By George & Josh Bate
Clown in a Cornfield won plaudits as a YA novel and it is receiving rave reception now as a film. The slasher novel by Adam Cesare debuted to incredible fandom, spawning two sequels with a third on the way. Naturally, a film adaptation of such a successful and approachable novel was inevitable, which arrives in theaters on May 9.
The HoloFiles had the opportunity to talk about the new film Clown in a Cornfield with director and co-writer Eli Craig and the author of the novel Adam Cesare. In our interview, Craig and Cesare discussed the process of adapting the novel into a film, balancing social commentary with crowd-pleasing thrills, the appeal of horror films, and the upcoming fourth Clown in a Cornfield novel.
Craig adapts Cesare’s novel, which won the 2020 Bram Stoker Award for Best Young Adult Novel, with a clear reverence for the source material, but, of course, a change in medium necessitated changes in how the story is told. Cesare discussed what surprised him most about the film adaptation of his novel. “It was the tone of it,” Cesare said. “And well it plays how fast it plays. It plays like a punk song. Where my book is not. I meander….which you can’t do if you want a movie to play like a punk song. I just love that aspect of the movie. I love that it still feels like my characters and my story, who I love very much and who I am very protective of. But it’s still an Eli Craig joint.”
An Eli Craig joint it certainly is. Craig is known for helming the cult horror comedy Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, which, amongst other things, excelled with its subversion of genre expectations. The same can be said of Clown in a Cornfield, embracing the brilliant tropes of the slasher genre before cleverly subverting them. Part of this subversion comes in the form of surprisingly poignant social commentary, something that Craig spoke about. “There’s this sophistication – I don’t want to talk down to [young audiences],” Craig said. “But then I want to have themes in there that really entertain the older audience too. And, if I can have both of those things playing at the same time, that’s what I’m going for.”
Clown in a Cornfield occupies a unique space in the horror genre. The often overlooked YA demographic often finds itself in an awkward middle ground, with horror typically appealing to more mature or younger audiences. Along the lines of Fear Street and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Clown in a Cornfield appeals to YA audiences, while still featuring plenty of thrills and kills. Director Craig spoke about his approach to making a YA horror film that neither dumbs things down nor overwhelms with too much adult content.
“I never want to talk down to my audience,” Craig reflected. “Especially if they’re Gen Z, because they’re the most sophisticated generation that has ever lived since they’re all online. It’s so funny because my 11 year old saw it last night for the very first time and he could handle. It’s unbelievable that these kids are ready for a gory, R movie, but younger people can handle it now and connect with it so much, I couldn’t believe.”
YA horror fans continue to feast as the anticipated fourth installment in the Clown in a Cornfield book series is in development. Author Adam Cesare gave a preview of what’s to come in the novel. “I’m writing [book] four,” Cesare remarked. “My whole goal with these books was I never wanted [people] to need prior knowledge….but we’re four books in now, so screw it. This is the meta one. The one where they’re making a movie in the book. It’s the Scream 3 of the franchise.”
With the film adaptation of Clown in a Cornfield already impressing audiences out of SXSW 2025, it looks increasingly likely that Cesare’s sequel novels may become big screen features sometime soon. In the meantime though, check out Clown in a Cornfield in theaters on May 9.
