SXSW: ‘Clown In A Cornfield’ Is The Closest We’ve Gotten To Early Aughts Slasher

Author Adam Cesare released Clown In A Cornfield in 2020 and sequels in subsequent years. In this young adult horror book series, Eli Craig takes the reins, serving as director and co-writer with Carter Blanchard. Premiering at the 2025 edition of the SXSW Film Festival, Clown In A Cornfield takes place in a small town with small-town problems and secrets.

The film stars Katie Douglas, Aaron Abrams, Carson MacCormac, Vincent Muller, Kevin Durand, Will Sasso, Verity Marks, Cassandra Potenza, Ayo Solanke, and Alexandre Martin Deakin. In the slasher, Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) and her father (Aaron Abrams) move to the small town of Kettle Springs. Having lost her mom, Quinn sees her new life in Kettle Springs as even more isolated, even if her father hopes she will find more connections.

Instead of a fresh start, Quinn discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. And, in true teen movie fashion, Quinn meets a boy named Cole (Carson MacCormac) and falls into the mess that is his friend group. Janet (Cassandra Potenza), Ronnie (Verity Marks), Matt (Alexandre Martin Deakin), and Tucker (Ayo Solanke) round out the group of teens that will soon become slasher fodder, and each of them has enough personality to make you both root for them and make their death moments truly satisfying.

As Frendo the Clown, the town mascot, begins to stalk the townspeople, locals can’t help but bicker, and the tensions of the past begin to boil over into the present. Only Frendo is tasked with cleaning up all the town’s messes.

Clown In A Cornfield knows exactly what kind of film it is, and that’s a good thing.

Clown In A Cornfield is a film that knows precisely what lane it’s cruising in and never ventures out of it. This isn’t a bad thing, either. As a slasher, Eli Craig’s film understands the genre in and out, using its tropes to the fullest, subverting in some moments and embracing the staples in others.

The kills in the film are fantastic and gruesome but always feature enough slapstick or situational humor to keep them from crossing a threshold into pure shock. Craig and his props team have executed slasher tension that pays off with a bit of camp and a lot of homage to what’s come before, and yet they never feel stale. Misdirection and surprise keep every crafted kill as something special.

The best moment is when a teen finds a severed head, believing it’s a prop, presents it to the group, laughs, and then subsequently realizes it isn’t. That’s probably the best way to sum up the film’s humor and the way that its teen characters interact with their town and the horror inside of it.

Still, though, the film doesn’t just spend all of its time like the greatest hits of the past. There are also choices in the last act of the film, with the kills leading up to it blazing a distinct path. Clown In A Cornfield does enough to make audiences excited to see more of what’s to come in Adam Cesare’s book series. But more importantly, it feels like young adult audiences have their own slasher to latch onto and one undefined by the past through reboots or remakes. That’s something to celebrate wholeheartedly.

If more is to come, Clown In A Cornfield sets up the right hype and stakes.

Sure, there are pacing issues, and the dialogue is definitely not made for my generation. Still, ultimately, any audience member will walk away with a smile on their face, excited by the carnage they just sat through and the level of absurdity Cesare trusted Craig to carry.

Craig’s knowledge of the subgenre makes Clown In A Cornfield a great stab at the early aughts sensibilities, aesthetics, and comedy that we haven’t seen executed this well in a long time. While this is definitely due in part to the source material, it is also a fantastic attempt at understanding how to meet young adults through horror by embodying a decade of horror that did it oh so well. 

It is important to note that my fondness for all of the slashers comes from the fact that they got me to fall in love with horror and the subgenre. While I see the late 90s and early aughts, the contemporary themes and social media woes keep Clown In A Cornfield as a recognizable modern teen horror film.

Good young adult horror is always something to be thankful for, and much like the trilogy of books on which it is based, Clown In A Cornfield has the legs to become one that folks get excited about.

Clown In A Cornfield was screened as a part of the 2025 SXSW Film Festival and will be distributed by Shudder.