Classic Movie Review : Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Sometimes, you don't need to tell a good story in order to entertain an audience. If you take two common irrational fears and put them together in a scenario so outlandish and awkwardly predictable, you’re gonna give your audience catharsis. The best thing about Killer Klowns from Outer Space should’ve been its title, but it’s not. If it became such a cult classic over the years it’s because it features a lot of clowns that do a lot of killing…. in somewhat of a comforting way? I know it's weird, but let me explain.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a simple movie. It tells the story of an alien spaceship crashing in a small town where Mike (Grant Cramer) and Debbie (Suzanne Snyder) were quietly making out on a Friday night. The aforementioned alien spaceship turns out to be a giant circus tent filled with cannibal alien clowns who turn members of the small community of Crescent Cove into cotton candy. I shit you not. So Mike, Debbie and her ex Dave (John Allen Nelson) try to survive the night and fend off invaders.

Believe to Survive

This movie is a Snakes on a Plane type of proposition. You know what you're getting into before it even starts. No character really matters, except for the clowns and how creatively they kill people. In a movie like this where the audience knows what the fuck is going on before any of the characters do, the greatest sin they can commit is not to believe in the premise of the movie. Mike and Debbie do because they literally see the spaceship craft and find dead cotton candy people in the weird circus tent thing.

But officer Curtis Mooney (iconic what's-his-face guy John Vernon) doesn't. He's a small town tyrant who believes in law and order and doesn't believe in anyone but himself to apply it. Mooney receives therefore the absolute worst and most terrifying fate any character is handled in the movie. I'm not going to spoil it, but it involves a fate worse than death, at least for a small period of time. That leads me to the odd, but inevitable question: is Killer Klowns from Outer Space a covert Christian movie?

I mean: the characters who "believe" remain aware of the danger and protect themselves accordingly, those unaware die in some kind of biblical fiasco, those who don't believe (read here Mooney) fall prey to literal demons and courage and virtue is ultimately rewarded. I found nothing online about the Chiodo brothers being Jesus freaks, but 1988 was a conservative time in America. Killer Klowns from Outer Space is permeated by Judeo-Christian values, but the clowns are the only thing that matters.

Why does a movie like this even exists?

Glad you asked. See, Stephen, Charles and Ed Chiodo (the co-directors of Killer Klowns from Outer Space) are special effect artists. They’re specialized in clay motion, stop motion and animatronics. The three brothers worked on several iconic movies such as Critters (all four of them), UHF and Team America World Police. Killer Klowns from Outer Space is kind of a feature length demo reel for them. When I told you the only thing that mattered were the friggin' clowns, I wasn't making shit up.

Nevertheless, Killer Klowns from Outer Space became a cult classic and a wonderful business card for the Chiodos because it's a technically and creatively sound movie that understands what it's good at and doesn't try to flex where it shouldn’t. All the characters outside of the clowns are narrative props meant to display one of the creative kills the Chiodos monsters could do. It's a B movie, but it's a tongue-in-cheek one like there were too few of back then. It's fun because everybody's in on the joke.

*

Killer Klowns from Outer Space has aged alright, I guess. It's not a movie you can watch in any settings, but it suits a boozed up evening with friends, especially if one of them has never seen it. There's no real thrill to properly speak of outside of the face of your unsuspecting loved ones contorting in shock and awe as they discover the weird fucking ways alien clowns can kill you. It could also work as a drinking game film. Anyway, I'm glad it survived, but it's a one viewing a year max kind of deal.

7.2/10

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