Kettle Springs’ dark secrets erupt when a killer clown emerges from the cornfield, turning the quiet town into a blood-soaked nightmare. A film by Eli Craig, starring Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Vincent Muller, Kevin Durand, Cassandra Potenza, Verity Marks, Ayo Solanke, Alexandre Martin Deakin, Catherine Wreford, Daina Leitold, Jean-Jacques Javier, Noah Craig, Heath Vermette, Bradley Sawatzky, Jeff Strome, Dylan McEwan, Kaitlyn Bacon, Blake Taylor, Anders Strome, Samantha Hutchings, Robert Borges, BJ Verot, Darren Ross, Krystle Snow, Alan Castanaga, and Will Sasso.

December 1991, Kettle Springs. A group of teenagers are throwing a party near the old Baypen Corn Syrup factory when Jessica Davis (Kaitlyn Bacon) and Tyler Anderson (Dylan McEwan) slip away from the crowd. They head into the nearby cornfield, looking for some privacy. When Jessica ventures deeper into the corn rows, Tyler trails behind her. That’s when he spots a massive shoeprint in the muddy ground.

Both of them are brutally murdered by a masked killer dressed as a clown. The killer vanishes into the night, leaving no trace. Despite an extensive investigation, the case goes cold. The murders of Jessica Davis and Tyler Anderson remain unsolved to this day.

Present day. Dr. Glenn Maybrook (Aaron Abrams) and his teenage daughter Quinn (Katie Douglas) arrive in Kettle Springs following the death of his wife. Their relationship has become strained. Glenn has taken a position as the town doctor, hoping for a fresh start.

Quinn never wanted to leave their old life behind, but she agreed to the move because she knows her father needs this change to heal and move forward. Peering through her bedroom window, Quinn spots the burned-out shell of the Baypen Corn Syrup factory.

The next morning, Quinn refuses Glenn’s offer to drive her to school on her first day, asserting that she’s 17 and doesn’t need a ride—she needs her own car. As she’s about to exit the house, Quinn is startled by a teenage neighbor who introduces himself as Ruston “Rust” Vance (Vincent Muller). Rust says he noticed they just moved in and offers to walk Quinn to school since she’s new to the neighborhood.

On the way to school, Quinn asks Rust what people do for fun in this seemingly quiet town. Rust brushes off the question, saying he might not be the right person to ask, but for him it’s mostly hunting and fishing. Suddenly, Rust spots Cole and his friends driving past them. Upon arriving at school, Rust warns Quinn to be careful who she hangs out with, claiming there are some weirdos around.

During detention, Quinn befriends Tucker (Ayo Solanke), Ronnie (Verity Marks), Janet (Cassandra Potenza), Matt (Alexandre Martin Deakin), and Cole (Carson MacCormac). Quinn asks about Founders’ Day that she keeps seeing around town, and Cole explains that it’s a holiday his family created to celebrate corn. Cole’s grandfather established Baypen Corn Syrup, and tomorrow marks its 100th anniversary.

Tucker adds that there’s an annual parade where townspeople gather around the “Frendo” float, a clown mascot from the Baypen labels. Tucker then shows Quinn a tablet with a video clip the group made as part of their series where they turn Frendo into a serial killer. They’re proud of their YouTube channel, which has over 65,000 subscribers.

That evening, Quinn joins Cole’s group to drink alcohol they stole from a store. When Quinn mentions the sheriff saying the factory burned down recently, Cole admits they filmed one of their videos there, but insists they didn’t start the fire. He claims that the official conclusion was faulty wiring.

Unbeknownst to Quinn, the group plays a prank on her, making her believe that Matt has been murdered by a psychotic version of Frendo and that she’s next. As Quinn screams and tries to flee, Cole grabs her arm and reveals she’s being filmed, Matt isn’t dead, and Frendo is actually Tucker in costume.

Later, while watching their recently uploaded YouTube video, Quinn spots another Frendo in the background behind Tucker, appearing to watch them from the darkness. Quinn quickly sends a message to the group chat asking who the other guy is.

As Tucker picks up his phone to check the message, he receives a notification that his doorbell has detected someone at the front door. Tucker clicks the notification, which opens the app showing Frendo staring straight into his doorbell camera before moving out of view. Tucker thinks someone is playing a prank on him and decides to handle the prankster himself. Tucker is killed by the masked assailant dressed in the Frendo costume.

The next day, during the 100th Founder’s Day parade, Janet and Ronnie tell Cole and Quinn they’re planning another hilarious prank video for their YouTube channel. They instruct Cole and Quinn to film wide shots while they get cutaways. But an accident causes the Frendo float’s base to catch fire, and the giant mascot loses balance and tips over into the crowd, ruining the parade.

Cole’s father Mayor Arthur Hill (Kevin Durand) and his wife Crystal (Catherine Wreford) watch in terror. As the group tries to flee the scene, Sheriff Dunne (Will Sasso) intercepts them and accuses Cole of sabotaging the parade. Sheriff Dunne puts Cole, Janet, Ronnie, and Quinn in jail. Moments later, they are all released and free to go.

Meanwhile, Matt is working out in his garage when he finds a jack-in-the-box on his bench. He picks it up and turns the handle, but nothing happens, so he throws it into a waste basket. A masked assailant wearing the Frendo outfit appears and decapitates Matt.

