Director of new clown horror movie says he’s glad he made his movie before Terrifier 3 hit screens: "I didn't think it would become as iconic as it did"

The clown is just one villain that can’t be kept down. Upcoming horror movie Clown in Cornfield will soon slash onto screens this spring, just months after Terrifier 3 found huge box office success.

However, Clown in a Cornfield director Eli Craig says he’s glad he filmed his movie before Terrifier 3 came out, as if he saw how well Damien Leone’s sequel did before he took on his own clown-tastic project, he would have definitely felt the pressure.

"When I did this, Terrifier 3 had not come out yet," Craig says in the new issue of SFX magazine, which features The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 on the cover and hits newsstands on Wednesday, April 23.T. "I knew the series, but I didn't think it would become as iconic as it did, and I'm kind of glad I didn't know, because it would have really spooked me."

Although it’s the third movie in a beloved horror franchise, no one could have predicted how well Terrifier 3 would do on the big screen. Compared to a budget of $2 million, the threequel took in over $90.3 million worldwide, which is quite a feat for a series that started out as a YouTube short. However, this success has led Terrifier’s Art the Clown to become the new it-clown in horror, just as Pennywise was the most fearsome jester in the ‘80s.

But Craig isn't too worried about the actual clown characters being compared, as Clown in a Cornfield’s baddie, Frendo, looks like more of your typical carnival clown, much different from Art’s French mime-like appearance.

In fact, Frendo comes with a whole backstory. "He was created in the late '30s, early '40s, in small-town America, when everything was on the rise," he says. "It was a time when kids were buying stuff from clowns – Ronald McDonald and Krinkles the Clown – and they were actually lovable, likable figures."

But nothing stays so sweet forever, as the movie follows conflicting locals living in a small town that has fallen on hard times after its valued factory burns down.

Soon after, an evil clown emerges from the cornfields to 'cleanse' the town one victim at a time. "He's turned to the dark side of America, where he's become a vengeful figure," says Craig of Frendo the clown. "The loss and the division in the country all comes out in this one character. It seems so suited for our times."

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Clown in a Cornfield releases on May 9. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which will be available from Wednesday, April 23. Check out The Walking Dead: Dead City season 2 cover you need to be looking out for on newsstands below...