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Clown in a Cornfield #4
Lights! Camera! Frendo!
Let the killing continue in Lights! Camera! Frendo! It’s the fourth installment of Adam Cesare’s Bram Stoker Award-winning series, and this time Frendo goes Hollywood – with all the blood, guts, and mayhem you’d expect from the series that spawned the blockbuster motion picture.
Sabrina Alvarez is pretty much a nobody—until she lands the starring role in the big budget film based on the Kettle Springs Massacre. Sabrina knows she should be on top of the world. She’s going to be THE Quinn Maybrook, Final Girl of Final Girls, national hero and certified badass. But as soon as Sabrina gets to Kettle Springs, she just can’t quite shake the feeling that something’s off. A spate of deaths, an out-of-control director, a town decimated by loss and divided by anger, and a movie designed to glorify it all. Something bad is brewing, and this time, it’s all on film.
A meditation on the villains inside us all, it’s the latest installment of Adam Cesare’s Bram Stoker Award-winning series, Clown in a Cornfield.
Sabrina Alvarez is pretty much a nobody—until she lands the starring role in the big budget film based on the Kettle Springs Massacre. Sabrina knows she should be on top of the world. She’s going to be THE Quinn Maybrook, Final Girl of Final Girls, national hero and certified badass. But as soon as Sabrina gets to Kettle Springs, she just can’t quite shake the feeling that something’s off. A spate of deaths, an out-of-control director, a town decimated by loss and divided by anger, and a movie designed to glorify it all. Something bad is brewing, and this time, it’s all on film.
A meditation on the villains inside us all, it’s the latest installment of Adam Cesare’s Bram Stoker Award-winning series, Clown in a Cornfield.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 18, 2026
About the author
Adam Cesare
68 books2,837 followersAdam Cesare is a New Yorker who lives in Philadelphia. His books include Clown in a Cornfield, Video Night, The Summer Job, and Zero Lives Remaining. He’s an avid fan of horror cinema and runs Project: Black T-Shirt, a YouTube review show where he takes horror films and pairs them with reading suggestions.
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August 27, 2026
So I murder love in the night, watching them fall one by one, they fight / Did you think you'll love me too? (Serial Killer – Lana Del Rey).
See, the problem with film adaptions to my favorite books is that they never fail to make writing that I found beautiful on the page seem rather trite and silly whenever it’s said by a person in a movie. Dialogue I've been gassing up to any person I happen to come across shows up as embarrassing dreck whenever it's said out loud on the silver screen and I can't stand it anymore! I know I just said that, but it needed reiterating. Why do all my favorite lines sounds so bad whenever it's adapted!? I demand answers! Let's discuss, shall we? Whereas the “cool girl” monologue from Gone Girl reads like a masterclass in character introduction and balances a fine line between genuine sentiment versus self-delusional narcissism (it shouldn't be played like a "girl boss" moment, Amy Dunne is a bad person who will use anything in her arsenal to manipulate and control. It's somewhat admirable, but not justified), in the movie it just felt overwritten and clumsy. It needed to feel like a real, "oh, so this is the kind of person we're dealing with" moment that said all we needed to know about Amy without her just spelling out who she is rather than the Eat, Pray, Love type shit we were given in the movie. Pinterest prose and all that. What’s that famous story about Harrison Ford stopping George Lucas when they were doing Star Wars and basically telling him, “George, you can write this stuff, but you can’t say it.” yeah, I guess that’s what I’m talking about. It's okay to change lines from the novel version if it sounds more natural in the moment. As long as the sentiment is there, then that's cool with me! For those who don’t know, there's actually a Clown in a Cornfield movie adaption out there that I watched recently and it’s surprisingly pretty… mid. It’s alright, really. But it felt like any other teen horror movie rather than the zesty and punchy surprise we're given when we read the books. It's like how the chasm between Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer is Grand Canyon levels of wide! I didn't think the characterization for Quinn was quite right, but that's more of a writing and directing issue rather than the actor herself, and knowing where her arc goes in the second and third book... I don't know, it's just hard to envision this movie series reaching the same heights as the novels.
How would the movie even handle that weird ass clown cult!? Because I just know it won't hit as hard if they get that far. It’s funny because the movie is the kind of generic I originally thought the book was going to be before I read it, and that's kind of sad. There’s something more to these books considering their enduring popularity, and for some reason, it seems that the movie version just wasn’t able to capture anything outside of the basic plot points. It's like trying to describe a dog to someone who's never seen one and then asking them to draw it for you. Sure, the chainsaw clowns, the small town, the gay twist, all of that is present in the movie, but the reason why the original Clown in a Cornfield resonated with me is simply because the author took the subject material and played it straight. The events are wild, but the characters were written as realistically as possible, and I truly appreciated that. Just because something is a joke doesn't mean it should be treated as one! The premise sounds like a schlocky b-movie from the 80’s, but because Adam Cesare manages to infuse the narrative with commentary about younger generations losing their parents to ultra-conservatism and shows how folks can so easily be radicalized towards anti-intellectual bigotry, we're given a story that's more poignant than any old average slasher flick. I'm just saying, I'd much rather write an entire essay about Clown in a Cornfield than I would The House of Wax, that's for sure. Yet, with the live-action version, it instead plays the whole “rage against the youths” angle awfully light and easy. Which is irritating because that's what holds the whole thing together, that's why the story even transcends the title, Clown in a Cornfield, in the first place! People like to get angry at how "young people don't know how to show respect" and blah blah blah, it's a popular argument that's literally been going on forever, but what's so brilliant about these books is that it actually dissects the sentiment in a real way and shows how insidious such a line of thinking really can be. Like, these are your kids that you raised... and you hate them? Get real. Envy or resentment, call it whatever you want, but taking it out on the kids isn't the answer. "I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way" and all that.
Otherwise, it irked me how even the relationship between Rust and Cole was played as a joke in a very "Sabrina Carpenter" kind of way. Sure, she's a gay ally and us gays all need to attach ourselves to a straight woman lest we wither up and die, but try and tell me this line, "If you don't want me, I'll just deem you gay" is something an ally would say. Don't you just love it when allies use your sexuality as the butt of a joke whenever they're mad? Teehee so tongue-in-cheek! But yeah, while the movie is somewhat funny at points (like when Quinn and her friend don’t know how to use a rotary phone), it's hard not to notice how much of the soul was lost in the process. Hey, this is why I like watching the movie before reading the book, because then I don't have to be that annoying ass dude who constantly plays the "man, the book was way better" card! Look, these books are ridiculous, but you can’t “wink” at the audience like a Marvel movie because that only ever shows insecurity with your own writing. As if you're incapable of trusting the audience to have their own reactions. Sometimes you just have to let your work out into the wild and it'll resonate or it won't. The only true way to emphasize the campiness of the "killer clown" genre is to treat it as seriously as possible. It's a crazy thing to think of, but really imagine yourself getting chased by killer clowns for one second... woah, pretty freaky, huh? That’s why the closest approximation to this series isn’t the literal adaption of them, but rather something like Scream. That's high praise from me! Because everybody knows that the Scream movies are very funny and meta, but what cements them as fantastic movies (except for Scream 7) is the fact that the narrative always takes Sidney’s or Sam’s or Tara’s plight seriously. Their lives were torn apart, and that's no joke! We can’t make light over the silliness if we don’t even care about the protagonist, right? That’s why horror movies in the mid-2000’s sucked so much; because they were often so hyper focused on being as bleak as possible (frequently ending on a downer ending), there was never any reason to emotionally invest in any part of the film. Sure, The Descent is Reddit’s favorite horror movie for some reason, but how many people could say they were clamoring for the sequel? I mean, except for Reddit, who also loves the shitty sequel for who knows why.
“He was used to dealing with annoyed people, having spent a good amount of his life being annoyed.”
