Clown in a Cornfield Release Date, Storyline, and Everything You Need to Know

Clown in a Cornfield Release Date, Storyline, and Everything You Need to Know

When the dark secrets of a small town come to light, no one is safe from the painted smile that hides in the rustling corn stalks. The follow up that everyone has been holding their breath for — “Clown in a Cornfield,” adapted from Adam Cesare’s book of the same name — will unfurl its ballroom gown and cut a rug in a theater near you on May 9, 2025.

Helmed by Eli Craig (the cult-favorite horror/comedy “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil”), this slasher turns the quaint fictive town of Kettle Springs into a bloody workplace for a battle between tradition and progress with lethal results. Katie Douglas stars as Quinn Maybrook, a teenager who moves to town with her father (Aaron Abrams) when tensions are about to boil over.

Release Date For Clown In A Cornfield

Clown in a Cornfield debuted at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on March 10, 2025, before going wide in theaters in the United States on May 9, 2025. The movie finished filming in late 2023, shot in Winnipeg, Canada, between September 18 and October 23.

The release strategy is a key horror entry on the early-summer 2025 movie calendar. Release dates will vary across international markets, but most countries will see the film by July 2025.

The marketing campaign for Teas sought to capitalize on anticipation for the movie, with teaser posters released in January 2025 and a full trailer—which revealed the movie’s Kettle Springs setting and a short glimpse of Frendo in action—in February.

Plot Of Clown In A Cornfield

In the dying midwestern town of Kettle Springs, economic blight cascades after a devastating fire at the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory. The community is divided along generational lines, with older residents blaming teenagers for the town’s problems and young people feeling suffocated by outdated traditions.

Quinn Maybrook and her father come needing a new beginning after their own tragedy. At Kettle Springs High School, Quinn makes new friends, and she quickly observes the tension between the teens and adults.

Frendo the Clown, the town mascot, was initially designed to be the smiling face of Baypen Corn Syrup, but turns something sinister when one carnival worker dons the costume and starts ridding the town of its teenagers. As the body count climbs, Quinn finds that the murders are linked to long-submerged secrets surrounding the factory fire and the town’s history.

And with the killer stalking teens through the expansive cornfields that surround Kettle Springs, Quinn must unravel the secret behind Frendo’s rampage — before she’s next on the list. The film wrestles with themes of tradition versus progress, generational conflict, and the sometimes deadly consequences of refusing to adapt.

Clown In A Cornfield Cast List

Actor	Character	Description
Katie Douglas	Quinn Maybrook	Teenager who recently moved to Kettle Springs
Aaron Abrams	Dr. Maybrook	Quinn’s father, a doctor working at the local clinic
Carson MacCormac	Cole	Local teen who befriends Quinn
Kevin Durand	Arthur Hill	Mysterious figure with ties to the factory
Will Sasso	Sheriff Dunne	Local sheriff investigating the town’s murders
Vincent Muller	Rust	High school student caught in town’s tensions
Cassandra Potenza	Janet	One of Quinn’s new friends
Daina Leitold	Trudy	Longtime Kettle Springs resident
Verity Marks	Ronnie	Student drawn into the town’s violent conflict
Ayo Solanke	Tucker	Teen challenging Kettle Springs’ traditions
Alexandre Martin Deakin	Matt	Member of the local community and school

Behind The Screams: How “Clown In A Cornfield” Was Made

Temple Hill Entertainment bought the film rights in 2020—before the novel was even published—sensing its cinematic potential as scare fare. The production company behind hits such as “Smile” and “The Twilight Saga” teamed with Rhea Films to tell Cesare’s story.

Eli Craig directed from a script he wrote with Carter Blanchard, handling the novel’s adaptation while retaining its core conflicts of generational and small-town decay. Craig’s specialty is horror-comedy, and he makes the most of the opportunity, sprinkling in effective scares and jabs of black humor.

Filming took place in Winnipeg, Canada, from September through October 2023. The location offered both the rural milieu necessary for Kettle Springs and the endless cornfields pivotal to the story. Trevor Smith, the production designer, created the fictional town and ghostly remnants of the burned-out Baypen factory that overshadows the community.

The cinematographer, Brian Pearson, used the natural landscape to generate tension, contrasting bright daylight scenes in the middle of town with shadowy sequences in the cornfields. The film’s visual approach evolves as the story unfolds, starting with warm, hazy, nostalgic hues that slowly give way to stark shadows and bold reds.

The music score, produced by Brandon Roberts and Marcus Trumpp, combines classical orchestral horror staples with warped carnival sounds that change Frendo’s theme from cheerful to sinister.

Where To Watch Clown In A Cornfield

“Clown in a Cornfield” opens in theaters everywhere on May 9, 2025, from RLJE Films and Shudder. After a theatrical release, the film will exclusively stream on Shudder in the summer of 2025. Internationally, it will be released by various distributors, including Entertainment Film Distributors in the United Kingdom, Elevation Pictures in Canada, and StudioCanal in Australia and New Zealand.

In Europe, SND will distribute in France, Constantin Film will be responsible for Germany and Switzerland, and Belga Films will take the Benelux territories. The digital rental will likely follow about three months after the theatrical release on big platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google Play.

Festival Buzz: “Clown In A Cornfield” Gets A Warm Response

“Clown in a Cornfield” was world-premiered as part of the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on March 10, 2025. Initial reviews praised the movie’s combination of classic slasher tropes and modern themes.

Reviews critic Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing, “I found Craig’s film much more interesting when it was just allowed to be chaotic rather than when it was explaining the chaos.”

Meagan Navarro at Bloody Disgusting gave a 3 out of 5 rating, writing: “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil Helmer Eli Craig takes on the most faithful adaptation with aplomb, bringing the proper balance of gore and comedy for a zippy, lean slaughterer.”

The film has a 92% positive rating from 26 critics on Rotten Tomatoes and an average score of 7.30 out of 10. Some reviewers have compared Frendo to other iconic horror clowns, such as Pennywise from “It” and Art the Clown from “Terrifier,” as if he would soon join their ranks in the horror pantheon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is “Clown in a Cornfield” a true story?
No, the movie is inspired by a fictional novel by the same name, written by Adam Cesare in 2020. Though it deals with themes familiar to many small American towns, Kettle Springs and its inhabitants are purely the product of imagination.

How scary is the movie?
Early reviews also say there are familiar slasher movie scares, though lots of shocking violence and suspenseful action. The director, Eli Craig, mixes horror with dark-comedy elements, but the film earned its R rating for bloody violence and language.

Will there be sequels?
Although there has been no official announcement yet, the source material consists of two sequel novels: “Clown in a Cornfield: Frendo Lives” and “Clown in a Cornfield: Nineteen Hands.” If the first film is a box-office success, adaptations of these books appear probable.

How does the film stack up against its book?
Non-plot spoilers are hard to give away, but critics say the film remains mostly aligned with the novel aside from a few adjustments to improve visual storytelling. Some character relationships have been tweaked, but the core premise and themes hold.

Who plays Frendo the Clown?
The production kept this information under wraps, perhaps so it can continue playing coy about whether Frendo is one person or a bunch of different characters wearing the suit.

Final Thoughts

In a landscape dominated by supernatural horror, “Clown in a Cornfield” returns to slasher fundamentals and also focuses on its modern-day relevance. Thanks to great performances by its young cast members and creative direction by Eli Craig, the flick should offer both traditional fright and intriguing commentary on small-town America.

But with May just around the corner, horror fans will soon be able to plot their course to the Kettle Springs — and what can be found in the corn stalks. Remember: The sound behind you rustling in the trees might not be the wind.