LogFAQs > #979828201

28. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988 / 303 points)
Directed by: Stephen Chiodo / Written by: Charles & Stephen Chiodo
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Why Its Significant - I mean - the title says it all. You get what you pay for. Killer Klowns takes its ridiculous B-movie roots and title to creative extremes in a film full of impressive practical effects and ridiculous horror that leaves you alternating between laughing your ass off and contemplating just how disturbing some of this actually is. Its a neat trick that I think revolutionized comedy-horror, stepping up the genre proving you dont have to sacrifice one for the other, I think even lauded films like Shaun of the Dead or Tucker & Dale vs. Evil taking cues from it. Plus - despite only having one film to its name, its a franchise loaded with collectibles, Halloween Horror Nights attractions, and even an upcoming video game due out this year, and talks of a sequel or more have persisted for decades at this point.

The Rankers
Inviso - 11
Fortybelowsummer - 15
Seginustemple - 18
Johnbobb - 20
Rockus - 22
Lightning - 24
Mythiot - 25
Jcgamer107 - 27
Karo - 27
Snake - 27
Bitto - 28
Evilordexdeath - 29
Plasmabeam - 30

Inviso - I honestly debated ranking this higher, but I just couldnt justify it to myself. The title says it all; there is no other movie on this list that delivers harder what it says its going to deliver. From the first minute the Klowns show up, thats all they are. The movie has a throwaway line about Maybe they showed up in ancient times, and we based OUR clowns off of them! You didnt need thattheyre alien clowns, you dont need to explain the deep lore behind them. Trust me, you had me sold the moment a clown popped out of its circus tent spaceship with a comically-sized net to capture a bloodhound. Everything after that was just running up the score.

Seriously though, everything you would expect from a killer klown, you got. They capture people by cocooning them in cotton candy; they shoot guns that fire popcorn (which is just the klowns in their larval state); theres a puppet show that ends with a laser gun; theres a comically-small bicycle which leads into comical fisticuffs (complete with Whatre you gonna do, knock my BLOCK off? before doing just that); fake door-to-door deliveries; sneezing powder and squirting shaving cream; shadow puppets becoming real and eating people; a squirt flower and subsequent murder to create a human ventriloquist dummy; and of course a bunch of clowns in a tiny car who pull out pies and buried a hapless guard in an avalanche of cream. Anything you can imagine is there in this movie, and they left no stone unturned.

Is the plot high cinema? Fuck no; the acting is terriblebut for what this movie is, its brilliant nonsense. The weird funhouse vibe of the klown ship, ending with a weird giant mecha klown battle just caps off an utterly insane movie. I dont know who came up with this concept, but that person did a surprisingly good job, all things considered. And kudos for making the klown costumes look JUST clowny enough to seem recognizable, with a perfect amount of deformity to really sell that theyre from out-of-this-world.

Fortybelowsummer - A lot of these movies, even the ones that are on the campier side, actually have some deeper meaning to be found. This aint one of them. Its clowns that arrive on earth fromsomewhere, set up shop in a big top/lair and then abduct and kill humans in all kinds of silly clowncentric ways. There are people-melting pies, cotton candy ray guns, and killer shadow puppets. The sets, costumes and props are all awesome and the whole thing is a lot of wacky fun. Its also legitimately disturbing at times and while Im not personally coulrophobic, it could be downright terrifying for someone who is. Theres a reason you see loads of Klowns stuff in Spirit stores at Halloween time. Its a cult classic that went mainstream because its just highly entertaining. Im fine with it being a one and done classic, but I definitely would be down with a sequel or remake of Killer Klowns.

Seginustemple - A childhood favorite, they say there's a fine line between horror and comedy and nothing embodies that quite like clowns. Make them an alien race, give them a rockin' theme song, you got a movie goin'. It's a delight just to see how many little gags and bits it can squeeze out of the alien clown logic, with the bonus that the clownimatronic creations are perfectly garish and grotesque. I love how Debbie decides to take a leisurely shower for half the movie after witnessing the monsters murdering people, she's really not too concerned with it. And the screwball ice cream bros make me laugh way more than they should. It's all super dumb but when the electric guitar kicks in and those clowns start mobbing slow I'm way into it. "What are ya gonna do with those pies, boys?"

Johnbobb - You know, this movie is so goddamn dumb, and everyone in it is so goddamn dumb, but I have to give it credit where it's due. It put a LOT of work into the set design, costume design, lore. It's legitimately one of the most creative movies on this list, and what blows my mind is that they used all that creativity to make whatever the fuck this is.

Rockus - Id never seen this before and expected it to be straight schlock but boy was I wrong. First big surprise was that this looks like a real movie, rather than some no budget trash with a goofy premise. But in addition to that, what was really surprising is how much mileage it gets out of its concept. Normally some intentionally campy horror movie like this I wouldnt expect more than one joke beat to death over 90 minutes but Killer Klowns would continue to come up with fun new gags. From the balloon animal attack dog to the multiple tiny door gag near the end of the movie it was constantly throwing fresh shtick at the screen. Didnt really get a lot out of the ice cream truck duo but the rest of the movie is a lot of fun. A great big monster finale tops things off. Never expected it to be this enjoyable.

Lightning - Whatre ya gonna do with those pies, boys?

Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a loving homage of 1950s B-movies right down to having a catchy theme tune like the one from The Blob. It is also one of the silliest horror movies I have ever seen. In fact it is so deliberately silly I will probably struggle to give it any kind of critical analysis but Ill try anyway.

This is a film where there are aliens that look like clowns for some reason, and capture and kill people using a variety of circus tricks and acts. Why do they look like clowns? No idea, maybe we get the ide of clowns from them. It seems that what they want to do is capture humans, turn them into candy floss and drink them through silly straws. I hope youre keeping up! Now, obviously this is all very light, it is quite similar in tone and level of content to Gremlins but Id say it has something of a meaner edge to it while that film was ultimately pretty wholesome. There are some great gags here as well as some fun low level gore. Sometimes the two are even combined, such as when the police officer just gets pelted with pies and then dissolves. In terms of sheer camp value, this one is pretty up there.

Overall I had a fun time with this but it doesnt really excel at either the comedy side or the horror side. Its just a fun, light horror comedy that would be good for a Halloween watch party but probably wont change your life.

3/5

Jcgamer107 - 2/10