Clown in a Cornfield‘s Director on Making Meaningful (but Still Gruesome) Horror Movies

The name Eli Craig might not immediately ring a bell, but all genre fans know Tucker & Dale vs. Evil—Craig’s 2010 horror comedy about a pair of good ol’ boys who accidentally get pegged as killers, in a movie that pokes great fun at every cabin-in-the-woods slasher trope imaginable. Craig’s latest candidate for cult-classic status is about to hit theaters: Clown in a Cornfield, a gory tale set in a small Midwestern town that’s terrorized by… well, see title. io9 got a chance to talk to Craig all about clowns, cornfields, comedy, and why he prefers horror stories that weave surprisingly deep themes beneath all their splatter. Cheryl Eddy, io9: Clown in a Cornfield has some funny one-liners (and a funny title), but it’s really more straightforward than subversive. How did you approach finding the right tone while steering it in a less comedy-forward direction than your previous films? Eli Craig: I always am trying to surprise people, I guess, and it begins with the title—the reversal ... Read full article.