Otherwise, I think the biggest problem with movie adaptions of horror books is that they're never able to quite capture the general vibe that the source material had going for it. That little thing that made the book special. Look, I know “general vibe” is pretty vague, but take Bird Box for example! It’s one of my favorite horror books, and yet, the movie couldn’t possibly be any more forgettable unless you Men in Black memory wiped me. See, what makes Bird Box, the book, so scary is the overwhelming sense of claustrophobia and the fact that our imagination has to fill in the blanks of whatever is happening in the outside world. The house that all the characters are stuck in for months has to be an enclosed, boarded up, nondescript suburban home in order for the horror to click. We have to feel like we're in there with the other survivors! So what do we get in the film? A big ass L.A. mansion where everybody’s chilling, doing their own thing until Gary goes crazy for no reason. While when I was reading the book, I felt like I was going crazy, and that’s the kind of vibe that the movie version needed to capture in order for it to be a proper adaption of the book. Might as well just watch The Thing, huh? Because a live-action adaption of Clown in a Cornfield doesn’t necessarily need all the same stuff as the books (the barn massacre was pretty crucial to the plot, but I’m not too fussed about it being removed), but I took offense to how clean the movie looked. It felt like I was watching a CW show, where even when people are a bloody gory mess, they’re dirty in a pretty way. Not cool man, Clown in a Cornfield is supposed to be ooey-gooey, so sanitizing the whole thing takes away a crucial element of the world-building. It doesn’t feel right, you know? If there’s one thing I associate with these books, it’s decay, and if you can’t even get that right, then don’t bother making a movie. Anyway, I know you’re wondering when I’m going to talk about Lights! Camera! Frendo!, but the thing is… I already have been! This fourth installment's plot is all about a movie being made in-universe about the events of the first book, with the commentary being less about culture wars (though that’s still prevalent, don’t worry) and more about weird ass actors and dickbag directors. Which, you know, is a pretty solid narrative basis too, because I think more people should take pot shots at how lame Hollywood movie culture is.
For example, the director in this novel is clearly supposed to be a mix of Quentin Tarantino (asshole, puts his actors in dangerous situations, is seen as an auteur) and Michael Bay (makes shitty action movies) and damn... I have to take a minute after that, because can you imagine how insufferable he must be at dinner!? So many bad opinions being thrown around! But yeah, I thought it was interesting how even though he’s not directly involved with this installment’s latest sprinkling of clown attacks, he still ironically helps them out anyway due to the unsafe stunt practices on set that he encourages. Just throwing this out there, but I’m of the mind that great movies have only ever turned out great despite a director’s bullying, and not because of it. No movie is worth the danger of people's life, you're all playing pretend, my guy. And then there’s the method actor guy who only ever uses the method to act like a complete asshole to everyone around him. Sound familiar? Literally everyone who does the whole method actor thing is a complete hack, including Daniel Day-Lewis, and it only ever proves a poor mental fortitude if you need to stay in character for the entire shoot of a movie. As I said, you clowns play pretend for a living, get over yourself. You're not Abraham Lincoln, you dork. So I quite enjoyed how Lights! Camera! Frendo! was able to infuse its own brand of parody in the greater Clown in a Cornfield mythos without it feeling contrived. But here's the thing, with a greater emphasis on actors with big egos this time around, I think there’s an inherent problem in that there’s not as much weight behind the tragedy. I mean, there is still a clown massacre like in every other book, but because most the victims are deliberately unlikable, it’s hard to feel any emotional resonance behind the big climactic scene. Besides, I couldn’t stop imagining actors and directors I don’t like in this particular situation, so that already had me just waiting for their demise in a Snakes on a Plane kind of way. Bye bye David O. Russell, we won’t miss you and you’ve never made a good movie. Farewell Josh Trank, let's see you fist fight a clown with a crossbow, Mr. Tough Guy! But really though, if I had to rate each and every one of these books, I’d probably have to say that Lights! Camera! Frendo! is my least favorite book in the series simply because I couldn’t find the focal character.
Before, we had Quinn, but she’s not here for this adventure, so instead we’re given a lady who’s playing Quinn in the movie adaption, Cole from the first book, a lady who survived the original clown massacre, and then a bunch of other pov’s who get merked by clowns. See what I mean? It was hard to find an emotional through line or a force driving us forward because everybody else just felt like they were standing around waiting for the eventual climax. At least Quinn was out there doing shit and proactively going after these evil ass clowns. I don't know, maybe I just miss her because she fell into the "Ellen Ripley" role so well that it feels wrong to read about killer clowns without her special brand of badass to respond in kind. You can't have Scream without Sidney fucking Prescott, now can you!? Also, while I enjoyed the fact that our favorite gayboys are back, I just have to ask... why the hell would Cole finance and be a producer on a movie about a real life massacre that he was involved in!? Make it make sense, because not only is it in bad taste, but surely Cole has enough money to hire a good therapist that’d let him know watching a fictionalized version of his worst trauma this isn’t the best way to work past said trauma. But what do I know, maybe getting a percentage of the box office gross is as good as therapy. Also, they need to send the National Guard or something to that damn town, because the only way you can plausibly explain how so many killer clowns keep cropping up in the same place is if there's some kind of evil curse on the damn town. I mean, I'm surprised there's even a town still standing considering over half the residents ended up being clowns intending to murder their children. Anyway, Lights! Camera! Frendo! is still a really good book, but it does feel like a bit of a retread (same town, meta retelling of the same events, same characters) rather than an evolution, and I can't lie that it does take a minute to get to the good stuff. Still, there’s no doubt that these books continue to entertain and frighten all the same. And even though that epilogue chapter has me more excited for a potential fifth book rather than having me fondly looking back on this one, I still love the Clown in a Cornfield series simply because they’re fun horror books, rather than horror books that desperately want to be made into a movie. Besides, as we all know... the book was better.
Just have fun, wanna play you like a Gameboy / I don't want one, lost the thrill of the same toy?
See, the problem with film adaptions to my favorite books is that they never fail to make writing that I found beautiful on the page seem rather trite and silly whenever it’s said by a person in a movie. Dialogue I've been gassing up to any person I happen to come across shows up as embarrassing dreck whenever it's said out loud on the silver screen and I can't stand it anymore! I know I just said that, but it needed reiterating. Why do all my favorite lines sounds so bad whenever it's adapted!? I demand answers! Let's discuss, shall we? Whereas the “cool girl” monologue from Gone Girl reads like a masterclass in character introduction and balances a fine line between genuine sentiment versus self-delusional narcissism (it shouldn't be played like a "girl boss" moment, Amy Dunne is a bad person who will use anything in her arsenal to manipulate and control. It's somewhat admirable, but not justified), in the movie it just felt overwritten and clumsy. It needed to feel like a real, "oh, so this is the kind of person we're dealing with" moment that said all we needed to know about Amy without her just spelling out who she is rather than the Eat, Pray, Love type shit we were given in the movie. Pinterest prose and all that. What’s that famous story about Harrison Ford stopping George Lucas when they were doing Star Wars and basically telling him, “George, you can write this stuff, but you can’t say it.” yeah, I guess that’s what I’m talking about. It's okay to change lines from the novel version if it sounds more natural in the moment. As long as the sentiment is there, then that's cool with me! For those who don’t know, there's actually a Clown in a Cornfield movie adaption out there that I watched recently and it’s surprisingly pretty… mid. It’s alright, really. But it felt like any other teen horror movie rather than the zesty and punchy surprise we're given when we read the books. It's like how the chasm between Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer is Grand Canyon levels of wide! I didn't think the characterization for Quinn was quite right, but that's more of a writing and directing issue rather than the actor herself, and knowing where her arc goes in the second and third book... I don't know, it's just hard to envision this movie series reaching the same heights as the novels.
How would the movie even handle that weird ass clown cult!? Because I just know it won't hit as hard if they get that far. It’s funny because the movie is the kind of generic I originally thought the book was going to be before I read it, and that's kind of sad. There’s something more to these books considering their enduring popularity, and for some reason, it seems that the movie version just wasn’t able to capture anything outside of the basic plot points. It's like trying to describe a dog to someone who's never seen one and then asking them to draw it for you. Sure, the chainsaw clowns, the small town, the gay twist, all of that is present in the movie, but the reason why the original Clown in a Cornfield resonated with me is simply because the author took the subject material and played it straight. The events are wild, but the characters were written as realistically as possible, and I truly appreciated that. Just because something is a joke doesn't mean it should be treated as one! The premise sounds like a schlocky b-movie from the 80’s, but because Adam Cesare manages to infuse the narrative with commentary about younger generations losing their parents to ultra-conservatism and shows how folks can so easily be radicalized towards anti-intellectual bigotry, we're given a story that's more poignant than any old average slasher flick. I'm just saying, I'd much rather write an entire essay about Clown in a Cornfield than I would The House of Wax, that's for sure. Yet, with the live-action version, it instead plays the whole “rage against the youths” angle awfully light and easy. Which is irritating because that's what holds the whole thing together, that's why the story even transcends the title, Clown in a Cornfield, in the first place! People like to get angry at how "young people don't know how to show respect" and blah blah blah, it's a popular argument that's literally been going on forever, but what's so brilliant about these books is that it actually dissects the sentiment in a real way and shows how insidious such a line of thinking really can be. Like, these are your kids that you raised... and you hate them? Get real. Envy or resentment, call it whatever you want, but taking it out on the kids isn't the answer. "I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way" and all that.
