Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988) Review
Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a Cult Classic 80s horror movie directed by Stephen Chiodo and written by Charles and Stephen Chiodo. This movie has grown in popularity so much in the last ten-ish years, and it is exciting to see it get more recognition through video games and Spirit Halloween merch. It is not a movie I watch too often, but I think everyone should watch it once to witness the absurdity.
The movie begins with an original song for the movie by The Dickies, and it’s a dumb and funny song. A bunch of “teenagers” at a makeout point, and for some reason, these dofus ice cream man brothers go there to try to sell ice cream. It’s odd, and the shit-tier ass speaker dub adds to the wackiness.
This movie has an old-timey country hick sitting on the porch type of character, and that is such a classic old movie trope that I love. He’s also got a beautiful dog called Pooh.
This movie may be silly and pretty stupid at times, but the Klown designs are so great and iconic. I also enjoy the lighting in the movie because it feels so overwhelmingly 80s to me.
“It’s not a shooting star, that’s a circus!” How do you see this fall out of the sky, and your very first instinct is to go inside and see what it is? Also, how do you not leave once you go inside and realize it’s literally not a circus immediately?
I like that they put the bodies into cotton candy cocoons and that they shoot popcorn at people because they are clowns. Seeing the world the Klowns are from would be so fascinating since all their shit is carnival themed. Like, what the fuck is a day in the life for these Klowns?
The little puppet show in the middle of the park is so great. The little show is so stupid, and the reveal is cool. I like how the Klowns are just menaces. What I mean is they aren’t typical slasher serial killers evil but are more like sneaky pranksters, which is what makes the movie dumb fun. They could have tried to make this serious and scary, but they leaned into the B-movie camp, which is a good thing.
The death when the little Klown knocks the biker’s head off is cool as fuck and the best of the movie. It gives me vibes of the “What are you gonna do, stab me?” meme.
There’s a point where a little girl is easily tempted to go with one of the Klowns, and that is the reason stranger danger was pushed so hard in the 1990s and 2000s. One of my main criticisms of the movie is that they should’ve just gone for the rated R rating since many of the deaths are very tame.
The puppet Mooney moment is pretty cool since what he’s saying is creepy, and I think it is the only time that the Klowns speak directly to the characters.
I hate the buffoon brothers in this movie. They are so annoying, and you hope they die quicker so they aren’t on-screen anymore. Their truck also explodes super fucking hard near the end for only being thrown on its side by the giant dinosaur Klown boss puppet thing.
I have seen this movie get such a large cult following over the last ten or so years, but it is just a cheesy 80s B-movie at the end of the day. Killer Klowns from Outer Space is fine, and everyone should watch it at least once, but honestly, once is enough.
