As its title so openly reveals, “Clown in a Cornfield” features two things that have held prominent spots in horror movies for decades – clowns and cornfields. The film comes from director Eli Craig who first made a splash with his hilarious 2010 horror-comedy “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil”. While it’s certainly absurd, his latest isn’t nearly as self-aware or as bonkers as his debut. And that’s a big reason “Clown in a Cornfield” frustratingly falls short.

“Clown in a Cornfield” is based on Adam Cesare’s 2020 young adult novel of the same name. After a rather meaningless prologue, the story (written for the screen by Craig and Carter Blanchard) introduces us to 17-year-old Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) and her father, Glenn (Aaron Abrams). The two have just moved to the small country town of Kettle Springs, Missouri looking for a new start following a family tragedy.

Quinn’s relationship with her father follows a blueprint that we often see in modern movies. Of course there is a disconnect between them which Craig does a good job tempering. But she’s often portrayed as brighter, more sensitive, and the one most in touch with their reality. To no surprise all of that goes out the window once she falls in with a group of pampered upperclassmen from her high school. None of the five teens stand out with the slight exception of Cole (Carson MacCormac) who immediately catches Quinn’s eye.

Most of the adults around town see Quinn’s new friends as troublemakers. And Cole certainly doesn’t leave the best first impression with her father. But Quinn enjoys hanging out with them and learns a lot about the town’s history in the process. She learns that Kettle Springs was once prosperous thanks to the thriving Baypen corn syrup factory. But the factory was forced to shut down after a fire that many believe was started by the partying teens.

Adding to their friction with the townsfolk, the group runs around the county filming slasher vignettes for their YouTube channel, often using the old factory and its mascot, Friendo the clown. But as you can probably guess, their horror movie fiction turns to reality when an actual killer in a Friendo costume begins disposing of the young fodder in a variety of gruesomely violent ways. The kills are among the film’s strengths. They’re impressively creative and wonderfully realized through mostly practical effects.

Unfortunately the characters and some of the story choices aren’t as effective. While her friends and most of the people around town leave little impression, Quinn herself is a frustrating character. At times she seems noticeably smarter and more complex than most slasher movie protagonists. But she routinely undermines that notion with her boneheaded decisions and hare-brained actions. As a result, we go from rooting for her to not even caring.

The further you get into its story the more you pick up on the countless small town stereotypes. In fact, the film is almost snooty in its use of rural America cliches. It all feeds into a clunky final act where the movie tries to present something resembling a theme. It ends up being a messy mix of intentional and unintentional laughs, where neither the town’s small-minded adults or its (supposedly) more enlightened youth are believable enough for its message to hit home.