CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

1991 – In the town of Kettle Springs, Missouri, a group of teenagers are having a party near a cornfield by the Baypen syrup factory. Two teens – Jessica (Kaitlyn Bacon) and Tyler (Dylan McEwan) – go into the cornfield to hook up. Tyler briefly loses Jessica before coming across a jack-in-the-box. Jessica re-emerges, with a huge knife slash on her back. She collapses dead, and Tyler soon finds himself face-to-face with a clown called Frendo. The clown takes a pitchfork and impales Tyler, swinging him up above his head.

In the present day, teenager Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) moves to Kettle Springs with her father, Dr. Glenn (Aaron Abrams). Quinn lost her mother the previous year from an overdose, and she and Glenn have had a strained relationship since then. When they get to their new home, the first thing they find is a dead animal in the fireplace.

On her first day of school, Katie is walked over by her and Glenn’s new neighbor, Rust (Vincent Muller). In class, she ends up getting detention because of her obnoxious and bitter teacher, Mr. Vern (Bradley Sawatzky), while being defended by some of the classmates after they prank Vern and piss him off. Afterwards, she meets and befriends the other students – Janet (Cassandra Potenza), Ronnie (Verity Marks), Tucker (Ayo Solanke), Matt (Alexandre Martin Deakin), and Cole (Carson MacCormac). They show Quinn the home movies they make, which feature Tucker and Matt dressing up as Frendo.

Quinn goes to a diner with Glenn, where they meet Sheriff Dunne (Will Sasso). He warns Quinn to stay away from the group of teenagers, blaming them for a fire that burned down the syrup factory. When the teens pass the diner, Quinn sneaks off to join them. They later go to the liquor store and create a diversion so that they can grab beers (which they still pay for) and a bottle of liquor (which is not paid for) for a little get-together that evening. Quinn is frightened when Tucker and Matt act out a Frendo horror scene, with them making it look like Matt’s guts are spilling out. Cole also admits that the teens did go into the syrup factory on the night of the fire, but it wasn’t them who started it. Quinn and Cole later bond over her dead mother, as well as Cole feeling guilty because his little sister died during an accident when they were diving off a bridge. Cole drops Quinn off, where she kisses him in front of Glenn, who makes it clear Quinn won’t hang out with the teens anymore. After they argue, Quinn watches the video that the teens recorded that night, but she notices another Frendo mask hidden in the background.

At Tucker’s home, he is alone playing drums until he sees what looks like Frendo on the doorbell camera. He thinks it’s Matt playing a prank until he finds a jack-in-the-box in his closet. Frendo then appears behind Tucker and slashes his throat before wrapping him in plastic.

The next day, everyone in town is gathered for the Founder’s Day parade, led by Cole’s father, Mayor Arthur Hill (Kevin Durand). Cole also has a strained relationship with him following his sister’s death. The teens gather during the parade to watch the show, until one person on a unicycle wearing a Frendo mask drops a bomb-like object that causes one of the floats to catch fire, sending everyone into a panic. Dunne quickly accuses the teens of starting the fire, so Quinn, Janet, Cole, Ronnie, and Matt are all arrested. They later get bailed out, and Quinn is grounded by Glenn.

Matt is in his garage working out alone. When he is about to lift a barbell, Frendo appears and puts a handsaw with the barbell. Despite Matt’s efforts, Frendo pushes the saw down to chop Matt’s head off.

That night, Quinn sneaks out with Cole to go to a party by the cornfield. On the road, they spot Rust holding a dead deer, which they find creepy and suspicious. At the party, Quinn and Cole sneak off to a nearby shed to hook up, only for Cole to basically shut it down. Embarrassed, Quinn runs back to Janet and Ronnie, who say that Cole rejects every girl. Quinn and Janet nearly get into it until they see another girl, Ginger (Samantha Hutchings), emerge from the cornfield. She collapses dead with an arrow in her back, and Matt’s head gets tossed at them. The girls think it’s just another video idea, until Quinn tells Janet and Ronnie that she cannot feel Ginger’s pulse, and the girls realize they have been tossing Matt’s head around, and not a prop.

Frendo emerges from the cornfield. He starts to fire arrows at the girls, hitting one unlucky partygoer in the face, until Rust shows up and blasts him with his shotgun. Suddenly, a whole group of people dressed like Frendo start walking out of the cornfield. One tries to attack but gets his hand blown off by Rust. Quinn, Cole, Rust, Janet, and Ronnie all run into the shed for protection. There, the girls learn that Rust and Cole were together, but had to split up because Cole couldn’t be honest with who he really is. The teens then find a hatch that leads through the sewage pit which can get them out. They set up a trap to light up some propane tanks, destroying the shed and keeping the Frendos away from them, but Rust gets left behind, seemingly killed in the explosion.

