{"id":27903,"date":"2018-04-23T20:38:58","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T00:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=27903"},"modified":"2018-04-23T20:40:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-24T00:40:58","slug":"killer-klowns-from-outer-space-special-edition-1988-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/23\/killer-klowns-from-outer-space-special-edition-1988-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Killer Klowns from Outer Space: Special Edition (1988) [Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m not entirely sure why, but I hated \u201cKiller Klowns\u201d when I was a kid. And I say this as someone who loved \u201cSpaced Invaders.\u201d That said, watching it years later, it\u2019s shocking how great \u201cKiller Klowns\u201d is as much as it is creative. You can tell \u201cKiller Klowns\u201d is working on a tight budget, but it\u2019s also obviously spending every single penny meticulously to work toward the movie\u2019s benefit. While the film isn\u2019t perfect, \u201cKiller Klowns\u201d earns its cult classic status as a very unique horror comedy. It\u2019s creative, it\u2019s funny, it\u2019s delightfully gruesome and you have to love that theme song.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a normal summer night outside the town of Crescent Grove where a group of teenagers witness a huge comet that zips past the sky. When they go to discover what crash landed, they\u2019re shocked to learn that murderous aliens resembling clowns have begun invading and they\u2019re housed in a space ship that resembles a Big Top. After Mike and Debbie infiltrate the ship and barely escape with their lives, the clowns follow them in to their town and begin harvesting human victims for food. With everyone falling prey to their deadly traps, Mike and Debbie have to team with a local sheriff to stop them. \u201cKiller Klowns\u201d is goofy but thankfully never over the top. While it certainly packs a great sense of self awareness, that element never interferes with pacing and or narrative, which is quite interesting even with the clowns.<\/p>\n

The alien clowns themselves are fun but occasionally creepy, packing their own bag of deadly weapons that lower the guards of their victims with seemingly non-threatening appearance. They\u2019re packing a popcorn gun, a rabid balloon animal, a very lethal cotton candy ray, and man eating popcorn. \u201cKiller Klowns\u201d greatest asset is its simplicity and ambiguity. There isn\u2019t a lot of time spent on knowing what these monsters are, we\u2019re just given hints and clues and the film takes off from there. The excellent make up and creature effects allow for striking and effective enough monsters to where all we have to know is the bare minimum and how to defeat them. Just when you think the movie is losing momentum, director Stephen Chiodo always drops a fun gag on us, like female clowns with inflatable breasts, and a hilariously gruesome pie throwing skit.<\/p>\n

\u201cKiller Klowns from Outer Space\u201d is a great horror comedy you\u2019ll either get and embrace, or pass up. I get why it\u2019s such a huge cult classic and I very much enjoyed its mix of horror comedy science fiction and clowns.<\/p>\n

Included in the packed Arrow Video release is the ten minute \u201cLet the Show Begin,\u201d an interview with Leonard Grave Phillips and Stan Lee (no relation), who helped create the theme song. \u201cThe Chiodos Walk Among Us\u201d is a twenty three minute retrospective on the directors, with looks at their home movies. There are some of the Chiodo Brothers Early Films, and \u201cBringing Life to These Things,\u201d an eight minute piece from 2014 with Stephen Chiodo touring the Chiodo Brothers\u2019 production facility. There are a slew of \u201cKiller Interviews\u201d including \u201cTales of Tobacco,\u201d a 2014 interview featuring Grant Cramer, and \u201cDebbie’s Big Night\u201d a 2014 interview featuring Suzanne Snyder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Making of Killer Klowns\u201d is an archival segment with the Chiodo Brothers. \u201cVisual Effects with Gene Warren, Jr.\u201d is a fourteen minute segment, which also features Charles Chiodo. \u201cKreating Klowns\u201d is a twelve minute vintage segment with Charles Chiodo and creature fabricator Dwight Roberts. \u201cKomposing Klowns\u201d is a thirteen minute archival interview with composer John Massari, and there\u2019s \u201cBehind the Screams with the Chiodos\u201d a twenty nine minute segment with lots of candid footage from filming. There\u2019s a four minute \u201cKlown Auditions,\u201d and two deleted scenes with optional commentary. There are almost three minutes of Killer Bloopers, as well as image galleries with stills, Behind the scenes Candids, Concept Art, and Storyboards. There\u2019s also the original film\u2019s trailer. Finally, there\u2019s an audio commentary with the Chiodo Brothers. There\u2019s also an Easter Egg included on the blu-ray set for discovering.<\/p>\n