That night, teenagers party at the old Baypen Corn Syrup factory, an event Cole organizes every year. They are attacked by an assailant wearing the Frendo outfit. Initially, Janet and Ronnie think Ginger (Samantha Hutchings), who was shot with a crossbow, is pulling a prank on them. But when Quinn checks Ginger and finds no pulse, they realize she’s actually dead. Frightened and panicked, they run for their lives.

Directed by Eli Craig from a screenplay he co-wrote with Carter Blanchard, and based on Adam Cesare’s 2020 horror novel, CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD is a dark comedy slasher that gives a fresh spin to classic 90s horror. With familiar archetypes, inventive kills, and plenty of plot twists, it’s bloody good entertainment.

Adam Cesare’s CLOWN in a CORNFIELD was first published on 25 August 2020, by HarperTeen in the United States in both hardback and ebook formats. The novel won the 2020 Bram Stoker Award for Best Young Adult Novel. It revitalizes classic slasher tropes with a modern twist, combining suspenseful, gory action with sharp social commentary about generational divides and the impact of technology on small-town life. The story’s central conflict between the town’s adults and its youth mirrors real-world societal tensions, making it both entertaining and thought-provoking.

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@pradt

CLOWN in a CORNFIELD 🤡
Are you a friend of Frendo?
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A film by Eli Craig, starring Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Vincent Muller, Kevin Durand, Cassandra Potenza, Verity Marks, Ayo Solanke, Alexandre Martin Deakin, Catherine Wreford, Daina Leitold, Jean-Jacques Javier, Noah Craig, Heath Vermette, Bradley Sawatzky, Jeff Strome, Dylan McEwan, Kaitlyn Bacon, Blake Taylor, Anders Strome, Samantha Hutchings, Robert Borges, BJ Verot, Darren Ross, Krystle Snow, Alan Castanaga, and Will Sasso.

While the original novel delivers intense gore, suspense, and a serious exploration of generational conflict in a small town, the film adaptation leans more into dark comedy elements, amplifying the camp and absurdity inherent in the premise of murderous clowns in a cornfield. This playful approach makes it more intriguing and elevates it beyond just another traditional slasher film featuring a killer clown.

The Bram Stoker Award is a prestigious annual recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for “superior achievement” in horror and dark fantasy writing. Established in 1987 and first awarded in 1988, it honors outstanding works in various categories such as novels, short fiction, poetry, screenplays, and young adult literature. Unlike typical “best of the year” awards, the Stokers emphasize “superior achievement,” allowing for ties and focusing on the unique qualities of each work rather than direct competition. Winners are selected through a voting process by active HWA members, based on nominations and jury recommendations. The award is named after Bram Stoker, the Irish author of Dracula, and the trophy is a distinctive statuette resembling a haunted house with an engraved plaque. The Bram Stoker Awards are considered one of the most respected honors in the horror literary community.

CLOWN in a CORNFIELD premiered at SXSW on 10 March 2025. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 9 May.

‘Clown in a Cornfield’ Author Adam Cesare on the Slasher’s Huge Twist, Book Changes and How Frendo Compares to Pennywise and Michael Myers
I do some real wacky stuff in the sequels, but for the adaptation of book one, there was never any discussion of “Should he be Michael Myers?” “Should he be Pennywise?” “Should he be Art?” There was a clear, almost creative decision of, “You can’t be those things when we have to be the thing that we have, and this is what it is.” It’s almost like a very stripped-back, whodunit slasher. It doesn’t have the accrual of franchise and too much genre expectation or genre knowledge on it, which I think is what makes the movie great. To try indulge in the speculation of “It’s Pennywise meets ‘Children of the Corn’” … that’s just pure rope-a-dope to get you in the theater or to get you pissed off in the comments section. It’s as close to trolling that a company like HarperCollins is gonna get.

‘Clown in a Cornfield’ Director Eli Craig Talks the Uphill Battle to Make Horror Comedies
I made Tucker & Dale in 2010 by the skin of my teeth. It was the hardest thing to get made, and nobody wanted to make it. But I got Tucker & Dale made, and now it’s this cult classic that’s lived on. It’s also why I haven’t gotten to work a ton in this business. I’ve always been asked to write somebody else’s comedy script or fix somebody else’s movie. But I’ve tried to play more in the horror-comedy genre than most, and it’s been a real struggle.In some ways, I’ve learned my lessons from it, and I consider Clown in a Cornfield to be a horror-action film with elements of comedy that I like to do. But a comedy-forward horror-comedy movie is extremely hard for the business in Hollywood to get behind. I will point to examples where it really works, like Zombieland, and they will resist, resist, resist. It’s a mentality you can’t break through.

Clown in a Cornfield‘s Director on Making Meaningful (but Still Gruesome) Horror Movies
I always am trying to surprise people, I guess, and it begins with the title—the reversal and surprising people. This film has these emotional elements that are deeper than both the title suggests, but also even the tone of the movie suggests. I love making movies that are kind of deep and don’t take themselves seriously at the same time. The title intrigued me; I had done a movie called Little Evil with both a clown and a cornfield in it. And I thought, well, now it’s time to put these two elements together. I love the backstory of Frendo being this corporate mascot who was the salesman for Baypen Corn Syrup in the 1930s and ‘40s and ‘50s for Kettle Springs. We wanted to design a clown that was sort of happy-go-lucky, but over the years had grown more sinister. There’s just this metaphor for America in there for me. This film is very Americana. It’s based in this small town in Missouri that had a boom time because of their corn syrup operation in the ‘40s and ‘50s, and now has kind of fallen into disrepair.