KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE Blu-ray Review

9.5

Film Pulse Score

KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE Blu-ray Review 1
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Blu-ray Release Date: April 24, 2018
Director: Stephen Chiodo
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 88 Minutes
Purchase: Amazon

Marking the directorial debut from Stephen Chiodo – one third of the Chiodo brothers, who are known for their animation and puppetry – Killer Klowns From Outer Space seemed to beckon cult status immediately after its release in 1988. This outrageously campy sci-fi horror film has withstood the test of time and remains a ridiculously fun time even 30 years later.

I have many memories of perusing the local video store as a child, and although the horror covers would often give my young impressionable mind a fright, I would always find myself drawn to that aisle, as if I was trying to prove something to myself, like I could handle these grown-up movies. Because of this, a handful of box covers have been permanently burned into my brain, and the iconic Killer Klowns cover was one of them – it’s ominous clown hand with strangely tiny fingernails spinning the Earth like a basketball, promising a “craazzy” time.

I never actually saw the film ’til years later on TV and then again later as a teen renting the DVD. Now, Arrow Video has released a special edition Blu-ray that provides the definitive version of this classic.

Opening with a rockin’ tune from The Dickies, Killer Klowns begins with a group of young people at the local make-out spot witnessing what appears to be a comet careening toward the nearby forest. A local hillbilly type also witnesses this event and heads over to take a look with his trusty bloodhound only to find a giant circus tent has seemingly popped up out of nowhere.

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Upon investigating the man comes face to face with an ugly group of aliens who look suspiciously like clowns, though they’re more the Pennywise variety than Bozo or Ronald McDonald.

From here, the narrative is fairly bare bones; the clowns invade the town and begin either killing or capturing the townsfolk in cotton-candy pods, and it’s up to a young couple – Mike Tobacco (Grant Cramer) and Debbie Stone (Suzanne Snyder) – and a sheriff’s deputy, Dave Hansen (John Allen Nelson), to stop them.

More than anything the plot is just used as a device to show off the variety of Klown designs, each sporting their own grotesque look and an arsenal of clown-like weapons. Their go-to weapon is a popcorn gun, a colorful little blaster that, you guessed it, shoots popcorn at its victims. This isn’t your typical Orville Redenbacher variety though; this is living-alien popcorn that has nefarious plans of its own.

It seems as if the Chiodo brothers were given a comparatively modest sum of money ($2 million according to IMDb) and full creative control to make this movie, which they fully took advantage of, creating every ridiculous puppet and prop they could dream up in their creative noggins. This is what truly makes Killer Klowns a blast to watch multiple times over.

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Arrow went way above and beyond with this special edition Blu-ray, packing in hours features. It’s actually insane how much content they jammed in, while still managing to keep it on a single disc. Interviews, making-of documentaries, an audio commentary track with the Chiodo brothers (which has been released previously), trailers, deleted scenes, image galleries, bloopers – this thing has it all.

Possibly the most interesting bonus feature is a collection of the early short films from the Chiodo brothers and a documentary that accompanies it, giving us a glimpse at the early works of these effects wizards. In several of the interviews, there’s even talk of the planned sequel, which still appears to be in the works and, yes, will feature practical effects.

The feature has been restored using a brand-new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative so there wasn’t any skimping on the transfer quality either, and it looks great.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t comment on the packaging, which contains a foil slipcase, a reversible cover featuring new original art and the theatrical cover, a full-color booklet, and a fold-out poster – everything we’ve come to expect from Arrow and then some.

 

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