I like to imagine the Chiodo Brothers, writers, directors, and producers of Killer Klowns from Outer Space, were sitting around one day zonked on hallucinogens watching Poltergeist, and when that clown scene came up, they looked at each other and went, “We can do better than that.” I’m sure the actual inspiration was much more mundane. In fact, in one of the special features of this 25th Anniversary 4K UHD edition of the film being put out by Shout Factory, the brothers note they were trying to think of the scariest thing they could make a movie about. Maybe they had just read Stephen King’s It. I dunno.
Buy Killer Klowns from Outer Space – Limited Edition Steelbook 4K Ultra HDThe brothers are known for their special effects work, especially in the field of claymation. They most recently worked on the award-winning Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Killer Klowns is the only film to date that they directed together.
I think it is fair to say that with a title like Killer Klowns from Outer Space, you automatically know what you are getting yourself into, and the film does not disappoint. The most surprising thing about the film is that someone gave them nearly $2 million to make it.
You can probably guess the plot. Some kids are necking at make-out point. Suddenly, they see a meteor flying through the sky. They follow it to where it lands but instead of there being a crater there is a circus tent. Inside are a lot of crazy rooms and some killer clowns, or “Klowns” if you prefer. The clowns spread out all over town turning people into bright pink, cotton candy-looking sacks where they use straws to suck them dry. Eventually, they are defeated when the police learn they can kill the clowns by smashing their bright red noses.
That’s pretty much it for the plot. I mean I could mention that no one believes the teenagers at first, or that the cops are all kind of assholes. I could tell you that Royal Dano plays one of the clown’s first kills or that John Vernon is a lot of fun as the king asshole cop. Etc., but what would be the point? Plot is not the reason anybody is gonna watch this film. A film like this lives or dies on its special effects and its gags (it is a horror/comedy after all). On that front, it mostly worked for me. With an admission here, I watched it with a raging sinus headache and a good deal of exhaustion stemming from all the other things going on in my life. I expect with a different viewings, and perhaps a few good friends to laugh with I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Even so, I had quite a bit of fun.
Unsurprisingly, coming from a trio known for their special-effects work, the effects here are quite good. Surprisingly, the Chodo brothers didn’t actually do the special effects; they hired them out because they were too busy with all the other production needs. There is some nice claymation work. The clowns are a wonderful mix of goofy, scary, and grotesque. They use a lot of incredibly silly weaponry and those all look great and work like a charm.
The film is full of clown-appropriate gags. They use guns to fire popcorn at people. The popcorn then turns into little monsters. After a kill, one of the clowns uses a corpse as a ventriloquist dummy. At one point, they make a balloon-animal dog which then turns alive and goes after them sniffing out their trail. Etc. and so forth. There are a lot of gags. Some of them work, some of them don’t but it is clear this was made out of love.
One of the extras on this disc is a recent interview with the Chiodo Brothers and they look and talk exactly like the kind of guys who would make and enjoy this sort of movie. They seem like good blokes who are thrilled they got to make a movie filled with silly jokes and crazy special effects. If you like that sort of thing, then I expect you’ll be thrilled with both the movie and this extras-packed anniversary disc.
Extras include:
- New 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary with the Chiodo Brothers
- New HD Restoration from 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary with the Chiodo Brothers
- “The Making of Killer Klowns” – 22-minute documentary on the making-of
- “Komposing Klowns” – 13-minute documentary on the music
- “Kreating Klowns” – 13-minute documentary on the art department
- Visual Effects with Gene Warren, Jr. – 15-minute documentary on the optical effects
- Deleted Scenes
- Bloopers
- Earliest Films of the Chiodo Brothers
- Easter Eggs
