Teens Mike (Grant Cramer) and Debbie (Suzanne Snyder) search for a meteorite, but instead find a circus tent and killer clowns (or Klowns). The aliens are here to gather up humans to make into sugary snacks. The teens go to the police, but crotchety officer Mooney (John Vernon) thinks it’s all a joke while Deputy Dave Hansen (John Allen Nelson) is Debbie’s jealous ex-boyfriend.
I’ve never liked clowns. I was never frightened by them, but they are one of the least funny things I’m likely to run into. Isn’t there something creepy about a man putting on white face paint, an orange wig, and oversized shoes so as to be acceptable miming around kids? Should mime ever be acceptable? Here we are seeing clowns (or is it Klowns? – that’s going to be a problem) in their true, evil form, and finally, finally, I’m liking them.
You’ve got to respect a film that says exactly what it is in the title. This is a movie where alien Klowns come to Earth, and kill people in silly ways. You should know as soon as you read the title if this film is for you.
Written as a ’50s alien movie, though set in the ’80s, Killer Klowns from Outer Space most closely resembles The Blob. Like that film, it has the old man finding the Klowns first, then the two teens seeing the aliens and no one believing them. Strangely, the sections with the teens are played almost straight, and they’re not funny. It’s as if the Chiodo brothers, who were responsible for writing, directing and producing, thought that the viewer was going to care about and root for the teens. I didn’t, and when I saw this the first time in ’88, no one else in the audience did either. It’s the Klowns I want to see win.
And it is the Klowns that make this fun. They kill with cotton candy, popcorn, and puppets. They track with balloon animals and try to lure kids away from their parents so they can hit them with really big mallets. And there are pies… Everything connected to clowns becomes a warped weapon, and it’s great to see. Too bad there wasn’t more with them.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a great party movie, and if the teens and cops sections don’t hold up, that gives you time to put out more chips and get another round of beers.