brandon Roberts, Marcus Trumpp
Editor: Sabrina Pitre
Screening or Streaming Availability:
Hell of a Summer
Director: Bill Bryk, Finn Wolfhard
Cast: Fred Heschinger, Abby Quinn, D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai
Writers: Bill Bryk, Finn Wolfhard
Producers: Michael Costigan, Jason Bateman, Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk, Jay Von Hoy, Fred Hechinger
Cinematography: Kristofer Bonnell
Music: Jay McCarrol
Editor: Christine Armstrong