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Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988):Reviewed by BRYAN SCHUESSLER

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988), directed by Stephen Chiodos, and written by his other two brothers, Charles and Edward,  may not have won any significant awards (Nominated for the Saturn Awards in the category for Best Music and Best Costumes), but it has to be one of the best movies involving…wait…you guessed it-KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE! Okay, now I see why they named it that. They did not want anyone out there to think that the huge and highly bizarre looking Bozos were not freakish human-beings, but in fact, aliens that happened to be clowns. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, lets talk about the movie.

One gets an idea of what they are in for after the opening scene of the film in which a gigantic meteor-like blaze soars across the sky and lands not too far out of town, to be discovered by Farmer Gene Green (Royal Dano) and his mutt. Actor Royal Dano has been in many films and even more television shows. He always played a crotchety old man that had a beef with the whole planet and everyone in it. I did not see every one of his 176 credits that IMDB lists, so I may stereotyping him by saying that. He is in another classic B-grade, maybe Z-grade film (depending on your standards of quality) Ghoulies 2. I loved the Ghoulies films. I have many guilty pleasures. Dano finds the klowns tent and the klowns do to him what they do to everyone they encounter, they cocoon them up in cotton candy and will be using for food later, or they just kill them. But they use clown-like weapons and everyone just thinks they are harmless clowns until it is too late.

This film has lots of character and enough charm to keep one amused for the scany 88 minutes of B-grade fare. I have heard that the punk band Chiodos went so far as to name themselves after the Chiodos brothers, having been so impacted by Killer Klowns from Outerspace after viewing it.

One of my favorite scenes in the film is where one of the klowns is outside of a Denny’s-like establishment and is trying to coax a little girl inside to come out, hiding a huge bat that it plans to smash her brains in with, but mother calls her back to the table just in time! That would have made quite a scene, but would have given it an R-rating for sure. I enjoyed this film and was happy that I purchased it at a bargain price. I already believe every clown is evil anyways. Ever since my grandfather took me to the circus and a midget clown came to me and sat on my lap, I have had a strong distaste for clowns (Stephen King’s IT didn’t help to quell that phobia) and a great fear of midgets.

3 Comments

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  1. I think you are thinking like sukrat, but I think you should cover the other side of the topic in the post too…

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