One of the breakout crowdpleasers of SXSW 2025 was “Clown in a Cornfield,” Eli Craig‘s twisty slasher flick about a small Midwestern town that struggles to navigate life after the corn syrup factory that sustains its economy burns down. Just when you think the economic struggles are bad enough, local teens start being attacked by Friendo the Clown, the corn syrup brand’s sadistic mascot.
Adapted from Adam Cesare’s novel of the same name, the film brings the same blend of humor, gore, and clever subversions of genre tropes that Craig used in his breakout film “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.” “Clown in a Cornfield” could soon become a cult classic in the same mold as that film — and Craig recently spoke to IndieWire over Zoom to explain why the timing seems to align so perfectly for his latest work.
“The themes that are integral to what America is going through,” Craig said. “It takes place in small-town America that is experiencing economic hardship. And these divisions between the generations are so apparent in this small town where the Gen Z characters really want to push for a more forward-thinking, more progressive society, whereas the older folk in town want to clamp down and keep things the same. And this really comes to a head and collides in a very, very destructive and bloody way. And it’s not that different from what’s happening at large in the world, and especially obviously America. ‘Clown in a Cornfield.’ Cornfields are an American crop. And clown, I feel like we’re getting really familiar with in America. So, it’s all out there.”
While the film addresses political problems that have been brewing for a long time, Craig and his backers couldn’t have possibly planned for the horror genre to be experiencing a clown-centric moment as it rolls into theaters. Damien Leone’s “Terrifier” franchise, a series whose entire value proposition seems to rest on the idea of watching a clown named Art execute increasingly sadistic kills, is an unstoppable force in the horror space. “Clown in a Cornfield” could be a popular offering for horror fans looking to scratch their “Terrifier” itch — and Craig thinks there’s a reason for our recent fascination with murderous clowns.
“We had shot the movie and it was in the can, and we were in the middle of editing when ‘Terrifier III’ became this massive success. I knew the ‘Terrifier’ series, but I wasn’t thinking about it as competition, or I didn’t think of Art as right next to Pennywise yet. And now, he is,” he said. It’s very hard to know how you end up in the zeitgeist. The same year ‘Tucker & Dale’ came out, ‘Cabin in the Woods’ came out. And so why were these films dismantling the tropes of horror films at the same time?”
Craig shared his theory, explaining that brutal murderers with white faces and red noses might resonate with young viewers as a natural consequence of living in an increasingly insane world.
“My feeling is that we’ve reached such an absurd time in the world. And I feel like Gen Z has just gone from one mind-boggling absurdity to the next, from COVID to just massive stock market price crashes to just the instability of the world. And satire has reached such a level where it’s like, let’s embrace the most ridiculous version of life, which is, I think, clowns chasing kids through a cornfield,” he said. “Because to me, if I read a story about a clown chasing a kid through a cornfield, I’d be like, ‘Yep, that could happen.’ Everything seems possible now, so the absurd seems totally relevant.”
An RJLE release, “Clown in a Cornfield” opens in theaters on Friday, May 9.
