Killer Klowns From Outer Space [Blu-ray]

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All these years later and countless viewings, the movie remains a riot, one which the Chiodo Brothers will continue to be remembered for, even if they never went on to other projects of their own making. In the Special Features section, highlight Deleted Scenes and press right and you'll see an alternate "Holy Smokes" take (0:07). 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. Though it is a mix of newer and older features there is a real obvious love that has gone into this release.

The title really tells you all you need to know about the film: clowns from outer space come to Earth looking to harvest humans. The film is colourful and those colours look spectacular here, those reds, purples, and greens looking especially good.

The sole directorial effort from the Chiodo brothers - the special effects team behind such hits as Critters and Team America: World Police - Killer Klowns from Outer Space is the wacky 1988 horror comedy classic against which all other knowing B-movie efforts should be measured. The old MGM stuff, Arrow's 2012 interviews, the easter eggs, even the Harley booklet and postcard (this time, mine was for Don't Torture a Duckling). Killer Klowns is sort of a homage to paranoid sci-fi movies of the 1950's (or perhaps just accidentally so as it features similarly poor production values), but lacks the shlock charm of the Blob remake which came out in the same year.

When Mike and his girlfriend Debbie warn the local police that a gang of homicidal alien-clowns have landed in the nearby area (in a spaceship shaped like a circus big-top, no less), the cops are naturally skeptical. Both have positive stories to share and they talk fondly of the directors, indicating they were very helpful, explaining to them their final vision, which wasn’t always apparent. The very idea of it sounds like something a group of kids from a college dorm would make on a lark, yet the Chiodo Brothers managed to make it palatable for genre fans.I wasn’t expecting much from this interview admittedly but it turned out to offer some interesting facts about the group’s involvement. It also made things harder when things didn’t go their way: for example, a car crash they envisioned as big spectacular effect didn’t go off as expected, the car just rolling down an embankment, and they lacked the funds to reshoot it. Watching the film, it’s obvious to see Vernon is having fun with his fascist character and I was happy to hear behind the scenes he was a great sport about the film and excited about it. 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.