As horror fans anxiously await news on the official release date for Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead — a queer horror film about drag queens versus zombies — there’s a recent queer-laced slasher flick that’s not only coming to Shudder on August 8, but it’s also available to rent right now. It’s called Clown in a Cornfield, and unless you’re a horror enthusiast, it probably wasn’t on your radar.
The sleeper-hit slasher, which is about a group of Midwestern high school teens who are terrorized by a local legend named Frendo the Clown, first made a bloody splash when it premiered at SXSW back in March, and it went on to receive a theatrical release on May 9. Even though it was sandwiched between the release of Marvel’s Thunderbolts and the insanely successful and critically praised Sinners, it still earned a commendable 73 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and scared up $3.6 million during its opening weekend, which isn’t too shabby for a film with a $1 million budget (it went on to earn $7.2 million at the domestic box office, $10.7 worldwide).
While Clown in a Cornfield is by no means a gay production nor is it a full-fledged queer horror film in the vein of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, it’s certainly a bloody good time that’s worthy of being on your list of queer-laced horror flicks due to its LGBTQ+ representation which can be traced back to its source material. Based on the trilogy of books by author Adam Cesare, the film does feature two gay male leads, and there’s even a well-executed coming-out subplot in the film (but since we don’t want to spoil it, we won’t say who). Let's just say that horror films don’t always have to leave you rooting for the final girl — there’s also room for a final boy (or two).
Verity Marks, Cassandra Potenza, and Katie Douglas in Eli Craig's Clown in a Cornfield.Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder
It’s also not exactly obvious who the gay characters are either. These guys, while certainly hunky and easy on the eye — aren’t walking stereotypes and the gay romance subplot itself feels natural — it’s never cliche or pounded in your face and comes as sort of a third-reel surprise, although the signs are there. While speaking with The AU Review, director Eli Craig (best known for helming 2010’s delightfully witty and gory Tucker & Dale vs. Evil) commented on the subtleness of the coming-out reveal and how it’s good for general audiences to encounter gay characters in any type of movie.
“Because my youngest brother is very openly gay, and I think that, to be honest with you, the best versions of movies for gay rights were the ones that weren’t trying to make a point,” he told the outlet after they complimented him about how natural the gay reveal came off. “I feel like things that are just there to make a message don’t break through to gay people. It’s good for people that are not going to see an LGBTQ movie at all to just have gay characters that aren’t a theme of the movie. It’s just an element of it.”
Frendo the Clown in Eli Craig's Clown in a Cornfield.Courtesy of RLJE Films & Shudder
Even though Clown in the Cornfield was a box office success, so far, there’s no official word on a greenlit sequel. But if fans do get one, there are still two more books in the franchise to adapt: Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives and Clown in a Cornfield 3: Church of Frendo. And yes, those two aforementioned gay leads are front and center in the second book. In fact, Cesare also introduces a transgender character named Jerri in Frendo Lives, so if a sequel is greenlit, Clown in the Cornfield 2 will very likely be another inclusive, queer-laced splatterfest that gay horror fans can look forward to.
In addition to its Shudder streaming premiere date on August 8, RLJE Films also announced that Clown in a Cornfield will be available in SteelBook 4k Ultra-High Definition, Blu-ray, and DVD formats on September 16. The film is now available to rent on Prime Video.
