Frendo the Clown in a scene from “Clown in a Cornfield.”
Clown in a Cornfield — a horror comedy from the director of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil — is coming to digital streaming this week.
Directed by Eli Craig, Clown in a Cornfield opened in theaters on May 9. The summary for the movie reads, “In Clown in a Cornfield, Quinn (Katie Douglas) and her father (Aaron Abrams) have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs, hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down.
“As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time. Welcome to Kettle Springs. The real fun starts when Frendo the Clown comes out to play.”
Clown in a Cornfield is based on Adam Cesare’s book of the same name. The movie also stars Kevin Durand, Carson MacCormack, Cassandra Potenza, Verity Marks, Ayo Solanke, Vincent Muller and Will Sasso.
As confirmed by a listing on Prime Video, Clown in a Cornfield arrived on digital streaming via premium video on demand on Tuesday, June 11.
In addition to Prime Video, Clown in a Cornfield will be available for purchase for PVOD for $24.99 on such digital platforms as Apple TV, Fandango at Home and YouTube. Since PVOD rentals are typically $5 less than purchase prices, viewers can expect to rent Clown in a Cornfield for 48 hours for $19.99.
Eli Craig Made Sure ‘Clown In A Cornfield’ Didn’t Cross Into ‘Terrifier’ Territory
Naturally, with the word “clown” in the title of Clown in a Cornfield, Eli Craig knew that it would make fans think of the murderous Art the Clown from director Damien Leone’s Terrifier horror hits.
As such, Craig made a conscious decision to avoid the unrated horror and gore route of Leone’s movies by trusting his own instincts by creating a line that he — and Frendo the Clown — should not cross.
“My gut is the line and sometimes I go to the point where I feel like I’m testing my own gut, where I can’t really watch something myself,” Craig said in a Zoom conversation prior to the release of Clown in a Cornfield. “With Terrifier 3, I had to watch the film in little segments to study it and I realized, ‘Oh wow, Damien Leone is a master.’ I wanted to look at how he was doing in-camera special effects. [At the same time] I had to disassociate what I was seeing to process it. I had to think about the process of how he did stuff so I wouldn’t puke.”
However, Craig, added, he made sure to take full advantage of what an R rating allowed.
“I feel like I’ve hit the mark where most people are going to go, ‘Ooh!’ and start turning away, but then I’m done,” Craig explained. “I have these moments that may be a little shocking, but there’s just a touch of humor in it as well that makes it tolerable.
“I want to have the kills be quite real and a little bit shocking, gritty and brutal, but also have a touch of playfulness to them,” Craig added. “They’re not brutal to the point of being sickening, though. That’s the line for me. I’m not interested in making a sickening movie. I want to make a fun movie that has kills in it.”
Clown in a Cornfield has earned $7.2 million in domestic ticket sales and more than $532,000 internationally for a worldwide box office gross of $7.7 million to date. Craig said the production budget for the film was “significantly less” than $10 million.
The film also earned a 74% “fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics based on 136 reviews, while audiences gave it a 59% “rotten” score on RT’s Popcornmeter based on 500-plus verified user ratings.
Clown in a Cornfield arrives on PVOD on Tuesday.
