Killer Klowns from Outer Space

Plot synopsis:
In the town of Crescent Cove, California, Farmer Gene Green spies an object falling to Earth. Believing it to be Halley's Comet, he goes to find it, coming across a large circus tent-like structure. He is at first amused by the sight, but he and his dog are quickly captured by mysterious clown-like aliens. Meanwhile, Mike Tobacco and his girlfriend Debbie Stone also investigate. Coming across the same structure, they discover a complex interior that looks nothing like a circus tent. They discover the old man in a cotton candy-shaped cocoon and are nearly captured by the alien clowns, who coat them with popcorn from a gun as they escape. A balloon animal dog that comes to life gives chase.
Narrowly escaping, Mike and Debbie travel to the police station to confide in her ex-boyfriend Dave Hanson and his skeptical, curmudgeonly partner Curtis Mooney about the killer clowns from outer space. Mooney believes it to be a hoax. After they drop off Debbie, Mike and Dave investigate, only to find the ship missing. Dave dismisses it as a hoax until they find Mike and Debbie's make-out spot destroyed and covered in a cotton candy-like substance. In town, the clowns capture townspeople in cocoons by using ray guns that resemble toys. The clowns perform a series of pranks and performances, including a puppet show, that end with many deaths. One clown fails to lure a young girl to her death, while another one kills a biker who destroyed his tricycle.
Mike and Dave encounter one of the clowns using a shadow puppet to shrink a crowd of unsuspecting people into the palm of his hand before feeding it to a bag full of its offspring, but it escapes before Mike can run it down. Mooney, convinced that the calls to the police station are the result of a hoax, encounters one of the clowns. A series of pranks makes Mooney lock the clown up, not realizing until too late that the threat is real. Dave returns to the station to find two prisoners dead, the station decorated with shoe prints, and Mooney being used as a puppet with the clown's hand inserted in his back. Dave shoots the clown several times before destroying its nose, which causes it to spin wildly and explode.
In town, Mike and his friends, the Terenzi brothers, who rent an ice cream truck they were using to warn people, notice the town is overrun by the clowns and flee. Popcorn monsters attack Debbie at her home, and the clowns trap her in a giant balloon. Mike, Dave, and the brothers give chase to the amusement park. Journeying through a funhouse leading to the ship, the Terenzi brothers become separated, meeting two female clowns who seduce them off-screen. After Dave and Mike witness a clown using a crazy straw to drink the liquefied townspeople, they rescue Debbie and flee into a maze full of tricks and traps.
When they emerge, they are surrounded by clowns. Rich and Paul Terenzi arrive, having escaped the female clowns, and use the clown figure on their ice cream truck to distract the clowns. However, a gigantic clown marionette, Jojo the Klownzilla, arrives, breaks free from his strings, and attacks; the other clowns flee. As Jojo destroys the ice cream truck, Dave distracts him by shooting at him. Jojo grabs Dave, who uses his badge to destroy his nose. The clown explodes and the ship is destroyed as Debbie and Mike escape. Debbie and Mike briefly mourn their friends' loss until a clown car drops out of the sky; Dave and the Terenzi brothers then emerge. As they wonder whether the ordeal is over, pies fly down and hit them in the face to the clowns' laughter.

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
demented sense of humor, simple and coherent plot, kreepy-looking klowns and decent cast of actors makes for an entertaining Friday night movie.Pair this one up with The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and you've got yourself a great double-feature..
If someone gave me that story, I'd definitely believe it; but the law in this town is slightly more sceptical, and while the kids aren't being believed; the clown population is growing.One thing I do like about this movie is the special effects.
The style of the movie is consistently clown themed, and parts of the film such as the climax on the alien spaceship look great.
The young cast perform well enough with energetic performances that, like the rest of the movie, aren't delivered too seriously; but the standout is veteran actor John Vernon, who is great in the role of the sceptic police officer.
Soemtimes it is pure indulgent comedy, for example Killer Klowns running around with acidic ice-cream sundaes and popcorn ray guns, and wrapping people up in cotton candy cocoons and slurping their blood through twisty straws.
