One of many breakout crowdpleasers of SXSW 2025 was “Clown in a Cornfield,” Eli Craig‘s twisty slasher flick a couple of small Midwestern city that struggles to navigate life after the corn syrup manufacturing unit that sustains its economic system burns down. Simply whenever you assume the financial struggles are unhealthy sufficient, native teenagers begin being attacked by Friendo the Clown, the corn syrup model’s sadistic mascot.
Tailored from Adam Cesare’s novel of the identical identify, the movie brings the identical mix of humor, gore, and intelligent subversions of style tropes that Craig utilized in his breakout movie “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.” “Clown in a Cornfield” may quickly turn into a cult traditional in the identical mould as that movie — and Craig lately spoke to IndieWire over Zoom to clarify why the timing appears to align so completely for his newest work.
“The themes which are integral to what America goes by way of,” Craig mentioned. “It takes place in small-town America that’s experiencing financial hardship. And these divisions between the generations are so obvious on this small city the place the Gen Z characters actually need to push for a extra forward-thinking, extra progressive society, whereas the older people on the town need to clamp down and preserve issues the identical. And this actually involves a head and collides in a really, very harmful and bloody method. And it’s not that completely different from what’s occurring at giant on the earth, and particularly clearly America. ‘Clown in a Cornfield.’ Cornfields are an American crop. And clown, I really feel like we’re getting actually accustomed to in America. So, it’s all on the market.”
Whereas the movie addresses political issues which were brewing for a very long time, Craig and his backers couldn’t have presumably deliberate for the horror style to be experiencing a clown-centric second because it rolls into theaters. Damien Leone’s “Terrifier” franchise, a sequence whose whole worth proposition appears to relaxation on the thought of watching a clown named Artwork execute more and more sadistic kills, is an unstoppable power within the horror house. “Clown in a Cornfield” may very well be a well-liked providing for horror followers seeking to scratch their “Terrifier” itch — and Craig thinks there’s a cause for our current fascination with murderous clowns.
“We had shot the film and it was within the can, and we have been in the course of modifying when ‘Terrifier III’ turned this large success. I knew the ‘Terrifier’ sequence, however I wasn’t eager about it as competitors, or I didn’t consider Artwork as proper subsequent to Pennywise but. And now, he’s,” he mentioned. It’s very laborious to know the way you find yourself within the zeitgeist. The identical 12 months ‘Tucker & Dale’ got here out, ‘Cabin within the Woods’ got here out. And so why have been these movies dismantling the tropes of horror movies on the identical time?”
Craig shared his idea, explaining that brutal murderers with white faces and purple noses may resonate with younger viewers as a pure consequence of dwelling in an more and more insane world.
“My feeling is that we’ve reached such an absurd time on the earth. And I really feel like Gen Z has simply gone from one mind-boggling absurdity to the following, from COVID to simply large inventory market worth crashes to simply the instability of the world. And satire has reached such a stage the place it’s like, let’s embrace essentially the most ridiculous model of life, which is, I feel, clowns chasing youngsters by way of a cornfield,” he mentioned. “As a result of to me, if I learn a narrative a couple of clown chasing a child by way of a cornfield, I’d be like, ‘Yep, that would occur.’ All the things appears attainable now, so the absurd appears completely related.”
An RJLE launch, “Clown in a Cornfield” opens in theaters on Friday, Could 9.