Clown in a Cornfield (2025)

In 1991, a group of teenagers in Kettle Springs, Missouri, party near the town's old Baypen Corn Syrup factory. Two teens sneak off into the nearby cornfield and are killed by Baypen's mascot, Frendo the Clown.

In the present, 17-year-old Quinn Maybrook relocates to Kettle Springs, where her father Glenn has taken a new job as the town's doctor. The Maybrooks' relationship is strained following the death of Quinn's mother, Samantha. Quinn befriends Cole—the son of Kettle Springs' mayor Arthur Hill—and his friends Janet, Matt, Ronnie, and Tucker. Cole also explains to Quinn the story of the burned-down Baypen factory, which the town blames on the group. While she overviews a horror parody video featuring Frendo, Quinn spots a second mysterious Frendo in the background. Meanwhile, Tucker is stalked outside his home by another Frendo, who secretly breaks in and kills him.

At the town's 100th Founder's Day festival, Matt accidentally causes a Frendo float to become fully engulfed, ruining the festivities. Kettle Springs' sheriff George Dunne accuses Quinn and her friends of sabotage and holds them in jail while Matt is decapitated by Frendo in his garage. That night, Quinn and Cole sneak off to a party at an isolated farmhouse. When one of the partygoers is killed with a crossbow, everybody flees in terror until Quinn's neighbor Rust Vance, also revealed to be Cole’s ex-boyfriend, shoots Frendo with his shotgun.

Several other Frendos suddenly emerge from the cornfield and pursue the group while Rust shoots another Frendo and severs his hand. The group takes shelter in a nearby shed, where Rust offers to stay behind to detonate a makeshift bomb and let the others escape through a sewer grate to find help. They reach a road and stumble upon Sheriff Dunne, who refuses to listen to them and arrests Cole for trespassing. Meanwhile, as Glenn searches for Quinn, he is forced to operate on the injured Frendo, while being held captive by another Frendo at knife-point. Glenn soon outwits his captor and fatally stabs him.

At the same time, the group is discovered by the Frendos in the cornfield, and Ronnie is ran through by one wielding a chainsaw. Quinn and Janet reach a neighbouring house where they find a rotary phone, but fail to work it. They are attacked by another Frendo, who impales Janet with a pitchfork. Quinn kills Frendo with the pitchfork but is captured by three other Frendos waiting outside. She awakens inside the Baypen factory surrounded by the Frendos, who take off their masks and reveal themselves as Mayor Hill, Sheriff Dunne, high school teacher Mr. Vern, shopkeeper Otis, and diner waitress Trudy. They blame the teens for the town's troubles and ruining its public image. Mayor Hill also reveals himself as the Baypen factory's arsonist and plans to kill both Quinn and Cole as a staged murder-suicide.

Just as Sheriff Dunne is about to kill Quinn, Glenn drives his car through a wall, causing Otis's head to be crushed by a steel beam and Trudy to be impaled on a pipe while Quinn flees. Sheriff Dunne chases her to a room full of Frendo costumes. Quinn disguises herself as one and electrocutes Sheriff Dunne with a cattle prod in his mouth. Mayor Hill escapes while Rust shows up and saves Cole, and they kiss. As they are leaving the factory, Quinn runs over Mr. Vern, killing him. One year later, Glenn is running for mayor, and Quinn is leaving for college. Cole and Rust show up to see her off. On the drive, she finds a Baypen music box in her back seat, which she throws out the window. Soon after, the music box pops open.