Otherwise, it irked me how even the relationship between Rust and Cole was played as a joke in a very "Sabrina Carpenter" kind of way. Sure, she's a gay ally and us gays all need to attach ourselves to a straight woman lest we wither up and die, but try and tell me this line, "If you don't want me, I'll just deem you gay" is something an ally would say. Don't you just love it when allies use your sexuality as the butt of a joke whenever they're mad? Teehee so tongue-in-cheek! But yeah, while the movie is somewhat funny at points (like when Quinn and her friend don’t know how to use a rotary phone), it's hard not to notice how much of the soul was lost in the process. Hey, this is why I like watching the movie before reading the book, because then I don't have to be that annoying ass dude who constantly plays the "man, the book was way better" card! Look, these books are ridiculous, but you can’t “wink” at the audience like a Marvel movie because that only ever shows insecurity with your own writing. As if you're incapable of trusting the audience to have their own reactions. Sometimes you just have to let your work out into the wild and it'll resonate or it won't. The only true way to emphasize the campiness of the "killer clown" genre is to treat it as seriously as possible. It's a crazy thing to think of, but really imagine yourself getting chased by killer clowns for one second... woah, pretty freaky, huh? That’s why the closest approximation to this series isn’t the literal adaption of them, but rather something like Scream. That's high praise from me! Because everybody knows that the Scream movies are very funny and meta, but what cements them as fantastic movies (except for Scream 7) is the fact that the narrative always takes Sidney’s or Sam’s or Tara’s plight seriously. Their lives were torn apart, and that's no joke! We can’t make light over the silliness if we don’t even care about the protagonist, right? That’s why horror movies in the mid-2000’s sucked so much; because they were often so hyper focused on being as bleak as possible (frequently ending on a downer ending), there was never any reason to emotionally invest in any part of the film. Sure, The Descent is Reddit’s favorite horror movie for some reason, but how many people could say they were clamoring for the sequel? I mean, except for Reddit, who also loves the shitty sequel for who knows why.
“He was used to dealing with annoyed people, having spent a good amount of his life being annoyed.”
Otherwise, I think the biggest problem with movie adaptions of horror books is that they're never able to quite capture the general vibe that the source material had going for it. That little thing that made the book special. Look, I know “general vibe” is pretty vague, but take Bird Box for example! It’s one of my favorite horror books, and yet, the movie couldn’t possibly be any more forgettable unless you Men in Black memory wiped me. See, what makes Bird Box, the book, so scary is the overwhelming sense of claustrophobia and the fact that our imagination has to fill in the blanks of whatever is happening in the outside world. The house that all the characters are stuck in for months has to be an enclosed, boarded up, nondescript suburban home in order for the horror to click. We have to feel like we're in there with the other survivors! So what do we get in the film? A big ass L.A. mansion where everybody’s chilling, doing their own thing until Gary goes crazy for no reason. While when I was reading the book, I felt like I was going crazy, and that’s the kind of vibe that the movie version needed to capture in order for it to be a proper adaption of the book. Might as well just watch The Thing, huh? Because a live-action adaption of Clown in a Cornfield doesn’t necessarily need all the same stuff as the books (the barn massacre was pretty crucial to the plot, but I’m not too fussed about it being removed), but I took offense to how clean the movie looked. It felt like I was watching a CW show, where even when people are a bloody gory mess, they’re dirty in a pretty way. Not cool man, Clown in a Cornfield is supposed to be ooey-gooey, so sanitizing the whole thing takes away a crucial element of the world-building. It doesn’t feel right, you know? If there’s one thing I associate with these books, it’s decay, and if you can’t even get that right, then don’t bother making a movie. Anyway, I know you’re wondering when I’m going to talk about Lights! Camera! Frendo!, but the thing is… I already have been! This fourth installment's plot is all about a movie being made in-universe about the events of the first book, with the commentary being less about culture wars (though that’s still prevalent, don’t worry) and more about weird ass actors and dickbag directors. Which, you know, is a pretty solid narrative basis too, because I think more people should take pot shots at how lame Hollywood movie culture is.
For example, the director in this novel is clearly supposed to be a mix of Quentin Tarantino (asshole, puts his actors in dangerous situations, is seen as an auteur) and Michael Bay (makes shitty action movies) and damn... I have to take a minute after that, because can you imagine how insufferable he must be at dinner!? So many bad opinions being thrown around! But yeah, I thought it was interesting how even though he’s not directly involved with this installment’s latest sprinkling of clown attacks, he still ironically helps them out anyway due to the unsafe stunt practices on set that he encourages. Just throwing this out there, but I’m of the mind that great movies have only ever turned out great despite a director’s bullying, and not because of it. No movie is worth the danger of people's life, you're all playing pretend, my guy. And then there’s the method actor guy who only ever uses the method to act like a complete asshole to everyone around him. Sound familiar? Literally everyone who does the whole method actor thing is a complete hack, including Daniel Day-Lewis, and it only ever proves a poor mental fortitude if you need to stay in character for the entire shoot of a movie. As I said, you clowns play pretend for a living, get over yourself. You're not Abraham Lincoln, you dork. So I quite enjoyed how Lights! Camera! Frendo! was able to infuse its own brand of parody in the greater Clown in a Cornfield mythos without it feeling contrived. But here's the thing, with a greater emphasis on actors with big egos this time around, I think there’s an inherent problem in that there’s not as much weight behind the tragedy. I mean, there is still a clown massacre like in every other book, but because most the victims are deliberately unlikable, it’s hard to feel any emotional resonance behind the big climactic scene. Besides, I couldn’t stop imagining actors and directors I don’t like in this particular situation, so that already had me just waiting for their demise in a Snakes on a Plane kind of way. Bye bye David O. Russell, we won’t miss you and you’ve never made a good movie. Farewell Josh Trank, let's see you fist fight a clown with a crossbow, Mr. Tough Guy! But really though, if I had to rate each and every one of these books, I’d probably have to say that Lights! Camera! Frendo! is my least favorite book in the series simply because I couldn’t find the focal character.
Before, we had Quinn, but she’s not here for this adventure, so instead we’re given a lady who’s playing Quinn in the movie adaption, Cole from the first book, a lady who survived the original clown massacre, and then a bunch of other pov’s who get merked by clowns. See what I mean? It was hard to find an emotional through line or a force driving us forward because everybody else just felt like they were standing around waiting for the eventual climax. At least Quinn was out there doing shit and proactively going after these evil ass clowns. I don't know, maybe I just miss her because she fell into the "Ellen Ripley" role so well that it feels wrong to read about killer clowns without her special brand of badass to respond in kind. You can't have Scream without Sidney fucking Prescott, now can you!? Also, while I enjoyed the fact that our favorite gayboys are back, I just have to ask... why the hell would Cole finance and be a producer on a movie about a real life massacre that he was involved in!? Make it make sense, because not only is it in bad taste, but surely Cole has enough money to hire a good therapist that’d let him know watching a fictionalized version of his worst trauma this isn’t the best way to work past said trauma. But what do I know, maybe getting a percentage of the box office gross is as good as therapy. Also, they need to send the National Guard or something to that damn town, because the only way you can plausibly explain how so many killer clowns keep cropping up in the same place is if there's some kind of evil curse on the damn town. I mean, I'm surprised there's even a town still standing considering over half the residents ended up being clowns intending to murder their children. Anyway, Lights! Camera! Frendo! is still a really good book, but it does feel like a bit of a retread (same town, meta retelling of the same events, same characters) rather than an evolution, and I can't lie that it does take a minute to get to the good stuff. Still, there’s no doubt that these books continue to entertain and frighten all the same. And even though that epilogue chapter has me more excited for a potential fifth book rather than having me fondly looking back on this one, I still love the Clown in a Cornfield series simply because they’re fun horror books, rather than horror books that desperately want to be made into a movie. Besides, as we all know... the book was better.
Just have fun, wanna play you like a Gameboy / I don't want one, lost the thrill of the same toy?
September 15, 2026
After three books, you’d think the whole Frendo thing might start to feel a little played out, but I actually loved how different this felt from the previous books in the series. The whole "movie within the story" setup gives it this really entertaining meta edge, especially when you start thinking about what happens when real people’s trauma gets turned into entertainment.
Kettle Springs brings you back to this messed up little town that I just can’t resist. It feels familiar without the story simply rehashing everything we’ve already seen. There is plenty of blood, some genuinely nasty kills, and that wonderfully crazy feeling that absolutely nobody is safe.
