Photo © Shudder, RLJE Films
Clown in a Cornfield (2025)
Clown in a Cornfield (2025)
Clown in a Cornfield
(In Theaters May 9)
Conservative adult values come into conflict with mischievous teen pastimes in this horror. Seeking a fresh start, Quinn (Katie Douglas) and her dad, (Aaron Abrams), move to the small Midwestern town of Kettle Springs. Quinn is smitten by rich kid Cole (Carson MacCormac) and falls in with his rebellious clique that includes Janet (Cassandra Potenza), Ronnie (Verity Marks), Tucker (Ayo Solanke), and Matt (Alexandre Martin Deakin). In short order, the teens are hunted, and killed by someone dressed as an eerie clown, the town’s mascot. Eli Craig directs, making R-rated, comic and bloody fare from the carnage. Based on the 2020 young adult, horror novel by Adam Cesare, the book is the first of a gruesome threesome. (Lisa Miller)
Fight or Flight
(Opens in Milwaukee May 9)
Josh Hartnett earns some action-hero cred as former Secret Service agent Lucas Reyes. Having been exiled to fringe assignments after a violent, psychotic breakdown, Reyes could redeem himself when his former boss (Katee Sackoff) orders him to capture a terrorist known as “the Ghost,” who is booked on an international flight. However, the plane is full of the world's most dangerous killers given a similar assignment. Reyes needs to defeat these competitors, leading to hilarious, over-the-top, close quarter confrontations and killings. Watch for a chainsaw, and for frequently misguided flight attendant played by Charithra Chandran. (Lisa Miller)
Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers
(Film Movement Blu-ray)
Myths and symbols can be twisted in the service of harmful ideas, but they can also tell us stories about the meaning of being human and our connection with each other and the world we live in.
Joseph Campbell was already the world’s most familiar scholar of mythology when, in 1987, PBS’ Bill Moyers sat down with him for a series of six interviews. The results are collected on this two-disc set. Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth is the sort of thing rare on television these days but more prevalent in podcasting—a long conversation on a chosen set of topics. The Campbell-Moyers discussion was a thoughtful exchange. Campbell wasn’t confined to the more familiar Graeco-Roman or Egyptian mythologies—or the great monotheisms of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His intellectual journey also took him to African and Native American sources, honoring them for their awareness of humanity’s place in nature.
The Blu-ray set includes a booklet with a previously unpublished essay by Campbell and a documentary discussing Campbell’s influence on Star Wars.
Juliet & Romeo
(In Theaters May 9)
Writer-director Timothy Scott Bogart delivers this musical version of William Shakespeare’s love story, intended to become a trilogy. Bogart’s brother wrote the songs, snippets of which are performed in the trailer. Sung by both males and females, the previewed bits each sound like failed entries intended for recent Disney musicals. Set in 1301, the anachronistic tunes take the viewer out of the period as do the bouncy ensemble dance numbers performed in flamboyantly colorful costumes. Rebel Wilson and Rupert Everett appear as Lady and Lord Capulet, likely scene-stealing characters given the threadbare chemistry between leads Clara Rugaard as Juliet and Jamie Ward as Romeo. (Lisa Miller)
