PHOTO PROVIDED A still image from "Clown in a Cornfield" is shown.

It’s here!

It’s here!

It’s here!

My absolute favorite time of the year… Halloween season. A time where I get to either entertain or bore you, dear reader, with reviews of various scary movies all month long.

We’re starting off strong, though not with what you could consider a throwback (don’t worry we’ll get there!).

Around this time last year I did my first-ever review of books instead of movies when I info-dumped about the “Clown in a Cornfield” series by Adam Cesare.

I stumbled across the first book awhile back in a local book store and was hooked almost from the get-go.

So, you can imagine how excited I was when I learned there were plans to take this slasher series and turn it into a movie!

Well, more accurately, the first book was turned into a movie.

Plans to bring Cesare’s work to the screen were already in preparation prior to the release of the book in 2020, with Temple Hill Entertainment purchasing the rights.

The movie wasn’t released until May this year, following the release of its sequels “Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives” and “Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo.”

I had the chance to watch it recently and, I must say, it was well done!

The movie stays as close to the book’s plot as possible, which centers around Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) a teenager from Philadelphia who’s been dragged to Kettle Springs, Miss. by her dad, Dr. Glenn Maybrook (Aaron Abrams) who was looking to get away from the reminders of his recently deceased wife.

Quinn quickly comes to learn that Kettle Springs is about as stuck in time as it comes. Even at one point noting it’s “stuck in the 90s.”

That thought process is held up by the teenagers in the area, including Cole Hill (Carson MacCormac) — the heir to the famous Baypen Corn Syrup dynasty that kept the town afloat until its demise — and his group of friends.

Cole and his friends are considered major delinquents by many in the town, including Cole’s father and Kettle Spring’s Mayor Arthur (Kevin Durand) and Sheriff Dunne (Will Sasso), among many other adults within the small mid-western town.

Now, I will admit I can see why they may feel that way. Cole and his friends often pull pranks on the townspeople, all in the name of continuing their horror web series centered on Baypen’s mascot Frendo the Clown.

Things all come to a head, however, during Founders Day when one of those pranks goes horrifically wrong.

Quinn, who is mostly just trying to find where she may fit into this new reality her dad has pushed her into, soon finds herself caught up in the worst night of her life when Frendo-mask-wearing murderers start to kill local teens.

I obviously will stop right there in my synopsis. If you want to know who the masked murderers are and why they’re doing it, you’ll have to check out “Clown in a Cornfield.” (Or read the books.)

Though there were some minor changes from book to movie, I felt they did a good job of sticking to the core plot points. It still focuses on Quinn as our lead, with supporting roles from her father, Cole and local redneck Rust (Vincent Muller) as they try to survive the night.

But it also offers a bit of lore that I don’t recall existing in the books that I found interesting. I also enjoyed the running gag of Quinn not being able to drive a standard vehicle in the most in-opportune moments.

It also tweaked the ending a bit, though I can see why. The book ended in a much more bloody fashion which probably would have wrecked this small film’s budget.

Though it did leave the door open for the second and third book to be adapted.

In terms of the actors, many of them were unknown to me but still knocked it out of the park with their characters.

Douglas — who I’ve only seen on Netflix’s “Ginny and Georgia” — embodied Quinn’s teen angst and sass even in the face of danger pretty well. She also really brought Quinn’s “oh my god where the hell am I?” attitude through the massacre well. I mean… I, too, would be upset with my dad if he dragged me to the middle of nowhere just for me to almost get killed by psycho clowns a few weeks later.

Abrams Dr. Maybrook also was well done. I feel like he showcased the somewhat sweet (but also embarrassing) energy of the awkward character to life well. But also showed in the most tense of moments that he was willing to throw down for his daughter if need be.

Both actors for Cole and Rust were also well done, though I’ve never seen either of them in other movies or TV shows that I recall.

Overall, “Clown in a Cornfield” did a great job of taking that slasher-esque book and turning it into a solid slasher movie. And if you’ve watched these columns during October in the last few years, you know I’m serious about my slasher movies.

I really hope that the second and third books get to join their predecessor in being turned into movies. I’d really love to see what they’d do with them.

“Clown in a Cornfield” is rated R and may be rented or purchased from Apple TV, YouTube, Sling TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play and Fandango. It can also be viewed with an AMC+ subscription.

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Laura Jameson is Managing Editor of The Express.