"Killer Klowns from Outer Space"(1988)by Stephen Chiodo is a horror movie so ridiculous that it's hard to dislike it.What makes it work so well is that it successfully toys with our expectations.Some people just hate clowns,and this movie exaggerates everything that makes them scary.The plot involves some really creepy aliens who look like clowns.They have come to our planet to turn people into food.The clowns capture their victims in cocoons made of cotton candy,their guns look like colorful toy pistols,their pies are acidic,their popcorns turn into snake-like creatures and their ship is a circus tent.Anyway,this crazy film is extremely entertaining.The make-up is beyond grotesque and the clowns look very creepy.The film received a cult status many years ago and it's easy to see why.So if you are a fan of twisted and bizarre horror films give this one a chance.8 out of 10..
If you can't tell what Killer Klowns From Outer Space is about by the title, then this movie isn't for you.
Killer Klowns from Outerspace is one of those rare "good B movies." This was the first DVD that I ever owned and I am happy with my purchase because I think the film is enjoyable for several reasons, mainly, the whole plot is original.Check it out today or else the Klowns will come and get you and turn you into cotton candy.
Some people see Killer Klowns as a great "bad movie," but in spite of its low budget and iffy casting I rate this as a genuine "good movie."  Here we have a film that reimagines every aspect of clowning and circuses -- puppet shows, cotton candy, balloon animals -- in terms of homicidal aliens.
Most of the films intentionally made as bad movies or camp usually blow it (like most of Troma's disasters), but this is a surprisingly fun and good-natured homage to some silly sci-fi and horror classics of the fifties like FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956), INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) and THE BLOB (1958).Our heroes are Debbie and Dave, two of your typical annoying eighties' youngsters with bad hairdos and less than impressive acting skills, trying to persuade the locals something's seriously wrong here.
I was really prepared to trash this film and while Killer Klowns From Outer Space is hardly Citizen Kane it's actually a pretty fair satire of these science fiction films so popular in the 50s about alien invasion.A spaceship lands and it looks like a circus tent.
Their encounter with the clowns end badly, but are funny as all get out.Killer Klowns From Outer Space has a dopey infectious charm to it just like the Bill&Ted films.
"Killer Klowns from Outer Space" is a funny, silly and original cult film that entwines comedy with terror and sci-fi.
If you like those great movies, you'll love Killer Klowns.
Like I said before, the way those scenes are developed makes them interesting.Overall this movie is so bad that it is actually very good.
No self-respecting movie nut can pass up the opportunity to watch a cult classic with such a daft title as this (regardless of the disgusted looks he receives from his nearest and dearest), but it was with a sense of 'why do I put myself through this?' that I settled down to watch Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
For a twenty-odd year old low-budget movie the effects are OK, and the producers have to be congratulated on making good use of limited funds.For all the modest praise I've given Killer Klowns from Outer Space, it's not a movie I'm likely to watch again, which makes it not so much a guilty pleasure as a guilty distraction that can now be easily ignored..
This film is supposed to be one of those campy over the top funny horror films that is played tongue-in-cheek.Instead it is just an embarrassingly bad movie that is a complete waste of time.Some kids up at the local make-out spot see a flash in the sky and something lands nearby.After investigating this strange event a couple of the teens discover that the flash was an alien ship in the shape of a big top and it is full of Killer Klowns(hence the title and the last time I will spell 'clowns' with a 'K').The clowns are mean and nasty with big yellow teeth that spin the local folks into big cocoons of cotton candy for some reason.And on it goes-every possible clown joke is used including killing people by throwing pies at them and guns that shoot popcorn,balloon animals that chase people and a bunch of clowns getting out of a small car.There is an endless array of clown related gags and each one is less funny than the last one.In fact none of the attempted humor is the least bit funny, clown related or not.The writing is bad and the acting is worse.The space ship sets are common things like field line pipes and air ducts all cobbled together and painted bright colors with lots of dry ice vapors everywhere.What few special effects there are are poorly done and in most cases cartoonish looking.This being a PG-13 movie there is no skin and practically no gore.
Stephen Chiodo did a good job on this movie,the best killer clown movie I had ever seen in my life.This was a sensational movie,I watched it over and over again until it's not good which will take forever because it was an excellent movie,Iloved the characters sense of humor and their actions.The circus tent was great,I loved the real-life of a balloon dog.They kill people with a gun that turns the people into cotton-candy cocoons.And shooting popcorn that later will turn into little killer clown head that eat you.And a shadow puppet that eats humans and turn into popcorn was a cool spacial effects was the bomb.The Chiodo brothers did a wonderful job with the film.The actors were great,the director was good,everyone in the movie was great.Everyone is hoping that you make a squeal to the movie,whoever is out there please make a sequel to Killer Klowns.Everyone who loved this movie is counting on you..
