C.O.R.N. (2021)

_**Grade B horror in the cornfield with Kennedy Tucker**_ Broken down in the Midwest on the eve of Halloween, a brother & sister (Mateus Ward and Kennedy Tucker) meet a Goth-ish local guy (Dylan Riley Snyder) and party at a corn maze. Unfortunately a strange meeting of eccentrics nearby need bodies for their ‘art.’ Roger Cross plays the stepdad while Robert Donavan is on hand as the leader of the kooks. "C.O.R.N." (2021), sometimes subtitled “A Field of Screams,” is Grade B horror that meshes films like “Freddy vs. Jason” (2003), “Scarecrows” (2017) and “Shadows of the Dead” (2016). With a budget of $950,000, it lacks the production quality of “Freddy vs. Jason,” but it’s almost on par with “Scarecrows” and superior to the prosaic “Shadows of the Dead.” There’s a freestyle manner to the filming/editing, which makes the first 30 minutes iffy in a meandering way. If you can acclimate, however, there are enough highlights to make “C.O.R.N.” worthwhile for those who appreciate Indy horror and are in the mode for a flick with lots of Halloween-ish ambiance. The tone is serious, but there’s some Vincent Price-like camp with the cult artists, especially Donavan. Petite beauty Kennedy Tucker as protagonist Tia is worth the price of admission. The commendable female cast also includes the likes of Audra Schildhouse, Meitar Paz and Elise Spicer, amidst peripherals. The writer/director (Robin Christian) thankfully knows how to shoot women, no pun intended. For those interested, the acronym stands for “Collective Order of Recreational Necro-philanthropists.” The movie is overlong at 1 hour, 42 minutes; it would’ve worked better at a streamlined 72-90 minutes. GRADE: B-/C+