After an absolute earworm banger of a theme song by punk outfit The Dickies, a big top from beyond the stars lands on Earth and dispenses monstrous alien clowns. Naturally it’s up to a gaggle of college kids to try and save the day by facing off against the bizarre creatures and their even more bizarre weapons (cotton candy guns, man eating shadow puppets, killer popcorn et. al.)!
As if all of that monstrous madness wasn’t enough, our heroes are dogged constantly by the town’s egomaniacal cop, Officer Moonie (the legendary John Vernon, Animal House) who would be more than happy to lock our heroes up and you can bet your ass he does not believe their wild tales of grease-painted ghouls stalking the city streets!
Can our heroes survive the night and send those ha-ha horrors packing, or will they be jailbirds before sun up?
Surreal, hilarious, and filled to the rafters with over-the-top practical effects goodness; Killer Klowns From Outer Space is considered a classic by many, and considered a masterpiece by yours cruelly.
What begins as a loving homage of Drive-In alien invasion flicks of the freaky ’50s mixed with an ’80s horny teen comedy (though filtered through a Mad Magazine aesthetic) quickly becomes a showcase for the Chiodo Brothers (known for their effects work on the Critters films) special effects artistry.
And what a showcase it is, with incredible amounts of full-on creature suits, stop motion animation, puppetry, forced perspective miniature work… pretty much every glorious bit of practical effects wizardry these folks could conjure dances before our eerie eyeballs throughout the flick, and it’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face 666 miles wide!
Besides an overwhelming sense of fun and frights, the main takeaway from ol’ double K is that lower budgeted horror pics can be imaginative and unique on a shoestring budget!
Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a film well worth owning in it’s own right; but this 4K/Blu-ray combo Steelbook release from Scream Factory is the way to go by far due to the big top of eerie extras included!
Besides a sharp, color saturated HD restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, Disc One also contains an archival commentary with the Chiodo Brothers. This is a fantastic listen filled with anecdotes about the film’s creation, as well as a journey through their amazing effects career.
Jumping over to Disc Two, we get a Blu-ray edition of the film (accompanied by the previously mentioned commentary), as well as archival material including a “making of” doc (containing plenty of behind the scenes footage), an interviews with composer John Massari, and Visual Effects Supervisor Gene Warren Jr., a piece on the creation of the film’s various effects (featuring glimpses of the film’s incredible concept art), a duo of deleted scenes (with optional commentary tracks), a blooper reel, a collection of early film’s from the Chiodo’s, and the picture’s theatrical trailer.
As for packaging… well, the film comes in a steelbook (which should be obvious by now) featuring some stellar artwork of our kreepy klowns up to no good (as usual), so that’s solid… literally.
Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a funny, funky fright flick essential, and this edition does the film justice… so roll up and enter the terror tent to experience a picture unlike any other!