I also really enjoyed getting more of the characters I’ve become attached to throughout the series. The character moments gave the violence a bit more weight, and there were definitely a few parts where I found myself much more invested in the relationships than I expected to be going into a book about a murderous clown.
At the end of the day we’re here to watch Frendo cause absolute mayhem, and we got it.
Is it my favourite of the series? Probably not. But it was a bloody good time, and I’m honestly impressed that after four books I’m still this invested in whatever ridiculous nightmare Kettle Springs has waiting for everyone next. 🤡🌽
Kettle Springs brings you back to this messed up little town that I just can’t resist. It feels familiar without the story simply rehashing everything we’ve already seen. There is plenty of blood, some genuinely nasty kills, and that wonderfully crazy feeling that absolutely nobody is safe.
I also really enjoyed getting more of the characters I’ve become attached to throughout the series. The character moments gave the violence a bit more weight, and there were definitely a few parts where I found myself much more invested in the relationships than I expected to be going into a book about a murderous clown.
At the end of the day we’re here to watch Frendo cause absolute mayhem, and we got it.
Is it my favourite of the series? Probably not. But it was a bloody good time, and I’m honestly impressed that after four books I’m still this invested in whatever ridiculous nightmare Kettle Springs has waiting for everyone next. 🤡🌽
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
**4.5-stars**
Lights! Camera! Frendo! is the highly-anticipated 4th-installment to Adam Cesare's Teen Scream Slasher series, Clown in a Cornfield.
I've enjoyed the trajectory of this series. It feels like an ode to Teen Scream and Slasher movies, with this installment being no exception. Cesare is clearly a huge fan of this subgenre of Horror and it shows on the page.
In this installment, we're heading back to Kettle Springs where a big budget movie focusing on the original Kettle Springs Massacre is ready to start filming. Sabrina Alvarez, a young, fairly unknown actress, has been selected to play the role of Final Girl, Quinn Maybrook.
Sabrina is nervous. It's a huge role for her, and it's her first time being on a shoot like this on her own, without her Mom. The rest of the cast and crew already seem well-acquainted, so she's definitely the new girl on the block.
The director's methods are also not what's she is used to, but for the most part, everyone on set is friendly and welcoming. It's the town itself that seems off.
And it's Kettle Springs, so you know her instincts in that regard are correct. There's definitely something off.
We follow along, via multiple different perspectives, as this film tries to get off the ground. Not everyone in Kettle Springs is happy about the exposure.
It's not long before bodies start dropping again. Who's going to be the Final Girl this time?
This was excellent. I enjoyed it so, so much. I loved the Scream 3 feel of a movie being made on the Kettle Spring Massacre. All the actors and actresses, it was fun to follow them on the set and watch as things started to get unhinged in a real Kettle Springs kind of way.
I recently read Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror, which covered the making of the Scream franchise, and a lot of the different elements Cesare included here involving the cast and crew, reminded me of things I learned in that book.
I think Cesare did a great job making the film shoot feel believable, and then pulling in the Frendo lore and the rest of the town as well. We also see some old favorite characters again, like Cole and Rust.
For me, this is the best installment since the 1st-book. I loved being back in Kettle Springs. It was a great set-up, with copious creative kills and a solid continuation of the lore. I am so pleased with how Cesare concluded it. Will we be blessed with a book 5!?
Thank you to the publisher, HarperCollins Children's Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I highly recommend this series to Horror fans, and this book in particular if you've already started this series. I'm hoping we get at least one more book!
I don't want it to end!
Lights! Camera! Frendo! is the highly-anticipated 4th-installment to Adam Cesare's Teen Scream Slasher series, Clown in a Cornfield.
I've enjoyed the trajectory of this series. It feels like an ode to Teen Scream and Slasher movies, with this installment being no exception. Cesare is clearly a huge fan of this subgenre of Horror and it shows on the page.
In this installment, we're heading back to Kettle Springs where a big budget movie focusing on the original Kettle Springs Massacre is ready to start filming. Sabrina Alvarez, a young, fairly unknown actress, has been selected to play the role of Final Girl, Quinn Maybrook.
Sabrina is nervous. It's a huge role for her, and it's her first time being on a shoot like this on her own, without her Mom. The rest of the cast and crew already seem well-acquainted, so she's definitely the new girl on the block.
The director's methods are also not what's she is used to, but for the most part, everyone on set is friendly and welcoming. It's the town itself that seems off.
And it's Kettle Springs, so you know her instincts in that regard are correct. There's definitely something off.
We follow along, via multiple different perspectives, as this film tries to get off the ground. Not everyone in Kettle Springs is happy about the exposure.
It's not long before bodies start dropping again. Who's going to be the Final Girl this time?
This was excellent. I enjoyed it so, so much. I loved the Scream 3 feel of a movie being made on the Kettle Spring Massacre. All the actors and actresses, it was fun to follow them on the set and watch as things started to get unhinged in a real Kettle Springs kind of way.
I recently read Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror, which covered the making of the Scream franchise, and a lot of the different elements Cesare included here involving the cast and crew, reminded me of things I learned in that book.
I think Cesare did a great job making the film shoot feel believable, and then pulling in the Frendo lore and the rest of the town as well. We also see some old favorite characters again, like Cole and Rust.
For me, this is the best installment since the 1st-book. I loved being back in Kettle Springs. It was a great set-up, with copious creative kills and a solid continuation of the lore. I am so pleased with how Cesare concluded it. Will we be blessed with a book 5!?
Thank you to the publisher, HarperCollins Children's Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I highly recommend this series to Horror fans, and this book in particular if you've already started this series. I'm hoping we get at least one more book!
I don't want it to end!
January 23, 2026
★★★★★
Exceeded all of my expectations. A truly amazing instalment in this series and definitely a favourite read of the year!
pre-release thoughts:
It’s absolutely fine for me to wait until August, not a problem at all. Did I mention that it’s okay for me to wait until August? Because I can certainly wait until August.
Exceeded all of my expectations. A truly amazing instalment in this series and definitely a favourite read of the year!
pre-release thoughts:
It’s absolutely fine for me to wait until August, not a problem at all. Did I mention that it’s okay for me to wait until August? Because I can certainly wait until August.
August 30, 2026
this series is starting to show its tedium, this is wringing the last bit of life out of this subject, unless I just missed the point and that's exactly what Adam Cesare was trying to do just like the filmmakers in the 80's did with 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'Friday the 13th' it that is the case well bravo. Despite all that it was still an enjoyable read. Don't let my cynicism stop you, if the slasher genre is your thing this was still a good example. 3 1/2 stars
Want to Read
December 1, 2025I’m just going to bookmark my place here. 👀
September 29, 2026
This is another fun outing in Kettle Springs, leaning heavily on the meta-aspects of contemporary slasher-horror popularized by the Scream franchise. I enjoyed the book, which had heartfelt characters, some gruesome gore, and more than a handful of clever one-liners. It didn’t quite live up to the previous three for me, and I think that is because it was trying to do a bit too much. My experience was that it couldn’t quite decide if it wanted to be about the legacy characters or about the new characters, and by dividing our attention it was hard to really feel a strong connection to any of them. It was really just nostalgia for the returning characters that made me care about them, and yet they are central to the action of the story. It is really Sabrina, the new character who is the up-and-coming actor playing the role of Quinn in the movie being shot that we are meant to identify with, but it was a bit of a struggle. I appreciated her backstory and the way her character was filled out, but she along with the other film crew and actors all felt a little too like Hollywood clichés to really capture my emotional investment.
Another aspect that plays into this is the odd pacing. There is almost no action until about 2/3 of the way through the book. There is a violent death in the prologue, and a few dead bodies scattered across the early sections, but, unlike a typical slasher, those bodies are hidden. No one finds out about them until the end, so the characters are never really in a sense of terror until the large action set piece that comprises the final 30% of the book or so. When the eventual mask comes off and the motives are revealed this all makes sense, narratively speaking, but it doesn’t do the story-telling any favors. It is hard to do anything new in slashers these days, and the truly mind-blowing reveal of the first book in this series is a hard high to recapture. The motivations here are decent enough, in some ways expected in other ways not, and I can’t say more than that without giving anything away… Except again, the way the actual danger/fear was really hidden (from the readers and the characters) until the third act left me a little disinterested in the motivations and the events.
