Bad news for coulrophobics: a new creepy clown horror is on the way. Clown in a Cornfield, an adaptation of Adam Cesare’s horror novel of the same name, is being lined up by Smile producers Temple Hill Entertainment, Deadline reported today.
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil director Eli Craig is in talks to direct the slasher, which centers on “a fading midwestern town, in which Frendo the clown – a symbol of bygone success – re-emerges as a terrifying scourge.” Screenwriter Carter Blanchard (Independence Day: Resurgence) will adapt the novel for the big screen.
Clown In A Cornfield is part of a trilogy which includes Clown in a Cornfield II: Frendo Lives (published in August this year) and a third instalment currently in the works. The official synopsis for the first novel reads as follows:
Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don’t know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out as quick as they can. Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.
In a joint statement, Temple Hill producers revealed the company is “thrilled to be working with [Eli Craig] on this terrifying slasher adaptation that is both timely and timeless.” According to Deadline, Craig is also currently developing comedy-horror Corporate Retreat for Blumhouse and Red Hour.
Cast details and release date for Clown in a Cornfield are currently unknown, but we can’t wait to see Frendo join his pals Pennywise and Art in the creepy clown canon.
