Three brothers, Stephen, Charles and Edward Chiodo had been absorbed in creating special effects movie since their early days. They had spent a few years in the industry selling their skills to several producers like Critters, Faerie Tale Theater and UHF. One of their most famous works is Large marge from pee-wee’s big adventure. They loved puppets, stop-motion and makeup for them all. Ironically, in their first feature film most of the special effects work was done by other artists whom they had befriended over time. The Chiodos directed mostly, produced and acted as killers clowns for much of the time they were making the film. As a result, this movie does not appear to be so much interested in a story as it is focused on showing off some cinematic moments that are worth watching at least once in a lifetime.
It was a night outside Crescent Cove that the couples spent on Lovers’ Lane. As they were walking, Mike and Debbie saw a light glowing and moving towards Earth. Debbie wanted to go see it, while Mike was a bit hesitant. The object landed on Gene Greene’s farm where he arrived ahead of everybody else. In the middle of the forest is put up a big tent for circus shows. When they come to the landing point, Mike and Debbie find exactly what they saw but not Greene in sight. Inside, however, is spaceship and its occupants are horrible versions of clowns. They even wrap them in cotton candy-like things before killing them. The lovebirds run away from their pursuers Klowns who spend all night terrifying the small town with various circus weapons starting from killer shadow puppets to baby Klown popcorns because popcorn is made out of moldy corn infected by Klowns larva during gestation phase
We can’t really make this kind of movie no more. This film is very thin on story, but the paper-like narrative presents a delightfully good-humored horror-comedy which is still enjoyable to watch due to its innovatively conceived scenes and highly skilled workforce. It’s like what happened with something like Pee-Wee or UHF, cartoons that were live-action, became cult favorites among young people during the late part of the 1980s. The Chiodo Brothers managed to produce something on a small amount (two million dollars) of money which could compete favorably with major studio special effects extravaganzas.
Though Mike appears as if he were protagonist-in-chief, the filmmakers are interested in finding ways to exploit insane tricks. Therefore, following establishment of the main conflict and the start of Klowns’ journey into town, Mike and Debbie will only reappear at story’s climax when its villain will be defeated by them. ‘The Killer Klowns from Outer Space’ also goes overboard toward campy territory through casting actors who are clearly much older than their characters pretending to be high school students such as acid pies in the face and turning a cop played by John Vernon into a ventriloquist dummy. Horror and comedy have often been described as genres that are very similar.
Horror and comedy, perhaps more than any other genre, are so dependent on personal preferences that what I find scary or funny may not be the same for you. I wouldn’t say that I am a person who enjoys gore just for gore’s sake, and I like horror films that do not explain everything when they end. This way of thinking is not universal among every fan of horror who might prefer different tropes and genre ingredients from me. There is something about Killer Klowns that makes it feel like a series of horror-comedy skits framed around a traditional 1950s/60s sci-fi invasion flick. The characters in the film are taking the events seriously… but the audience doesn’t have to take it seriously either.
We’ve got a movie that takes a very simple idea “clowns are scary” and then looks at every possible angle on that idea you can think of. In many ways, this feels like another live-action cartoon where they go hard on the gags. They were brainstorming and pinballing in the writers’ room and on set so that all 86 minutes of this economical horror movie are packed to the brim with stuff to make you laugh, cover your eyes, and have a genuinely fun time with a film.
For more movies like Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988) visit solarmovie.
