Film Appreciation goes to an intergalactic circus as Cody Hamman discusses Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
The first two and a half minutes of Killer Klowns from Outer Space are so cool, the movie almost earns a Film Appreciation article right there - and that's before we've even been introduced to the main characters, and before anything particularly interesting has happened on the screen. Those two and a half minutes are awesome because of the song that plays over the title sequence, the theme song by The Dickies, one of the best theme songs ever created. Thankfully, the rest of the movie is just as cool as that tune promises it will be.
The story begins with an homage to The Blob, right down to the fact that the film's star Grant Cramer seems a bit too old to be playing his youthful character Mike Tobacco, just like Steve McQueen was a bit old for his role in The Blob. Although Cramer was pushing thirty when this movie was made, his character is a college student young enough that his idea of a nice date is to take his girlfriend Debbie (Suzanne Snyder of Return of the Living Dead Part II) to their hometown Crescent Cove's designated lovers lane, a place called the "Top of the World". Mike and Debbie are making out in inflatable raft in the back of his station wagon when they see a meteor streak across the sky - and it looks like it hits the ground not far away. They decide to go check it out.
Just like in The Blob, the meteor is also seen by an old man - here it's House II: The Second Story's Royal Dano as Farmer Gene Green. The farmer goes to see where the meteor landed as well, but when he reaches the spot he doesn't find a space rock leaking strange goo. Instead, he finds that the meteor has transformed into a massive circus tent. The title has already told us what can be found inside that tent, but this concept was brought to the screen with such cleverness and imagination that this film not just lives up to the potential of the concept, it exceeds expectations.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space was directed by Stephen Chiodo, part of a special effects team with his brothers Charles Chiodo and Edward Chiodo. At this time, the Chiodos were best known for being the FX artists behind the creatures in Critters and Critters 2. The effects in those movies were great, but Killer Klowns is an even more impressive demonstration of their skills, and Stephen Chiodo had a fantastic vision for the movie - as we really see for the first time when Mike and Debbie enter the circus tent. Through a combination of set design and visual effects, we're shown that the interior of this tent looks like a mix between a nuclear power plant and a cotton candy factory, complete with large batches of cotton candy hanging up on hooks. Wait a minute, that's not cotton candy. Those are cocoons that contain the bodies of locals, including Farmer Green, being preserved so the clowns that inhabit this tent can suck their blood through crazy straws!
The designs of the clowns themselves are awesome and unforgettable, the perfect blend of clown and monster. And the clown theme doesn't end with these creatures' mode of intergalactic transportation, the fact that their alien faces look like they're wearing clown makeup, or their fashion sense. The Chiodos also made sure that their methods of capturing victims all feel circus-appropriate. They can track victims with balloon animal dogs, they'll smack people in the face with acidic pies, they blast people with popcorn guns - and then we see that the popcorn is alive, and growing into something more frightening. They have a tendency to involve puppets and dummies in scenes, and can even turn shadow puppets into something dangerous. Of course there are clown cars. And let's not forget Jojo the Klownzilla marionette.
Best of all, we get to see plenty of moments of the clowns putting their tactics to use, as the film is packed with entertaining set pieces that show the clowns capturing various victims around the town of Crescent Cove. While the clowns run loose all over town, Mike and Debbie are trying to convince the authorities to take the threat seriously, which proves to be difficult for several reasons; for one thing, Mike is associated with the Terenzi brothers, Rich (Michael S. Siegel) and Paul (Peter Licassi), known troublemakers who roll around town in their clown-themed ice cream truck. It also doesn't help that Deputy Dave Hanson (John Allen Nelson) is Debbie's ex-boyfriend, which brings jealousy into the picture when Dave hears Mike and Debbie were at Top of the World together. At least Dave is more helpful than his co-worker Deputy Curtis Mooney, played by John Vernon of Animal House, who is always on guard against the young people in town. Vernon has some great moments in this movie, and my favorite is his reaction to Mike and Debbie's story. His delivery of the line "Killer clowns from outer space? Holy shit!" is an all-timer.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is an incredibly fun film to sit through. I've been a fan of it ever since I caught the second half on cable one day when I was a kid, and have rewatched it many times over the years. It's a shame we only have one of these, because the Chiodos have been hoping to make a sequel for thirty years now, they've just never been able to get one into production for some reason. I hope it will happen one of these days, because the ideas in Killer Klowns demand and deserve to be explored further in another film.
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