There is ambition to this novel. It has the potential to continue the discussions of elitism, class disparity, the exploitation and revictimization of trauma survivors in the form of true crime entertainment, and more. Additionally, it is interested in ongoing self-discovery, transformation and resiliency. These are floating in the background of the novel, but the strange pacing makes the story feel both drawn out and over-stuffed at the same time, and it doesn’t quite grab on to any one thing with the kind of vigor I was hoping for. It was still a fun read, and the final set piece was well-choreographed and definitely entertaining. If you enjoyed the first three then you will still find something to enjoy here. It didn’t quite live up to the expectations of those previous books, for me, but it kept the door open for me to continue to be interested in checking in with the survivors in the future.
Another aspect that plays into this is the odd pacing. There is almost no action until about 2/3 of the way through the book. There is a violent death in the prologue, and a few dead bodies scattered across the early sections, but, unlike a typical slasher, those bodies are hidden. No one finds out about them until the end, so the characters are never really in a sense of terror until the large action set piece that comprises the final 30% of the book or so. When the eventual mask comes off and the motives are revealed this all makes sense, narratively speaking, but it doesn’t do the story-telling any favors. It is hard to do anything new in slashers these days, and the truly mind-blowing reveal of the first book in this series is a hard high to recapture. The motivations here are decent enough, in some ways expected in other ways not, and I can’t say more than that without giving anything away… Except again, the way the actual danger/fear was really hidden (from the readers and the characters) until the third act left me a little disinterested in the motivations and the events.
There is ambition to this novel. It has the potential to continue the discussions of elitism, class disparity, the exploitation and revictimization of trauma survivors in the form of true crime entertainment, and more. Additionally, it is interested in ongoing self-discovery, transformation and resiliency. These are floating in the background of the novel, but the strange pacing makes the story feel both drawn out and over-stuffed at the same time, and it doesn’t quite grab on to any one thing with the kind of vigor I was hoping for. It was still a fun read, and the final set piece was well-choreographed and definitely entertaining. If you enjoyed the first three then you will still find something to enjoy here. It didn’t quite live up to the expectations of those previous books, for me, but it kept the door open for me to continue to be interested in checking in with the survivors in the future.
August 23, 2026
3.75/5
Leaps and bounds, better than the third book. That said, much like the previous book, this would've been better as a standalone book. I get it. The name recognition makes distribution easier and broader.
Leaps and bounds, better than the third book. That said, much like the previous book, this would've been better as a standalone book. I get it. The name recognition makes distribution easier and broader.
June 3, 2026
“Die, you fuckin’ teenybopper trash!”
Frendo is back and he's about to become your worst nightmare! Don't go into the cornfield alone!
CiaC has to be one of my favorite book series. It brings together two loves of mine while making them as terrfying as possible. Don't get me started on cornfields because I'll never walk through one ever again. Thanks, Adam.
This series keeps getting better and better with each book. I honestly didn't think these could get more gruesome and then he throws this book in my face. This was wild as all hell, thrilling, and gory as f**k. My horror loving heart is so full right now. The only downside about this book is that it put me into a funk because nothing I pick up can compare to this.
This book has to be my favorite out of the entire series and my fingers are crossed for more books in this series.
Frendo is back and he's about to become your worst nightmare! Don't go into the cornfield alone!
CiaC has to be one of my favorite book series. It brings together two loves of mine while making them as terrfying as possible. Don't get me started on cornfields because I'll never walk through one ever again. Thanks, Adam.
This series keeps getting better and better with each book. I honestly didn't think these could get more gruesome and then he throws this book in my face. This was wild as all hell, thrilling, and gory as f**k. My horror loving heart is so full right now. The only downside about this book is that it put me into a funk because nothing I pick up can compare to this.
This book has to be my favorite out of the entire series and my fingers are crossed for more books in this series.
September 4, 2026
Clown in a Cornfield has officially entered its Scream era. Or maybe it was always there and I just noticed. We know the mask. We know the game. The fun is finding out who’s wearing it this time and what fresh bullshit brought them to the cornfield.
Lights! Camera! Frendo! gives the series the refresh I think it needed. Hollywood comes to Kettle Springs, tragedy becomes entertainment and somehow the fourth trip to this corn syrup hellscape still has something new to say. I will say that I was ready to march on Cesare, pitchfork in hand, when I thought he was giving me more of what I disliked about Frendo Lives… but the sneaky bastard was just doing his sneaky bastard thing.
I see you, Adam. 🎬🤡🌽
Lights! Camera! Frendo! gives the series the refresh I think it needed. Hollywood comes to Kettle Springs, tragedy becomes entertainment and somehow the fourth trip to this corn syrup hellscape still has something new to say. I will say that I was ready to march on Cesare, pitchfork in hand, when I thought he was giving me more of what I disliked about Frendo Lives… but the sneaky bastard was just doing his sneaky bastard thing.
I see you, Adam. 🎬🤡🌽
August 9, 2026
I was very excited when I was approved to receive an advanced listening copy of Lights! Camera! Friendo! through NetGalley. Thanks to HarperCollins and HarperAudio Children’s for the ALC, and to Adam Cesare for writing another book in one of my favorite horror series!
This book goes back to the town where it all started and has a similar feel and mood to the first book in the series—which is the best of the first three books, in my opinion. It really felt like an installment in the series, while book 3 just seemed only tangentially connected to it. I like that this fourth book returns to Kettle Springs and shows the reader what the town is like now. I enjoyed getting a glimpse of what life is like for Cole and Rust. I understand that new characters had to be introduced for the plot, but I would’ve liked a bit more of Cole and Rust and less of Jerri. Jerri’s role in this book just wasn’t that interesting to me.
I know some people have an issue with the political commentary in this series, but I actually like that it’s included. It makes the motivations of the baddies more realistic, at least to me.
This book goes back to the town where it all started and has a similar feel and mood to the first book in the series—which is the best of the first three books, in my opinion. It really felt like an installment in the series, while book 3 just seemed only tangentially connected to it. I like that this fourth book returns to Kettle Springs and shows the reader what the town is like now. I enjoyed getting a glimpse of what life is like for Cole and Rust. I understand that new characters had to be introduced for the plot, but I would’ve liked a bit more of Cole and Rust and less of Jerri. Jerri’s role in this book just wasn’t that interesting to me.
I know some people have an issue with the political commentary in this series, but I actually like that it’s included. It makes the motivations of the baddies more realistic, at least to me.
May 22, 2026
It was so nice to be back in Kettle Springs and to have the focus on that with a few of the familiar faces we've grown to love. It's very clear nobody loves Kettle Springs and these characters more than Adam, and that bleeds through every page, every chapter and every word. While some of the same plotline and motives we've found in the other three books, Adam still has a way of making it feel fresh and inventive. Especially those nasty kills. Man has a way with gore. A mix of the same usual comedy and humor with some really great kills and scares.
I love that this one didn't shy away from the PTSD and grief everyone carries. Even Kettle Springs itself feels so broken and morose. It felt like such a nice companion piece to book three and how Quinn handled the fallout compared to Rust, Cole and Jerri. I did find this one a lot slower than the first three books in the series, but not in a way that dragged but more that there was just a lot of build up. More of a creeping tension waiting for the Big Moment to hit.
I think the only issue I had with was that I didn't connect fully with the new character's because I would have rather spent more time with my old friends. I wish they had been more of the focus than anything else. I also found there was too much on the characters inner thoughts or small info dumps during scenes that took away from the building tension in certain scenes. It also didn't really have any high stakes like the previous novels did.
Also, cackling at Janet's whitewashing casting getting mentioned.
Thank you to Harper Collins and netgalley for the arc!
I love that this one didn't shy away from the PTSD and grief everyone carries. Even Kettle Springs itself feels so broken and morose. It felt like such a nice companion piece to book three and how Quinn handled the fallout compared to Rust, Cole and Jerri. I did find this one a lot slower than the first three books in the series, but not in a way that dragged but more that there was just a lot of build up. More of a creeping tension waiting for the Big Moment to hit.
I think the only issue I had with was that I didn't connect fully with the new character's because I would have rather spent more time with my old friends. I wish they had been more of the focus than anything else. I also found there was too much on the characters inner thoughts or small info dumps during scenes that took away from the building tension in certain scenes. It also didn't really have any high stakes like the previous novels did.
Also, cackling at Janet's whitewashing casting getting mentioned.
Thank you to Harper Collins and netgalley for the arc!
Want to Read
January 17, 2026Don't mind me i'm just freaking out
September 27, 2026
Found it hard to care about any of the characters, they were all so forgettable.
And all the action and killing at the end seemed to come out of nowhere, no hint of this kind of trouble brewing, no anticipation.
I'm done with the Clown books.
And all the action and killing at the end seemed to come out of nowhere, no hint of this kind of trouble brewing, no anticipation.
