INTERVIEW: What you should know before seeing "Clown in a Cornfield", from director Eli Craig
Any guesses as to what “Clown in a Cornfield” is about? Hint: it has something to do with Clowns, Cornfields, and director Eli Craig’s (of Dale & Tucker vs. Evil, Little Evil) unique talent for the horror-comedy cocktail.
The film follows Quinn (Katie Douglass) and her father, Dr Maybrook (Aaron Abrams) as they try to make a new start in the ailing midwestern town of Kettle Springs, Missouri. Unfortunately, the Doctor and his daughter run into a little trouble settling in, as the town’s industry mascot and urban legend Frendo the Clown begins to kill again. Craig intentionally plays on convention and cliché to misdirect audiences all throughout this satisfyingly fun slasher flick.
To get to the bloody, pulsing heart of Clown in a Cornfield, we sat down with director Eli Craig for a revealing chat.
Watch our Interview with director Eli Craig:
Here are 4 key things we learned from our conversation, just in time for Clown in a Cornfield to slash its way onto the big screen on May 1st.
4 things you need to know about “Clown in a Cornfield”
1. What you see isn’t what you get
On the surface, Craig’s newest slasher seems as straight-cut as a pair of 501s, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. As he puts it: “If you just want to look at that one outside layer of a fun, awesome, maybe scary, a little gory, suspenseful horror movie with comedy”, he says — that’s all there. “But then inside you can go a little deeper thematically, and it’s about a lot more as you get to the heart of it.”
2. It’s timely and classic
Craig’s latest film wields its nostalgia with class. There are classic ideas baked into the storytelling of Clown. Emotional themes, according to Craig, about a daughter’s struggle to fit in, her relationship to her father, and the journey of discovering one’s own sexuality. The town of Kettle Springs serves as a kind of time capsule, bridging a stable past with an increasingly unstable present. For Craig, it mirrors the broader American landscape.
“There’s this generational divide,” he explains, “where young people, because of the internet now and [smartphones], aren’t that much different in a small town than they are in New York City.”
But as for the older generation, they didn’t grow up with that technology, and in some cases, they even resent it. “To them, there’s a lot of anger about things changing in these small towns. So there’s this generational toxic divide that plays out in that town that ultimately reaches a head as Frendo starts killing people. I really wanted to explore the progressiveness of the youth and the oppressiveness of the older generation, and it plays out amazingly as a metaphor for American society right now.”
It’s clear that the third-time filmmaker has something to say about where his nation is at today.
3. You’re going to have a good time
Clown in a Cornfield will scare you, but it’ll also make you smile, and the dance between these extremes is one of the most invigorating elements of the work. “I love horror movies,” says Craig. “But I don’t like it when I finish a movie and I feel totally grim about life. Especially nowadays, I just want to feel like there’s some hope…I like to think I make hopeful films with a lot of people dying in the middle.”
4. It is jam-packed with delightful practical effects
Eli Craig is driven by his passion for the classics: “I was really trying to go back to the 80s, the gritty, all in-camera, no real-CGI, practical effects-driven, low-budget horror movies that I grew up watching. Halloween, Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street, there are elements of each of those in here – even Scream! I started by looking at all these classics, and then I let them all go, and just tried to make a movie that I’d want to see.”
With heritage like that, Clown in a Cornfield is a movie that it’s easy to love and hard to forget. Practical effects are the quickest way to my heart, and I’m sure many horror fans out there share the same sentiment. Craig’s newest film is full to the brim with weighty choreography and gloriously bloody kills (keep an eye out for the cattle-prod kill!).
Ultimately, it’s clear that so much love went into the craft: “The highlights were working with the team. My DP Brian Pearson was game for anything. The cast were also so excited to rise to the occasion and sometimes excited to just be covered in blood every day they showed up to work…they gave it their all.”
This energy is so palpable throughout Clown in a Cornfield, it’s hard not to get around the carnage.
As Craig concluded, “If this is my last film, and the film gods let me make three cool films, I’ll take it. But I’d love to make another.”
We hope he does. Clown in a Cornfield is a pitchfork-sharp and hilariously mad critique of the generational divide. Out in Australian cinemas on May 8th.