It's brilliantly done with good actors for this type of movie with John Vernon, Grant Cramer John Allen Nelson and Suzanne Synder all being great fun to watch.
I just love 80's horror and this is a total cult classic and is one of my favourites of all time, it's a shame nobody makes films like this anymore, i hope the Chiodo Bros can get together and make a much sought after sequel.
do we stand a chance against these killer klowns from outer space?Let's face it, you're not seeing this movie for any other reason than to see creepy clowns attacking people and there's plenty of that.
I'm Sure if you Like Horror or Comedy You'll Love Killer Klowns From Outer Space.
Soon a large group of clowns from outer space are attacking the town and it's up to the couple and her ex- boyfriend (John Allen Nelson) to try and save the day.KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE pretty much came out of nowhere and became one of the biggest cult movies of the decade.
With a storyline about killer clowns with popcorn guns and cotton candy pods to house people, it's nearly impossible to fully explain how silly the movie is.
"Killer klowns from Outer Space" is one of those types of movies that is not trying to be a great movie or even try to attract audiences but is just trying to have fun with what it's about.The movie takes the idea that clowns are meant to be frightening and uses it to show how they are frightening to the characters in the movie but can be very funny to the audience with how they are terrorizing them.While the film can be very funny in some moments the story of the film is not the strongest and follows the same plot that many classic sci-fi movies from the fifties but does not try to make jokes of the generic formula for me to see it as trying to satirize the genre..
But this is not a problem for KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE--a film I saw for the first time little over a week ago, have watched twice, and would now proudly pick as one of my favorite movies ever.
But no comedy collection should be missing this film, and--I don't know how this makes any sense, but it does--no horror fan should by-pass this one either.The Klowns make the movie, there's no doubt.
'Killer Klowns From Outer Space' is one of the most entertaining movies of this type I've seen.
Watch as the actors careers die before they even started...but i'll tell you this, i know a lot of people who would love to have been in this movie, and twice more that can't look at a Klown the same way again....
They sure as hell don't make'em like this anymore I can tell you.Made on a budget of...well not much, the film comes of pretty well, with some realistic (they look alive), cartoony (they look funny as hell) and scary (I was very young!) clown costumes - I tell you, I never looked at clowns the same way after seeing this movie (and Clownhouse) at 8 years old around the time of it's release that's for sure.
Some aliens who look like clowns arrive in a little town and start to kill the population by turning them into cotton candy so they can eat them.
The movie is basically played all the way through for laughs.From the opening credits with the twisted fair ground theme 'Killer Klowns from Outer Space' sung by the Dickies this film has an excellent sound score to add to the atmosphere.The film is totally tongue in cheek as you would expect with a title like Killer Klowns From Outer Space and the writers use this to the full with the different ways the clowns kill people.
As I was trying to watch Killer Clowns from Outer Space for the 5th time, I found myself more entertained with my 9yr old son making up his own language for a song he's writing in the next room.
The other unique thing about this film is despite kills there is no gore or blood, well ok there is a blood effect in a scene or two but that's it and it's really small, the one that stands out is a Killer Clown using a really big crazy straw to suck blood out of one of the cotton candies, I just thought that was cool normally you wouldn't be able to suck on a straw that big but it's fun to think that could actually work.
I'm fine with the fact there's little to no gore, I don't need a monster/horror movie to be super gory to be good and scary.What I like about these Killer Clowns is how they employ and utilize amusement tactics to collect more prey or kills.
Laser guns that can either turn people into cotton candy which means liquidation literally or put them inside giant-sized balloons that are hard to pop.The film also delivers the scares like one creepy scene that sticks out was seeing a Killer Clown using a person as a ventriloquist dummy.
It has a bit of that old circus theme but with 80's rock guitar lyrics and it's just so darn catchy, this is a song I love to play at a party to dance to or even sing at a Karaoke bar with some people.So, beware the next time you see a clown, it may 'be the one getting the last laugh.Rating: 4 stars.
