Grin Reaper: Director Eli Craig’s slasher-comedy Clown in a Cornfield plays on real fears

When it comes to evil clowns, most movie fans are familiar with the It and Terrifier franchises, Batman nemesis the Joker and maybe even Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

But there are countless more obscure, low-budget horror flicks such as The Clown Murders, Clown Motel and Killjoy Goes to Hell meant to exploit our fear of the creepiness that hides beneath greasepaint and rubber noses.

Director Eli Craig (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil) hopes his latest film, Clown in a Cornfield, and its main villain, Frendo, are soon mentioned in the same breath as It’s Pennywise and Terrifier’s Art the Clown.

Craig’s slasher-comedy follows a group of teens in the fictional town of Kettle Springs, Missouri, who are being hunted down by someone dressed as the town’s official clown mascot. Clown in a Cornfield is based on the 2020 novel of the same name by Adam Cesare.

During an interview with the Current, Craig, 52, talked about his earliest horror movie memory as a child, the duality of clowns and how he feels Clown in a Cornfield fits into the niche horror genre.

Clown in a Cornfield is currently playing at theaters nationwide.

What’s your earliest memory of a horror movie that scarred you for life?

It was [1978’s] Invasion of the Body Snatchers. [The scene where Donald Sutherland’s character] lifts a finger and in low-fi goes, [guttural squeal]. Stealing your soul and turning you into a pod person was terrifying to me. It stayed with me until this day. Now, I realized I was probably like four years old when I saw it, so I was way too young.

In Clown in a Cornfield, a friendly mascot named Frendo is turned into a serial killer. It reminded me of this recent phenomenon where children’s characters like Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse are placed into slasher movies.

This is a little different because [author] Adam [Cesare] invented Frendo entirely from his own cloth. So, it’s more based [in] the [era] when everybody loved clowns, [and] Ronald McDonald was selling McDonald’s. He was a mascot who would sell things to kids. [Frendo] is this salesman clown representative of America but has been distorted over time. Now, he’s this super creepy salesman mascot that’s looking to kill people. He represents the American dream, transformed over time from a happy-go-lucky guy to a vengeful creature.

What would be a real company mascot you would like to see in a horror movie? Someone like the Jolly Green Giant, perhaps?

I want to see Aunt Jemima going after people.

I wrote an article a few years ago about the impact of clown horror movies and interviewed a woman who works as a real clown. She said parents will ask her to show up to their kid’s birthday party without wearing clown makeup. Don’t you feel bad that you’re helping to perpetuate creepy clown stereotypes?

I feel terrible! I don’t want to put her out of a career. I actually want to help her career. Maybe she could just do evil face makeup and [entertain] teens. I remember once watching this clown, and this two-year-old was in the audience and was really enjoying it. Then, the [clown] looked right at the two-year-old and [the child] immediately went to tears. There’s something so primal in us that sees clowns as funny but possibly evil.

Some people might argue that nothing is sacred anymore. For example, we’ve taken classic literature like Pride and Prejudice and created a book and a movie called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I’m not taking a beloved masterpiece of a novel and changing it for my benefit. I think clowns lend themselves to [horror]. Even before Stephen King did it [with It], there’s always been this creepy duality to clowns. I remember doing research for this and looking at [actor] Lon Cheney. He’d be covered in this mask and smoking a cigarette and looking so sad off-camera. Underneath the mask and what is going on in the person is what I’m interested in.

Even though most people only know Pennywise from It and Art the Clown from the Terrifier franchise, there are countless clown horror movies out there. Do you feel lucky that Clown in a Cornfield is getting a theatrical release and will be more accessible than those more obscure movies?

Oh yeah. I mean, we’re looking at this as more commercial [and] a little less kitschy. I love that it’s a genre that gave me the freedom to have a clown in it and not be directly compared to [other movie] clowns. This is a very suspenseful thriller and action horror film with elements of comedy. It’s not just campy, midnight fare.

A 2016 poll by Vox revealed that 42% of Americans said that they were afraid of clowns. That’s more than terrorist attacks (41%), biological war (35%), climate change (34%) and death (19%).

More afraid of clowns than death? Yeah, I think coulrophobia is rampant. It definitely allows you to ride on the coattails of a fear that people already have. I always see the cinematic experience as being two ways: People are putting stuff onto the film, and I’m giving them stuff back.

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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 13, 2025.