SXSW 2025 Review: Clown in a Cornfield

Clowns in horror are sure having their moment. Following the startling success of the Terrifier movie franchise comes Clown in a Cornfield, a thrilling horror-comedy hybrid from director Eli Craig (Tucker and Dale vs. Evil). 

Based on the novel by Adam Cesare, the film follows the teenage Quinn (Katie Douglas) who is forced to move from the big city to the flyover town of Kettle Springs with her father (Aaron Abrams) following a family tragedy. 

Things in Kettle Springs immediately feel off; a deep-seated conservatism runs through the town and Quinn’s new love interest Cole (Carson MacCormac) is constantly at odds with the overbearing Sheriff (a deliciously evil Will Sasso). 

Cole’s family essentially runs Kettle Springs; they own Baypen Corn Syrup, the company that keeps the town afloat with its ever-present Frendo the Clown mascot. 

Soon enough, the teenagers of Kettle Springs are being taken out by a clown mask-wearing killer, and Quinn and her new friend group are in the fight of their lives in their remote town. 

Eli Craig haș a deft hand at balancing humour and horror and Clown in a Cornfield is a perfect melding of the two genres. The script is smart with numerous laugh out loud one-liners, and Craig keeps ramping up the suspense (and gore) as the mystery behind the clown attacks comes into greater focus. 

The cast is uniformly great, notably star Katie Douglas who transforms from a shy teenager to an out-and-out scream queen by the film’s final moments. 

Clown in a Cornfield doesn’t necessarily do anything new in the teen slasher space, but it does it very well. The humour hits, we get enough bits of character work from the ensemble cast to actually care when they begin to be slaughtered, and the entire film has a propulsive energy that never wavers in its 96-minute run time. 

Art the Clown better watch his back. 

Clown in a Cornfield opens in theatres on May 9, 2025.