I'm done with the Clown books.
May 20, 2026
Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s for my most anticipated ARC of the year! I loved revisiting the characters and carnage we love to see from CIAC. I loved the meta nature of this taking place on a film set covering events of the first book. Adam Cesare has done a fantastic job evolving the series over four books, leaving us sated but ready for more by the end of this one. This is one of my all time favorite horror series.
September 9, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers.
This installment was SO FUN! Whenever I pick up one of these books, I know I'm in for a fun time, but this one, especially, was so enjoyable from start to finish. Loved the meta commentary, loved the film set, loved how gross this one got!
This installment was SO FUN! Whenever I pick up one of these books, I know I'm in for a fun time, but this one, especially, was so enjoyable from start to finish. Loved the meta commentary, loved the film set, loved how gross this one got!
August 21, 2026
3.5/5
i think this is the weakest of the books so far. it was pretty slow and i felt it got a little too convoluted, even as far as these books go. i was happy to see jerri, rust and cole again but i definitely found myself missing quinn. the half star was earnt by the author genuinely being great at creating suspense.
i do have to give the author his tens for including a trans teen in these books, especially in the current political climate. i do wish though we weren't reminded she was trans through her experiencing misgendering.
i don't read ya much these days but this is a fun series. i do see myself coming back to it if the author were to decide to continue.
i think this is the weakest of the books so far. it was pretty slow and i felt it got a little too convoluted, even as far as these books go. i was happy to see jerri, rust and cole again but i definitely found myself missing quinn. the half star was earnt by the author genuinely being great at creating suspense.
i do have to give the author his tens for including a trans teen in these books, especially in the current political climate. i do wish though we weren't reminded she was trans through her experiencing misgendering.
i don't read ya much these days but this is a fun series. i do see myself coming back to it if the author were to decide to continue.
August 29, 2026
Frendo’s back and ready for his close-up in Adam Cesare’s fourth entry in the Bram Stoker Award winning Clown in a Cornfield series. This time around, we’re goin’ meta.
I’ll give Cesare this much: each entry in the CIAC series has been distinctly and noticeably different from the one before it, usually in more ways than one. So while the appearance of Frendo and scenes of people getting sliced and diced, sometimes fairly brutally, may be expected, I find that most other aspects of the novels have not been so easy to predict. That’s an impressive feat, and one he pulls off again with Book 4.
We return to Kettle Springs after our bloody road trip detour of Book 3, and this time it's for a movie. Hotshot, aka weirdo, director and his cast of young heartthrobs are in town to make a film based on the events of the first novel (Anyone who doesn’t immediately think of Scream 3 is either not a horror fan or too young). The only problem is that someone, or someones, doesn’t want this movie being made. Cue the slashing and teen bloodletting, or in these cases, twentysomethings playing teens.
It’s a fun plot, and it moves along nicely, but it is fairly clear this novel was written based on Cesare’s own experiences with the recently released film based on his book. Obviously, his real life experience was quite a bit better than everyone’s here, but it’s no mystery to figure out what inspired the idea or what the motivation for writing it was. What matters most is that he did a great job with the premise.
I enjoyed being back in Kettle Springs, revisiting some old haunts, and spending time with characters I missed in the last entry. It was great to see Rust and Cole back in action, to have Jerri grow a bit into her own character that will certainly leave more of an impression this time around, and it was good to have Glenn pop up briefly to let us know he’s still kicking around. It is a bit nostalgia-baity after the outcry from Church of Frendo, but I’ll take it. His new cast of characters is also a colorful bunch with a few that serve their purpose wonderfully of being characters we all know aren’t making it outta this novel alive, so they make the most of the pages they’re in.
There are also some great set pieces, which are the main draw for me. I love the slasher scenes in these books, and my only consistent complaint is that since book 1 there have been fewer and fewer of them in the subsequent entries. We get a lot more in this novel than we did in Books 2 & 3; I’ll agree to that much, and the ones we do get here are fantastic. The cold open kill is a fucking doozy that got me right into this novel and had me tearing through it, hunting for the next horror set piece. And I was fortunate enough to get a couple more decent slasher set piece type scenes before the novel exploded into non-stop pandemonium for its last 30ish percent.
The whodunit aspect of this novel was also a nice mystery and surprise. In some regards. I won’t say I had it figured out right away or anything, but by the halfway point I kinda figured where it was going and guessed it only a few chapters before the characters, which is exactly how it should be in books like this. It's a slasher novel, not a murder mystery after all. I enjoyed the “justifications” of the killers from one side of things, and though absurd and overblown, it made a decent kind of logical sense given the world we live in today. On the other side of the coin, the Billy Loomis and Stu Macher reasoning that came into play didn’t work quite as well for me. Not sure if it was because of the character or just that it didn’t really seem to fit in with everything or what, but it felt like a joke being made about a certain kind of person or creative that just didn’t land as hard or as funny as I think it was supposed to.
I do understand where some readers are coming from that this book does feel like a bit of a recap of book 1, just with less slashing. We hit a lotta the same beats and go over a lot of the same stuff, just add in a little subplot romance and some over the top film scenes. I think it’s just different enough to not be too beat up about that, and it ties into the whole idea that the movie is never exactly like the book even if it’s going over the same things, but the commentary about that stuff is valid. For me, I still wish the books would retain more of the slasher elements. I know there is a lot more goin on in the series than just slashing; there’s all kinds of political commentary and social commentary that is very hit-or-miss depending on who is reading it or what their stance is on a given day. But, first and foremost, these are horror novels that are credited as being slashers, so I’m here for the slashing. I felt the first novel had a great balance of stalk-n-stab scenes before it got bonkers; books 2 & 3 had far, far less, and this novel started ramping it back up, but pivoted into action movie territory for an enormous chunk of the novel. I had high hopes with the mammoth cast here that I’d get some creative kills before the climax, but there’s a scene where 3 or 4 characters are wiped out in a sentence or two, and the rest of the book is chasing, shooting, fighting, explosions, more shooting, more fire, and a few more shootings. I’m all for the action; I love a good fight scene or chase or shootout, but only if the horror and slashings are delivered in my slasher horror novel first.
Luckily, Adam Cesare is a phenomenal writer, which makes it easy to completely immerse myself in his world and in his words. Even if I want more or less of one thing or another, I still enjoy the ride and the story, and that speaks volumes about the author's talent and skill. He creates such vivid worlds and characters that it’s impossible not to feel like you’re living there with them. He writes suspense wonderfully and is an absolute pro at ratcheting up the tension as high as it can realistically go for any given scene. His horror scenes, slasher scenes, set piece build ups, and kills are all top notch. They are favorites of mine, and I always get such a kick out of his horror writing. His characters and stories, beyond the bloodshed and terror, are also filled with humor and wit, which is appreciated with so much murder, and he never fails to make the characters relatable. To fill them with heart and passion, hope and humanity, or, on the side of his villains, with rage and a potent fury that is felt through the pages. That kinda stuff keeps me coming back just as much as the hacking and slashing does.
I’ve been hooked on Kettle Springs, Frendo, massacres, corn, and the characters of these books since I randomly scooped up the first book however many years ago. After book 4, that hasn’t changed at all. I’m still on in on Frendo and the gang and eagerly await the next entry. I know based on the afterword that entry might be coming later rather than sooner, but after the epilogue here, which was nothing short of expected, I think a book 5 is an inevitability. With a second movie coming out, a second Stoker Award, and an ever-growing rabid fanbase, it is just a matter of time. Fingers crossed for more slashing, and maybe I’ll get my Rust/Cole vs. weird superhuman Amish serial killer fist fight!
PS: Still, four entries in, utterly baffled how in the fuck, with the endless parade of profanity and gore, these are listed as YA books. Just completely boggles the mind since this book was more graphic, gory, and profane than the last handful of NON-YA horror I've read.
I’ll give Cesare this much: each entry in the CIAC series has been distinctly and noticeably different from the one before it, usually in more ways than one. So while the appearance of Frendo and scenes of people getting sliced and diced, sometimes fairly brutally, may be expected, I find that most other aspects of the novels have not been so easy to predict. That’s an impressive feat, and one he pulls off again with Book 4.
We return to Kettle Springs after our bloody road trip detour of Book 3, and this time it's for a movie. Hotshot, aka weirdo, director and his cast of young heartthrobs are in town to make a film based on the events of the first novel (Anyone who doesn’t immediately think of Scream 3 is either not a horror fan or too young). The only problem is that someone, or someones, doesn’t want this movie being made. Cue the slashing and teen bloodletting, or in these cases, twentysomethings playing teens.
