Killer Klowns from Outer Space-1988
Director Stephen Chiodo
Starring Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder
Scott’s Review #1,169
Reviewed August 6, 2021
Grade: B-
A film surely only meant to be viewed late at night and/or in a hallucinated or otherwise drugged state for maximum pleasure, Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) is not to be taken seriously.
It does contain great imagination.
It’s kind of a take-off of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) with a wretched 1980s look. It’s a fun film, but as odd and pointless as they come.
There is no explanation offered for the villain’s behavior, nor is one necessary. There is also no political message or motivation.
It’s like someone thought of the weirdest possible gimmick and made a film about it.
For a horror film, the body count is very high, but there is little gore.
Unsurprisingly, it has found a permanent home in the genre-cult-classic category, to be dusted off whenever in need of the wacky or absurd.
Teenage lovebirds Mike (Grant Cramer) and Debbie (Suzanne Snyder) see a comet crash outside their quiet, small-town home one late night.
They investigate and discover a pack of murderous aliens who look exactly like circus clowns. When they do the right thing and warn the local authorities, everyone assumes their story is a prank.
Meanwhile, the clowns attempt to harvest and eat as many people as they can. When they kidnap Debbie, Mike decides to set out on his own to rescue her and stop the bloody rampage. This leads to an epic battle between Mike and his friends and the clowns.
The Chiodo Brothers, who wrote and directed Killer Klowns from Outer Space, are primarily known for special effects, stop-motion, and clay modeling, and the film uses these techniques extensively.
The wonky and lumbering clowns sport sinister smiles and quirky cotton-candy cocoons to keep their prey.
Hardly are they directorial or screenplay masters, so the film feels extremely experimental in many regards. The storyline is basic, and the villains have only one modus operandi. The character development is nil, and the acting is poor.
Is anyone surprised?
The key to enjoying Killer Klowns from Outer Space is that it knows it is a B-movie and embraces that classification. Avoiding all seriousness is arguably what makes it a marginal success.
One can sit back and laugh at it as one would rib an old friend. It is acceptable to both parties.
The clowns, or Klowns, are the real stars of the film. It’s fun to view these odd creatures and admire their costumes. This is the film’s creativity coming through, and the Chiodo Brothers are masterful at it.
One part scary and one part goofy, their lavish costumes are bright and colorful. The creatures themselves are ugly as sin, big and lumbering.
Predictably, the film writes the supporting characters as stereotypical as possible, and maybe that’s the fun in it all. Farmer Gene Green (cool name!) believes Halley’s comet is the strange glowing object falling to earth.
He and his dog are quickly harvested. The police officers are curmudgeons and disbelieving of the teenagers. Various friends of Mike and Debbie are cast as one would expect for a horror film.
The final climax is the best part of the film when an ice cream truck is used as a weapon against the clowns until a myriad of pies start falling from the sky.
Anyone watching the film while stoned would gleefully laugh.
Recommended for the adventurous cinema lover who wants to delve into the bizarre, late-night, campy horror territory.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) is mesmerizing in its absurdity and harkens back to 1950s science fiction.
