The upcoming slasher Clown in a Cornfield may be the third film for Eli Craig as a director, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t significantly impacted the horror genre. His previous films, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) and Little Evil (2017), are now considered cult classics, with Tucker & Dale vs. Evil often named one of the best horror comedies ever made. Fans were ecstatic when Craig was announced as the director of Adam Cesare’s 2020 novel.
The film follows a father and daughter who move to Kettle Springs, Missouri, a town once known for its corn syrup production. However, following the factory’s closure, Kettle Springs is plagued by economic hardship. The father-daughter duo and the town’s teens soon discover that someone disguised as the town’s mascot, Frendo the Clown, is on a vengeful path.
We spoke with Eli Craig before the film’s 2025 Overlook Film Festival screening about his return to the director’s chair. We began by discussing his journey as a filmmaker and the challenges he’s encountered. Craig explained, “I am a person that invests pretty much all of myself into a movie when I make it. And I never really saw myself as somebody having a career. I just saw these journeys in life, these expeditions that are making the movie. And frankly, when I set out to make Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, I thought maybe that would just be only one film, and I’m going to give it my all.”
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While the filmmaker made a movie beloved and appreciated by horror fans today, Craig told us that making Tucker & Dale “was a double-edged sword” after putting “all of myself into it.” He expanded on this and his doubts about being a filmmaker, saying, “At first, it felt like a total failure to me. It took a long time for that film to grow into what it is today and feel like it is a success. I didn’t really want to be in the industry for a long time after that. I was like if you guys aren’t buying this movie, I got nothing else to offer. I did my best, and good luck, people. It took a long time for it to come around.”
Thankfully, Craig now recognizes the film’s impact, stating that fans’ love of Tucker & Dale is “really emotional and touching. I feel like I’m a part of something now.”
Regarding his involvement in Clown in a Cornfield and leading up to it, Craig tells us, “I wish that more of the things I’ve written have made it to screen. But there’s a big disconnect with the studios and the people. And I’m fortunate enough to get to write films for studios, and I get paid for those. On the downside, they don’t always get made, and then the studios own them, and then I don’t get to show people my work. So, in this case, it was one of the many films I was working on, and this was the one that got greenlit.”
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He continued, “It was a fight to the end to get this thing made. It really was. We’re the underdog here. We had a very small budget. People might think because of Tucker & Dale or Little Evil, I’d have more resources. But this was very much like Tucker & Dale. It was very low budget and very difficult to make. It took every resource and a bit of hustle I have in myself to see it through.”
Before the film began at Overlook, Eli Craig expressed his hopes that audiences would come to the theater to support it.
Clown in a Cornfield will be released in theaters on May 9 through RLJE Films and Shudder. Adam Cesare’s book is available on Amazon.
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