It’s a fun plot, and it moves along nicely, but it is fairly clear this novel was written based on Cesare’s own experiences with the recently released film based on his book. Obviously, his real life experience was quite a bit better than everyone’s here, but it’s no mystery to figure out what inspired the idea or what the motivation for writing it was. What matters most is that he did a great job with the premise.
I enjoyed being back in Kettle Springs, revisiting some old haunts, and spending time with characters I missed in the last entry. It was great to see Rust and Cole back in action, to have Jerri grow a bit into her own character that will certainly leave more of an impression this time around, and it was good to have Glenn pop up briefly to let us know he’s still kicking around. It is a bit nostalgia-baity after the outcry from Church of Frendo, but I’ll take it. His new cast of characters is also a colorful bunch with a few that serve their purpose wonderfully of being characters we all know aren’t making it outta this novel alive, so they make the most of the pages they’re in.
There are also some great set pieces, which are the main draw for me. I love the slasher scenes in these books, and my only consistent complaint is that since book 1 there have been fewer and fewer of them in the subsequent entries. We get a lot more in this novel than we did in Books 2 & 3; I’ll agree to that much, and the ones we do get here are fantastic. The cold open kill is a fucking doozy that got me right into this novel and had me tearing through it, hunting for the next horror set piece. And I was fortunate enough to get a couple more decent slasher set piece type scenes before the novel exploded into non-stop pandemonium for its last 30ish percent.
The whodunit aspect of this novel was also a nice mystery and surprise. In some regards. I won’t say I had it figured out right away or anything, but by the halfway point I kinda figured where it was going and guessed it only a few chapters before the characters, which is exactly how it should be in books like this. It's a slasher novel, not a murder mystery after all. I enjoyed the “justifications” of the killers from one side of things, and though absurd and overblown, it made a decent kind of logical sense given the world we live in today. On the other side of the coin, the Billy Loomis and Stu Macher reasoning that came into play didn’t work quite as well for me. Not sure if it was because of the character or just that it didn’t really seem to fit in with everything or what, but it felt like a joke being made about a certain kind of person or creative that just didn’t land as hard or as funny as I think it was supposed to.
I do understand where some readers are coming from that this book does feel like a bit of a recap of book 1, just with less slashing. We hit a lotta the same beats and go over a lot of the same stuff, just add in a little subplot romance and some over the top film scenes. I think it’s just different enough to not be too beat up about that, and it ties into the whole idea that the movie is never exactly like the book even if it’s going over the same things, but the commentary about that stuff is valid. For me, I still wish the books would retain more of the slasher elements. I know there is a lot more goin on in the series than just slashing; there’s all kinds of political commentary and social commentary that is very hit-or-miss depending on who is reading it or what their stance is on a given day. But, first and foremost, these are horror novels that are credited as being slashers, so I’m here for the slashing. I felt the first novel had a great balance of stalk-n-stab scenes before it got bonkers; books 2 & 3 had far, far less, and this novel started ramping it back up, but pivoted into action movie territory for an enormous chunk of the novel. I had high hopes with the mammoth cast here that I’d get some creative kills before the climax, but there’s a scene where 3 or 4 characters are wiped out in a sentence or two, and the rest of the book is chasing, shooting, fighting, explosions, more shooting, more fire, and a few more shootings. I’m all for the action; I love a good fight scene or chase or shootout, but only if the horror and slashings are delivered in my slasher horror novel first.
Luckily, Adam Cesare is a phenomenal writer, which makes it easy to completely immerse myself in his world and in his words. Even if I want more or less of one thing or another, I still enjoy the ride and the story, and that speaks volumes about the author's talent and skill. He creates such vivid worlds and characters that it’s impossible not to feel like you’re living there with them. He writes suspense wonderfully and is an absolute pro at ratcheting up the tension as high as it can realistically go for any given scene. His horror scenes, slasher scenes, set piece build ups, and kills are all top notch. They are favorites of mine, and I always get such a kick out of his horror writing. His characters and stories, beyond the bloodshed and terror, are also filled with humor and wit, which is appreciated with so much murder, and he never fails to make the characters relatable. To fill them with heart and passion, hope and humanity, or, on the side of his villains, with rage and a potent fury that is felt through the pages. That kinda stuff keeps me coming back just as much as the hacking and slashing does.
I’ve been hooked on Kettle Springs, Frendo, massacres, corn, and the characters of these books since I randomly scooped up the first book however many years ago. After book 4, that hasn’t changed at all. I’m still on in on Frendo and the gang and eagerly await the next entry. I know based on the afterword that entry might be coming later rather than sooner, but after the epilogue here, which was nothing short of expected, I think a book 5 is an inevitability. With a second movie coming out, a second Stoker Award, and an ever-growing rabid fanbase, it is just a matter of time. Fingers crossed for more slashing, and maybe I’ll get my Rust/Cole vs. weird superhuman Amish serial killer fist fight!
PS: Still, four entries in, utterly baffled how in the fuck, with the endless parade of profanity and gore, these are listed as YA books. Just completely boggles the mind since this book was more graphic, gory, and profane than the last handful of NON-YA horror I've read.
June 6, 2026
It feels great to be one of god’s chosen people and have read an eARC for this book, thanks for asking.
Obviously I loved it. Very Scream 3 coded. I really should have done a reread of the other three but I was too excited obviously. That’s my recommendation to you- read the other three again before this drops on August because I think it will hit even better.
Well we are back in Kettle Springs and the kills are plentiful and brutal.
No spoilers but a standing ovation to the ending.
I think the most important thing I can convey with this review is that this is not a flop and if you’ve come this far you’re going to have a good time 🤡
Obviously I loved it. Very Scream 3 coded. I really should have done a reread of the other three but I was too excited obviously. That’s my recommendation to you- read the other three again before this drops on August because I think it will hit even better.
Well we are back in Kettle Springs and the kills are plentiful and brutal.
No spoilers but a standing ovation to the ending.
I think the most important thing I can convey with this review is that this is not a flop and if you’ve come this far you’re going to have a good time 🤡
August 31, 2026
3 Stars ⭐️. A big step up from Book 3 but still lacking the charm of the first book.
August 31, 2026
This one is much improved over the third installment of the series. This time we follow a movie crew as they make a movie about the first massacre. Another good slasher where I didn't see the bad guy coming.
Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of the book. My opinions are my own.
Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of the book. My opinions are my own.
September 4, 2026
I LOOOOVVVEEE these books. Judge me all you want, but they have become such a guilty pleasure. I love the characters, I love the slasher logic the world readily accepts, I love the references it makes to real world politics and goings ons, I just love coming back here. I found this one grabbed more quickly than other ones. After starting with an opening kill, the book lasts over 250 pages without any violence or direct advancement of the horror aspect. Instead, it’s about making a movie (which is so interesting - the original Clown in a Cornfield novel got turned into a movie last year, so this is such a self-referential book, I like that Cesare is weaving the experience and reception of these books into the actual story. Not to mention that he pokes fun at issues with the film adaption - including, but not limited to, an Asian character being played by a white actress in the movie for no good reason). Honestly, fire. I want there to be like 20 of these books. I’m sold indefinitely
September 20, 2026
Loved it. I love these books and the story of the cornfield & what that brings, great to have Cole & Rust back. Some great characters. Fun.
August 24, 2026
If there's one thing you can count on with a successful horror movie, it's that there will be sequels. Whether they're any good is almost irrelevant. If the first one is a hit, the franchise will ride that success for as long as possible. And when it inevitably fizzles out, well, there's always a reboot waiting just around the corner.
It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that Adam Cesare is now on the fourth installment of his hit Clown in a Cornfield series. Fortunately, these books have never felt like sequels for the sake of sequels. Cesare likes to swing for the fences, and each new installment has taken Frendo and the characters he terrorizes in a different direction. That's what has kept me coming back. Four books in, I was more than ready to see what he had up his sleeve this time.
The subtitle Lights! Camera! Frendo! more than hints at where Cesare takes things in this fourth novel. The dust has mostly settled on Frendo the clown and the terror he brought to Kettle Springs. There have been articles, news stories, podcasts, pretty much every possible medium used to dissect the massacre that rocked this small town. So naturally, it's Hollywood's turn to take a crack at the story.
Enter Sabrina Alvarez, a complete unknown thrust out of obscurity to take the starring role in a movie based on the Kettle Springs Massacre. Playing ultimate final girl Quinn Maybrook is the opportunity of a lifetime, but when Sabrina arrives in the actual town for filming, she can't shake the feeling that something is off. Maybe it's the resentment simmering among the townspeople, many of whom aren't thrilled about Hollywood capitalizing on their tragedy. Maybe it's the eccentric director determined to turn their trauma into art. Or maybe the thing that haunted Kettle Springs in the first place never really left at all.