Glenn finds out that Quinn escaped, and as he goes to find her, he gets caught by one of the Frendos, plus the one who got his hand shot off. The first Frendo orders Glenn to tend to the other Frendo’s wound. Glenn soon finds a walkie-talkie on the injured Frendo’s person, and he creates a distraction for the other Frendo. The wounded one starts to flatline, and Glenn makes the other one take defibrillators, causing him to put his knife down. This leaves Glenn open to take it and stab the Frendo in the neck, leaving him to bleed to death. He then goes to rescue his daughter.

The teens flag a cop car down the road on the way to the home of a couple, the Tillersons. Unfortunately, Sheriff Dunne is driving the car, and he only arrests Cole. When they run through the cornfield to the Tillersons, one of the Frendos impales Ronnie with a chainsaw. Quinn and Janet run to the house, which happens to be unlocked. There, they discover pictures of the teens on wall, and Quinn realizes they walked into a trap. A Frendo pops up and impales Janet with a pitchfork before electrocuting her on the ceiling light. Quinn pulls the pitchfork out of Janet’s body and uses it to kill the Frendo. Quinn runs outside to a truck, but she can’t drive it since it’s a stick shift. A group of Frendos come out and abduct her.

Quinn wakes up in the remains of the syrup factory and learns that the Frendos are led by Mayor Hill and Sheriff Dunne, along with other townsfolk like Mr. Vern, a waitress named Trudy (Daina Letold), and a shop owner named Otis (Jean-Jacques Javier). Cole is tied up to the ceiling by his neck, ready to be hung. Hill explains to Quinn that this is a Founder’s Day tradition going back to the early 20th century. Every time a group of people show up that the town thinks will harm their reputation (hobos, hippies, Gen X burnouts, and now Gen Z teenagers), the townsfolk dress like Frendo and murder anyone they view as a problem. Hill was also the one who started the factory fire to collect the insurance money, and he has also always blamed Cole for the death of his sister.

Before the villains can execute Quinn and Cole, Glenn bursts through the factory in his car. In the commotion, Otis gets his head crushed by a cinder block while Trudy gets impaled with a pipe. Dunne goes after Quinn while Hill tries to finish off his own son. Quinn hides and manages to trick Dunne, grabbing his cattle prod and sticking it down his throat to electrocute him from within. Hill drives Glenn’s car away to escape, leaving Cole dangling by the neck. Glenn holds him up until Rust shows up alive to shoot the rope and free Cole. The two then finally share a kiss. Quinn joins them to leave, but once again is faced by a stick shift car when Mr. Vern is the last Frendo left alive. Glenn guides Quinn through it, and she hits the gas to plow into Mr. Vern.

Sometime later, Quinn is getting ready to leave for college, while Glenn is now running for mayor of Kettle Springs. Rust and Cole, now a couple, show up to give Quinn a baton as a gift. She bids the three men farewell before driving off. On the road, Quinn discovers another jack-in-the-box in the car. She simply tosses it out the window and keeps going.

Teenager Quinn Maybrook moves to the town of Kettle Springs, Missouri, with her father, Dr. Glenn, after the death of her mother. She befriends teens Cole, Rust, Janet, Ronnie, Matt, and Tucker, but Sheriff Dunne and many other townsfolk blame the teens for the fire that burned down the Baypen syrup factory. Making things worse is the appearance of Frendo, a killer clown.

Tucker and Matt are Frendo's first victims. While at a party with the teens, Quinn and the others discover that there is a whole group of townsfolk dressed like Frendo that carry out the murders. In their escape attempts, Ronnie gets killed with a chainsaw, and Janet dies via pitchfork/electrocution. Quinn and Cole are later abducted by the Frendos.

The whole thing is set up by Cole's father, Mayor Arthur Hill, along with townsfolk like Sheriff Dunne. They started the factory fire for the insurance money and blamed the teenagers, but the murders are a "Founder's Day tradition" wherein the townsfolk kill off any group of people they think will harm the town's reputation (hobos, hippies, teenagers). Glenn comes to save Quinn, killing a few of the Frendos. Dunne goes after Quinn but she kills him by sticking his cattle prod down his throat. Hill escapes and leaves his son to die, having blamed him for the accidental death of his daughter, but Glenn and Rust (who was in a secret relationship with Cole) save him. The four escape and kill off Mr. Vern, the obnoxious teacher and last of the Frendos.

Later on, Quinn goes to college, now having a better relationship with Glenn (who is now running for mayor) and maintaining her friendships with Cole and Rust.