One of the breakout crowdpleasers of SXSW 2025 was “Clown in a Cornfield,” Eli Craig‘s twisty slasher flick about a small Midwestern city that struggles to navigate life after the corn syrup manufacturing unit that sustains its economic system burns down. Just once you assume the financial struggles are dangerous 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 similar title, the movie brings the similar 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” might quickly develop into a cult traditional in the similar mould as that movie — and Craig not too long ago spoke to IndieWire over Zoom to clarify why the timing appears to align so completely for his newest work.
“The themes which can be integral to what America goes by,” Craig stated. “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 maintain issues the similar. And this actually comes to a head and collides in a very, very harmful and bloody method. And it’s not that totally different from what’s occurring at giant in the world, 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 have been brewing for a very long time, Craig and his backers couldn’t have probably 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 concept of watching a clown named Artwork execute more and more sadistic kills, is an unstoppable drive in the horror house. “Clown in a Cornfield” could possibly be a standard providing for horror followers wanting 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 in the can, and we had been in the center of enhancing when ‘Terrifier III’ turned this huge success. I knew the ‘Terrifier’ sequence, however I wasn’t occupied with it as competitors, or I didn’t consider Artwork as proper subsequent to Pennywise but. And now, he’s,” he stated. It’s very arduous to know the way you find yourself in the zeitgeist. The identical 12 months ‘Tucker & Dale’ got here out, ‘Cabin in the Woods’ got here out. And so why had been these movies dismantling the tropes of horror movies at the similar time?”
Craig shared his principle, explaining that brutal murderers with white faces and crimson noses would possibly 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 in the world. And I really feel like Gen Z has simply gone from one mind-boggling absurdity to the subsequent, from COVID to simply huge inventory market worth crashes to simply the instability of the world. And satire has reached such a degree the place it’s like, let’s embrace the most ridiculous model of life, which is, I believe, clowns chasing children by a cornfield,” he stated. “As a result of to me, if I learn a story about a clown chasing a child by a cornfield, I’d be like, ‘Yep, that might occur.’ Every thing appears potential now, so the absurd appears completely related.”
An RJLE launch, “Clown in a Cornfield” opens in theaters on Friday, Might 9.