Whatever it is, Sabrina and the people of Kettle Springs are about to discover that recreating a massacre can be every bit as dangerous as the real thing.
With Clown in a Cornfield 4: Lights! Camera! Frendo!, Adam Cesare brings his horror series into an exciting new chapter. He manages to draw on the history of the previous books while introducing a largely new cast, turning the whole thing into a page-turning bloodbath that I found to be the best installment since the original. There's a self-awareness to this one that makes it all the more fun. Cesare doesn't shy away from the familiar tropes of the genre. He embraces them, playing with our expectations just enough to keep us on our toes.
Sabrina proves to be a fantastic addition to the series and a compelling final girl in her own right. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about following a new protagonist this far into the series, but she quickly won me over. It shows just how much Cesare has built around Frendo and Kettle Springs. There's enough history, mythology, and lingering trauma here to support a whole new group of characters while still feeling like the Clown in a Cornfield series I've been reading all along. Four books in, there's still plenty of life left in that creepy clown. If horror franchises have taught us anything, it's that there's always room for another sequel. When Clown in a Cornfield 5 inevitably comes along, I'll be ready to read i
It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that Adam Cesare is now on the fourth installment of his hit Clown in a Cornfield series. Fortunately, these books have never felt like sequels for the sake of sequels. Cesare likes to swing for the fences, and each new installment has taken Frendo and the characters he terrorizes in a different direction. That's what has kept me coming back. Four books in, I was more than ready to see what he had up his sleeve this time.
The subtitle Lights! Camera! Frendo! more than hints at where Cesare takes things in this fourth novel. The dust has mostly settled on Frendo the clown and the terror he brought to Kettle Springs. There have been articles, news stories, podcasts, pretty much every possible medium used to dissect the massacre that rocked this small town. So naturally, it's Hollywood's turn to take a crack at the story.
Enter Sabrina Alvarez, a complete unknown thrust out of obscurity to take the starring role in a movie based on the Kettle Springs Massacre. Playing ultimate final girl Quinn Maybrook is the opportunity of a lifetime, but when Sabrina arrives in the actual town for filming, she can't shake the feeling that something is off. Maybe it's the resentment simmering among the townspeople, many of whom aren't thrilled about Hollywood capitalizing on their tragedy. Maybe it's the eccentric director determined to turn their trauma into art. Or maybe the thing that haunted Kettle Springs in the first place never really left at all.
Whatever it is, Sabrina and the people of Kettle Springs are about to discover that recreating a massacre can be every bit as dangerous as the real thing.
With Clown in a Cornfield 4: Lights! Camera! Frendo!, Adam Cesare brings his horror series into an exciting new chapter. He manages to draw on the history of the previous books while introducing a largely new cast, turning the whole thing into a page-turning bloodbath that I found to be the best installment since the original. There's a self-awareness to this one that makes it all the more fun. Cesare doesn't shy away from the familiar tropes of the genre. He embraces them, playing with our expectations just enough to keep us on our toes.
Sabrina proves to be a fantastic addition to the series and a compelling final girl in her own right. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about following a new protagonist this far into the series, but she quickly won me over. It shows just how much Cesare has built around Frendo and Kettle Springs. There's enough history, mythology, and lingering trauma here to support a whole new group of characters while still feeling like the Clown in a Cornfield series I've been reading all along. Four books in, there's still plenty of life left in that creepy clown. If horror franchises have taught us anything, it's that there's always room for another sequel. When Clown in a Cornfield 5 inevitably comes along, I'll be ready to read i
September 18, 2026
Lights Camera Frendo by Adam Cesare, with new actress Sabrina and popular actors Dylan and Joseph there once again remaking the Frendo massacre. Sabrina will be taking on Quinn May Brooks character as the final girl while Dylan and Joseph take on a mashup of other characters. what set this remake apart from the others is this is the only one given permission to set the film and the places they actually happened and it involves some of the people it actually happened to Cole is a producer and so we’ll try to keep the movie True to form but he hasn’t calculated in the out of control director nor the someone who has decided to become the real Frendo of the set. please forgive my brief summary because I’m now going on to my opinions I have loved every book in the series but I wanna be honest and say I do think this one was my least favorite a lot of the things in the books were slightly too close to the nose of what happened in other books and of course there’s someone who’s known in the book that who becomes a Frendo mask wearing killer. I did like that we got to see Cole Ross and Jerry again they gonna be other ways to come up with bright ideas like other towns having their own Frendo massacres or something besides having to rehab the whole story over and over again but now having said that I still like the story it took me longer to get through than other stories but I think because of the new characters it made it more interesting so my opinion was really all over the place with this book but ultimately I would still recommend it to others because it has everything in it that a horror fan would love. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview,
August 31, 2026
5 🌟
I love love love being in Kettle Springs! Adam’s writing has such a way of totally sucking you into the world and after being with so many of these characters for so long, it feels nice to be able to see them grow and go through even more deeply traumatic events…or something like that. As a fan of the CiaC movie, it was so fun to see fun poked at things like the casting to the story being changed, and the meta-ness of it all. I’m a huge film nerd so anything that focuses heavily on the background of a film set, I’m already on board. I want, no, need this series to keep going so these poor characters can get their happy endings!! Especially after THAT epilogue. Super excited to dive into more of Adam’s work now that I’m caught up on this series, and am actively anticipating the next installment. 🤡
I love love love being in Kettle Springs! Adam’s writing has such a way of totally sucking you into the world and after being with so many of these characters for so long, it feels nice to be able to see them grow and go through even more deeply traumatic events…or something like that. As a fan of the CiaC movie, it was so fun to see fun poked at things like the casting to the story being changed, and the meta-ness of it all. I’m a huge film nerd so anything that focuses heavily on the background of a film set, I’m already on board. I want, no, need this series to keep going so these poor characters can get their happy endings!! Especially after THAT epilogue. Super excited to dive into more of Adam’s work now that I’m caught up on this series, and am actively anticipating the next installment. 🤡
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2026
Oh how I love this series, such an inventive and new take on the slasher genre. Don’t let the young adult facade fool you either, these books are well written, gory, and are not afraid to make a political statement. I genuinely need at minimum five more sequels after finishing this one….please Mr. Adam Cesare?
This was my second favourite Clown in a Cornfield book, coming in close to Frendo Lives. Where the third book, The Church of Frendo, focused heavily on Quinn’s revenge story, Lights! Camera! Frendo! brings us back to Kettle Springs with our beloved Cole and Rust (and other interesting new characters). Really enjoyed the meta take in this one and I thought it captured the nastiness of Hollywood well and how they love to capitalize on real life tragedies. And after that epilogue? Need a sequel bad.
This was my second favourite Clown in a Cornfield book, coming in close to Frendo Lives. Where the third book, The Church of Frendo, focused heavily on Quinn’s revenge story, Lights! Camera! Frendo! brings us back to Kettle Springs with our beloved Cole and Rust (and other interesting new characters). Really enjoyed the meta take in this one and I thought it captured the nastiness of Hollywood well and how they love to capitalize on real life tragedies. And after that epilogue? Need a sequel bad.
August 18, 2026
I loved this installment in the series! The slasher books continued in true form. Blending this into a movie set was a fabulous choice! The craft services chapter was an absolute chef's kiss perfection! And, Adam, that Acknowledgements section at the end, SIR!
Thank-you, HarperCollins Children's Books and Adam Cesare, for this complimentary copy. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Thank-you, HarperCollins Children's Books and Adam Cesare, for this complimentary copy. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
August 19, 2026
Okay, I fully intended to read books 2 and 3 before getting to this one and epically failed! 😅 But, I had no issues with skipping from book 1 to this fourth installment! And once again, I really enjoyed the slasher ride Adam Cesare took me on! 👏
Thank you partner Harper Collins for the gifted eARC and finished copy in exchange for my honest review! ❤️
Thank you partner Harper Collins for the gifted eARC and finished copy in exchange for my honest review! ❤️
August 28, 2026
4.5 stars
I must say I’m an absolute sucker for this series! I love the concept so much and I LOVE where the third book went and this seemed like the logical next step. I really enjoyed it! It was just so fun to be back with characters that I adore. A good slashy time!
I must say I’m an absolute sucker for this series! I love the concept so much and I LOVE where the third book went and this seemed like the logical next step. I really enjoyed it! It was just so fun to be back with characters that I adore. A good slashy time!
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