Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) review

14. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Directed by: Stephen Chiodo

Produced by: Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo, Stephen Chiodo

Screenplay by: Charles Chiodo, Stephen Chiodo

Starring: Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson, Royal Dano, John Vernon

When you think about horror movies with clowns, what comes to mind? Maybe one of the adaptations of Stephen King’s “It,” or Captain Spaulding from Rob Zombie’s Firefly trilogy, or the recent slasher franchise “Terrifier.” But let’s go after one of the biggest cult classics of the whole genre, “Killer Klowns from Outer Space.” Directed, written and produced by brothers Stephen, Charles and Edward Chiodo—special effects artists who’ve done claymation, monster designs and puppetry for “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure,” “Critters” and “Team America: World Police”—this is one of those movies you can tell just based on the title if you’ll have any interest in it. More specifically, it’s about extraterrestrials resembling clowns that invade the sleepy town of Crescent Cove. Unapologetically goofy and exaggerated, it invites you to laugh and delivers in the performances, gags and costume design.

The film opens with teenage couple Mike (Grant Cramer) and Debbie (Suzanne Snyder) fooling around at a local lovers’ lane; but they’re interrupted by what appears to be a falling star plummeting to Earth. They track it to the woods and discover it’s not a star, but a glowing circus tent, and inside the vibrant, technological display are monstrous alien klowns who use a myriad of bizarre weapons to capture and keep their human victims in pink cocoons for harvesting. Mike and Debbie flee the tent and warn police officer Dave (John Allen Nelson)—the latter’s ex-boyfriend—and he reluctantly follows them to investigate, while his curmudgeonly partner Mooney (John Vernon) stays at the station and dismisses the klown-related calls for help as annoying pranks. Despite Mike enlisting the help of his sibling friends Rich (Siegel) and Paul (Peter Licassi) and their ice cream truck loudspeaker, the klowns overrun the town throughout the night, necessitating our heroes to follow them to their amusement park lair when they abduct Debbie.

The characters don’t serve much purpose other than to inhabit a bunch of roles that fall victim to the klowns’ shenanigans, so it’s more about the individual performances. Grant Cramer is pretty over-the-top as Mike, John Allen Nelson is awkward at Dave, and Suzanne Snyder is decent enough as Debbie, who’s not much more than a Sexy Lamp. I’m a little torn about Rich and Paul—the Terenzi brothers, as they’re referred to—since they have some funny banter, but can also be quite annoying; actors Michael S. Siegel and Peter Licassi were apparently a comedy duo, so they clearly have an established vibe that sometimes translates. I think the funniest character is Mooney; played by John Vernon, who you’d recognize as Dean Wormer in “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” he totally pushes the boundaries of the stringent, hardheaded authority figure. But it goes further than just turning the protagonists away, reaching a point where the entire police switchboard is lighting up with calls, and he just ignores all of them; this would be a bad night to have a normal emergency like a burglary or car accident.

But let’s face it, the stars of the movie are the killer klowns; the designs on these creatures are outstanding, making for monsters that are distinctively detailed and funny, yet still somewhat scary in their body language. The scene where the one klown tries to lure a little girl inside a restaurant is disturbing, and just the way these things smile and move is unsettling, but there’s still a lightheartedness to it. They do a lot of silly stuff like throw things around a drugstore and many of their antics are clownish, like putting on puppet shows and riding around on tricycles. The cocoons resemble cotton candy, they use guns that shoot popcorn, throw acidic pies, make sentient balloon animals, and in one of the most memorable scenes, put on a shadow puppet display that swallows a group of people at a bus stop. It’s all so childish, but the imagination in how these bits are executed really shines through.

For their only feature directorial effort to date, the Chiodo Brothers never stray too far out of their comfort zone; this is clearly a film all about the effects and humor. They took on the responsibility of creating the set for the climax where everyone faces off with the gigantic Klown-zilla; it was going to be done with stop motion animation, but it ended up as an actor in a suit to save time and cost. It doesn’t matter; this is still such a fun sequence, as the absurdly colorful visuals and creatively dastardly traps—my favorite is when Mike keeps opening doors that only have more doors right behind them—make it feel like you’re in some funhouse from Hell.

The movie also has a lot of homages; the opening with the object falling from the sky is similar to “The Blob,” the cocooned victims look like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” or “Alien,” the spaceship interiors resemble “Forbidden Planet,” and one klown sits up from the ground like Michael Myers in “Halloween.” There’s probably much more than that, but you get the idea. I can’t pretend “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” is a spoof I’m wholeheartedly obsessed with, as there are elements of the story I find lame or boring; but if you just go in with the acknowledgement that it’s clowns killing people using every trick in the clown playbook you’d find at a big-top circus, you’ll probably find yourself laughing at the unashamed absurdity. Though not a box office hit, it has a legacy that’s lasted for 35 years; there have been plans for a sequel or TV series, but this feels like an entity that would be frivolous to duplicate. So if you’re in a zany mood, grab some popcorn and cotton candy, and send in the klowns.

My rating: 7.5/10