At the beginning of the year, when I was laying out a preview of all the highest-profile incoming horror movies of 2025, I couldn’t help but pause and chortle at the title Clown in a Cornfield. It sounds like extreme low-budget fare, horror filmmaking in The Asylum tier, but there was one aspect that could lend the film a little bit of credibility: writer-director Eli Craig, who brought us beloved horror comedy Tucker & Dale vs. Evil back in 2010. This is only the third film for Craig following the lesser follow-up Little Evil on Netflix in 2017, but it was hard not to note the surprisingly strong reviews that the goofily titled Clown in a Cornfield received as it premiered at SXSW last month. Perhaps Craig has pulled another rabbit out of the hat this time around … we’re certainly more optimistic now, after seeing the film’s first trailer released today, which you can view below.
Clown in a Cornfield is an adaptation of author Adam Cesare’s well-received 2020 Y.A. horror novel of the same name, which has already spawned multiple sequels. It follows a young woman who moves to a rural town haunted by both economic stagnation and the specter of the clown-faced mascot that once represented better times for the community. As the official synopsis from RLJE Films and Shudder puts it:
Quinn and her father 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.
What follows feels on some level like vintage slasher parody, although the film also looks at least half sincere at the same time–an earnest effort to bring classic slasher tropes to a slightly younger audience. Craig’s sense of humor seems to remain undiminished, judging from the funny gag in the trailer involving the kids attempting to operate a rotary phone, although at the same time this also looks more like a straight horror film than either Tucker & Dale or Little Evil. Check out the first Clown in a Cornfield footage below and decide for yourself–the film hits U.S. theaters on May 9, 2025.