A major difference between the two films is that "The Blob" had a young Steve McQueen as the lead teen saving the town (though he was playing a 28-year old teenager), but in "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" there's no one of McQueen's level of charisma (but honestly there's only a handful of actors who can even come close to McQueen levels of cool).
I love this film, everything from shadow puppets to acid pies and trapping cute girls in giant balloons for sex.This is just one of those movies you just have to see to believe, those klowns just love zapping and killing people in cotton candy coccons.They put them in the cocoons so they can drink there blood to live, which is pretty much the main plot of the film!
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a cool and hilarious film!
It stars Grant Cramer, Suzanne Snyder, John Allen Nelson and John Vernon.It's about these clowns that are from outer space that start turning people from a small town into cotton candy cocoons and then EATING them.
The acting is horrible and story is pretty lame but the way the clowns look and act saves this from being a really bad horror movie and turn it into something interesting to watch.
Teens Mike Tobacco (Grant Cramer) and Debbie Stone (Suzanne Snyder) discover what is happening, and with the help of local cop Dave Hanson (John Allen Nelson) and a pair of nerdy ice-cream salesmen, the Terenzi brothers, they attempt to stop the grease-painted ghouls.Although this chunk of late 80s cheese is primarily tongue-in-cheek fun, its titular characters still manage to deliver some genuinely unsettling moments along with the slapstick: there's the freaky scene in which one klown attempts to entice a little girl out of a restaurant with the intention of bashing her over the head with a huge hammer; the equally macabre moment where a policeman (played by John Vernon) is operated like a life-size ventriloquist's doll; the ghoulish sight of a klown feeding on blood through a crazy straw; and an eerie night-time procession of klowns, busy gathering up cotton candy coated victims with a giant hoover.It's moments like these that make me wish that director Stephen Chiodo had taken the entire film down an even darker, more twisted path; that way, he could have ditched the Terenzi brothers (Michael Siegel and Peter Licassi), whose childish antics grate on the nerves and singlehandedly prevent Killer Klowns from being a complete success, added some more nightmarish visuals (including more gore), and got Suzanne Snyder to show us the goods in her shower scene.Still, even with the presence of the Terenzi's and a lack of nudity and gore, Killer Klowns makes for a fun time, thanks to its wonderfully insane premise, brilliantly garish production design, and plenty of circus-based inventiveness, including popcorn guns, novelty blowers that strangle, cotton candy lasers, a balloon sniffer dog, killer shadow puppetry, deadly custard pies, and of course, the klowns themselves—a creepy bunch of critters whose wickedly twisted sense of humour is only topped by that of Joe Dante's Gremlins..
With a title like "Killer Klowns from Outer Space", one might understandably think that the movie will be filled with heavy handed humor and not be all that amusing.
Anyone familiar with my ratings knows I love good bad movies...I prefer a cheesy $85,000 silly rubber monster/nekkid screaming bad acting type movie to overblown crap like "Titanic" and "Pearl Harbor"...I want to be entertained and that's what this movies does.Great theme song by The Dickies, amazing makeup for such a low budget, a nice mixing of old b-movie pros and a few newcomers, some decent comedy and a knowing sense of parody.It satirizes movies like "The Blob" and mixes in some great clown jokes (cotton candy caccoons, acid cream pies, killer popcorn) and some people don't understand this, but the creators of this movie KNOW they aren't producing the next "Citizen Kane" and that's the fun of it.As for the guy who claims to be catching up on cult classics and hated this movie, you REALLY need to catch up on your movies if you didn't recognize any of the actors in this movie...I mean a movie that has John Vernon (Animal House), Royal Dano (The Killer Inside Me), Grant Cramer (Hardbodies) and John Allen Nelson (Hunk) in it can't be all bad...So, for a great clown double bill, grab "Killer Klowns From Outer Space" and "Shakes The Klown" then put on your red rubber nose and have a blast....
Killer Klowns From Outer Space is the most pure and undistilled horror/camp film ever.
It's always fun to find a movie that's "so bad, it's fun to watch!" or "so stupid, it's funny!"  Killer Klowns was not one of these, unfortunately.
With a name like Killer Klowns from Outer Space, I highly doubt anyone in their right mind would go into this expecting anything more than a B-movie.
"Killer Klowns from Outer Space" is an instant cult film, that kind of thing that just has fun being a B movie with a nifty premise.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a creepy, and unique horror film that's budget is quite small, but scares are quite large.