May 13, 2025
Smart Stupid Horror: Director Eli Craig on Clown in a Cornfield
Director Eli Craig (Tucker and Dale vs Evil) breaks down his new slasher film, "Clown in a Cornfield," in this exclusive interview. Discover how he balances horror and comedy, creates authentic Gen Z characters, and draws inspiration from classics like Jaws. This is essential listening for haunted attraction creators and horror fans alike, with insights on the modern horror renaissance and the enduring power of communal fear experiences.
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I think that's what film is right. We're trying to
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give people better understanding of themselves.
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In the world. Film director Eli Craig reveals why clowns
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in cornfields are as terrifying as sharks in oceans. That's
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coming up on today's show. Welcome to the show. I'm
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Philip on the HN Show. We bring you the news
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and information you need to prepare for Halloween. This show
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is just one small part of what we do. The
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best place to find everything is in our free weekly
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email newsletter, check the link for that at our website
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or in the show notes. As Haunters, you know that
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we're constantly exploring the art of storytelling across different mediums.
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Our work is designing theatrical spaces that guests physically move through,
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and it shares many commonalities with or filmmaking, which is
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why when I had the opportunity to sit down with
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Eli and discuss this new slasher film, I thought it
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was a great idea to figure out a little bit
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about what he sees his model and horror. So today
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here's my conversation with Eli Craig, the director of the
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new slasher film Clown in a Cornfield. We cover horror, comedy, balance,
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authentic gen z storytelling, and what he thinks about modern
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horrors and renaissance. The film is in theaters nationwide. Now
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let's dive in Eli Craig.
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I'm a director.
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A director.
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Clown in a Cornfield Little Evil Tucker and Dale Versus
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Evil Clown in a Cornfield is a epic saga about
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a girl trying to survive a night being stalked by
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an evil clown through a cornfield. It is David Lean
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style movie, and it basically is relentless in like the
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T two fashion. So if you love those kind of movies,
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you're gonna love Clown in a Cornfield perfect.
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I think some of your signature style is a little
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bit of horror and comedy and how those two flavors
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work together. Can you tell me a little bit about
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that and how you blended horror and comedy in this movie.
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Every scenario where there's a massive amount of horror has
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like a possibility of comedy because the human mind tries
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to find a break and tries to find an outlet
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for all the just nastiness. And in this movie, I
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think that there's these elements where you're like you're heightened
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like you're ready to just cry and instead you laugh.
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And so there's moments where it just reverses. And for me,
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it's the balance is very clear, because if it's very tense,
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I just want to give people a place to quit
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that tension and just' that's what I like to do.
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I read that what inspired you to produce this novel
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into a movie is that you saw just the title
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and that captured your imagination. Can you take us to
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that moment and tell me a little bit about what, like,
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what was it about town in a Cornfield that really
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inspired you.
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I don't know, there's something about a title that just
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feels like it grabs you right, And for me, the
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title Clowner in a Cornfield just felt like it was
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something that both it may be curious, Okay, there's a
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clown in a cornfield and what happens next? Yeah, And
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then also it kind of set the bar to a
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level where I was like, I was sure that that
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movie would be extremely stupid but fun. And so I thought,
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if I could just make that stupid fun movie but
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also elevate it to being not as stupid, I want
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to make like smart, stupid movies.
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What I like about it too, is that you do
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have those a lot of comedic moments, but you also
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have the tension between the generational aspects. There's also a
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lot of stuff that reminds us of our current polarized time.
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You have the insiders and the outsiders. You have the
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small town versus the large town. You have urban suburban,
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but I also have generations that are fighting each other.
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I mean, there's a lot of layers to this, but
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at the same level, you can just enjoy it because
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it's a fun slash right said, it's really fun. There's
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so many fun nods.
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Yeah. I mean my goal was to kind of make
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like a breakthrough, like a horror movie that would grab
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gen Z. And so many movies now are just remakes
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of movies that were made in my generation. Every movie is, oh,
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come see this movie. It's a remake of the movie
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gen X saw. And I wanted to make like something
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for gen Z. My son is in the movie. He's
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he was seventeen years old when he got shot in
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the head with a bow and arrow, and that's my son.
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He was the djeh and he helped me so much
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to figure out the tone and texture of this, and
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I figured it was time to just just start with
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a movie, for a gateway movie, for just like that.
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I want this to be the first movie some kids
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watch at whatever age and are just like, holy shit,
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I love horrors. That's kind of the dream. I feel
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like so much dialogue written by guys my age right
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to our teenagers are like diminishing their actual intellectual ability,
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and this movie is I respect the teens, but I'm
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also recognizing that the rebels, you know, to me, it's
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like Breakfast Club meets Scream meets Footloose.
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Yeah, did you take any inspirations for creating this Cornfield chase?
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What's funny is I was. It seems like a weird inspiration,
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but I was thinking a lot about Jaws and sort
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of the predator in the ocean movies. And then he
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was like a predator in the corn and people were
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trying to get away. If you see Jaws, you're above
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the water, but corn you can't see somebody in it either,
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so you're just running and slashing through it and you
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don't know where the creature it was. It's a predator
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movie basically, and so you don't know where the clown
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is and then boom, it appears here and then you're dead.
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So it was really like I thought a lot about
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I thought a lot about like Jaws. For some reason,
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it just grabbed me and I even homaged because I
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thought about that movie so much. I the first scene
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is an homage to Jaws.
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Looking now, for people that are trying to write horror
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or produce horror, tell me what you think about modern horror.
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I mean, I know with this you're balancing comedy, you're
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balancing horror, but you're also balancing, like you said, speaking
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truth to not basically not infantilizing teenage issues, but also
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putting in a setting that is a real setting with
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people that have different values. I mean, there's a lot
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going on here. Is that what you think modern horror
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is or what do you think?
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I think modern horror is in this amazing like Renaissance.
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Age, and it's more popular, it's.
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Being reinvented all the time. It's really exciting to see
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things from this year of like Heart Eyes and Companion
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and The Monkey, and then of course Centers, and there's
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so much there's so much breakout horror right now that
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it makes me really excited for what comes next. And
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I think the reason why there's so much horror is
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because it also is plugging into what the anxiety that
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human beings are going through right now, and it's giving
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people an outlet because it's a very anxious time and
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to come into a movie feel bonded with other people
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and give that anxiety a place to go and sometimes
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give it some meaning too, like my film tries to
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give it some I try to understand where it's coming from.
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But I think that's what film is right. We're trying
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to give people a better understanding of themselves in the world.
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I think horror is going through Renaissance age, and that
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means theaters are as well. So I think that this
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is the communal experience now. It's not going to church.
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It's not like going to hang out your local YMCA.
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The theater is the place where people go to hang out,
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and it would be awesome if people coalesced around the
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theater to see this movie.
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Today's episode was edited by me Philipernandez, with post production
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by David Swape and original music composed by Chris Thomas.
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Support for today's episode comes from Gantum Lightning and Controls.
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Gantum illuminates attractions worldwide with the world's smallest intelligent spotlights.
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The ha N team includes Daryl Plunky, Emily Luis Rua,
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Megan Spells, Gavin Burns and Omniadventures. Until next time, stay scary.
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This is a haunted attraction network
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00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:50.079
141
00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:55.279
142
00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:57.680
143
00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:02.360
144
00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:04.279
145
00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:08.639
146
00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:12.279
147
00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:15.800
148
00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:20.279
149
00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.240
150
00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:27.360
151
00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:29.759
152
00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:33.919
153
00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:38.200
154
00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:45.600
155
00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:49.320
