‘I made it through Korea, I can make it through this bullshit…’
If you’re going to call your movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space then I want to see those clowns arriving from space and causing havoc within the first five minutes. On that front, there is no denying that special effects legends and co-directors Charles, Stephen and Edward Chiodo (collectively known as the Chiodo Brothers) deliver on that front. Sure enough, I had barely settled into my sofa before a huge circus top disguised as a shooting star descended on small-town America, and sure enough, a bunch of killer clowns emerged and started killing people and hanging them up in their lair in cocoons made of candy floss. Marvellous…
What kind of film are we dealing with here? Well, there is a character named Mike Tobacco (Grant Cramer). There is a hilariously cantankerous cop (John Vernon) telling everyone to “Fuck off” as if he’s Logan Roy himself. And perhaps most importantly of all, there are many killer clowns performing various hi-jinks and murders. Nobody could argue that the film doesn’t deliver on its evocative title.
Killer Klowns… is both a throwback to the invasion movies of the 1950s and an influence on stuff like Gremlins and Critters. While it has a sense of mischief and a splash of the absurd, the film never becomes too knowing – the cast plays it straight throughout – even when presented with a kind of clown-zilla creature in the film’s preposterously wonderful climax.
If Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a title that intrigues you rather than making you sigh and roll your eyes then you will probably be naturally predisposed to love this movie. This deserved cult classic also boasts one of the all-time great horror theme songs from punk legends, The Dickies. All in all, a great time at the movies with some killer clowns.
