The upcoming horror film Clown In a Cornfield is just around the corner, and it's set to introduce audiences to someone who just may become a new slasher icon: Frendo the clown.
Clown In a Cornfield, based on the book series of the same name, follows Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) as she moves to the small rural town of Kettle Springs. She quickly learns that the town is going through a rough patch, one that gets even rougher when a psychotic killer clown starts mowing through their local high school students.
The Direct's Russ Milheim sat down with Clown In the Cornfield director Eli Craig and star Kevin Durand (who plays Arthur Hill) to talk all about the film, and just how awesome Frendo will be.
Creating a Modern Day Slasher Icon With Frendo the Clown
"We Don't Really Have Slasher Icons That Aren't Remakes Right Now..."
- The Direct: "Eli, can you talk a little bit about just adapting the book to the screen and what elements did you feel needed be changed or adjusted to fit this new medium?"
Eli Craig: I mean, some of [those] are spoilers. I think the thing that attracted me to the book in the first place are these, like major shifts that happen within it that kind of reset the story. So I won't totally go into those, but I will say that I just wanted to be true to the theme of the story.
I thought Adam had created this unbelievable villain of Frendo that I thought, Man, if I could design this mask, right, and if I can lean in and make Frendo kind of the icon that I had growing up. We don't really have slasher icons that aren't remakes right now. You know, what are we going on? 'Scream 7?' I don't know, but everything's a remake.
And so I just was looking at these old slasher, horror mill movies like, you know–I mean, Jason was so disturbing to me because that mask, in all its simplicity, which is just probably the best mask that's ever been made.
But yeah, I wanted to bring some of that in and and yet tell a slasher movie in like a 2025 way with Gen Z going through it and have it not be a sequel, and honor the book at the same time, because I think Adam Caesar just wrote a rip roaring, actually fun book with like, real characters that you can see existing in the world today.
- The Direct: "There's more than meets the eye, obviously, to the threat of Frendo. But can you guys just briefly talk about, how Frendo holds a unique place amongst the pantheon of other horror clowns? Because people are always quick to be like, oh, there's Art. You know, there's Pennywise. Now we have Frendo. So how does he compare to those?"
Kevin Durand: I mean, he's got a very specific mission, doesn't he, you know, and like any kind of really great villain in stories in the world, he fully 100% believes in everything he's doing.
So as much as you might be like, Oh my God, he's the big scary guy, it's like, well, he really thinks what he's doing is right. He's trying to make the world a better place in his own way, and that probably makes it that much scarier.
Eli Craig: Yeah, I will say that Frendo, is also like—He's your grounded sort of he's your working class slasher killer. He's very, he has a human, fallible quality to him that makes him both very menacing, as humans can be incredibly menacing, but incredibly flawed as well.
And so there's something about that, that kind of rides, that, yes, he's a menacing killer line, but also there's something entertaining about him as well.
Clown in a Cornfield's Focus on the Generational Divide in Society
"There Is Such a Divide Within Our Culture Between the Generations..."
- The Direct: "It's easy to see why a problematic clown is still relevant in today's society, but I want to talk about the deeper themes in play, mostly regarding the generational divide that tends to always exist between generations. So, for you both, how would you say that this movie utilizes the horror genre to tell a fun, satisfying, yet still meaningful story that addresses those very topics?"
Eli Craig: I mean, there is such a divide within our culture between the generations, and especially like Gen Z. I'm Gen X, you know.
And I think my sort of old folks in this movie are Gen X, but anybody Gen X and above, it kind of refers even to baby boomers, and there's this feeling, I think, toward Gen Z is like, Oh, you kids are never paying attention. You're always on your phone, like, always ripping on. Like, how is this generation gonna function in real life?
They're always catered to everything's easy for them. If they want a question answer, they search it up. There's so much kind of disregard push down toward them, and then the reverse of that is them up toward the older generation, kind of thumbing their nose, and like you're actually just really not listening to us about anything we're saying.
And we're more intelligent than you give us credit for. We're plugged into what's happening in the world, and we're sophisticated, like we understand so much more than you give us credit for.
So, the movies about, really, ultimately, what happens when people aren't listening to each other, when the the adults are just not listening to the younger kids in this movie at all, and vice versa, and it creates this great sort of cataclysm of conflict that erupts, of course, in bloodshed. But yeah, there's a lot to work with, just in social satire there.
- The Direct: "[Kevin], you play the mayor who has plenty of issues with the younger generation, including his own son. Can you help paint a picture about how he personally feels about, you know, those members of society, and how he feels they are, in a sense, a downgrade to his own?"
Kevin Durand: There's a divide between my wife and I, and it's only like 10 years between us, and there's always some kind of movies and music, things that she doesn't—you know, when I say hey, you remember, remember Eric B. & Rakim, and she's like, she has no idea.
So like, when I heard Eric B. & Rakim At the beginning of the movie, when Aaron [Abraham's] like, rapping to it, and [Katie Douglas' Quinn Maybrook] goes, you understand that there's like, the 80s to me, is like the 40s to you, I just thought that was so brilliant.
Yeah. I mean, for him, I mean, I got the strap on those, basically that amazing velour suit and play into being that part of the voice of that older kind of generation, whereas I feel like, because I am an actor and I'm always in a state of play, I don't really feel like I suffer from those insane disconnects. It was kind of fun to get to lean in and be a part of that side of the conversation.
The full video interview can be seen here:
Clown In a Cornfield hits theaters on May 9, 2025, but will be available to watch at select drive-in theaters around the country on May 2 & 3.
