Killer Klowns from Outer Space
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DVD details
Actor: Grant Cramer, John Allen Nelson, John Vernon, Michael Siegel, Suzanne SnyderBrand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-08-28
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Killer Klowns from Outer Space
DVD Review: Klever and kolorful.
Summary: 5 Stars
KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE is a clever, fast-moving scary/comedy that takes place during the course of an evening in Santa Cruz, California. The movie was filmed in Santa Cruz, California, location of an amusement park, but in the storyline, the location is anywhere in the United States. The movie is a complete original, but one can find similarities in THE BLOB featuring Steve McQueen (teenaged boy) and Aneta Corsaut (teenaged girl), ALIEN TRESSPASS featuring Eric McCormack (scientist), Jenni Baird (young waitress), and Robert Patrick (sleazy policeman), and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956). (Please do not bother with the color version of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978), because it is decidedly inferior to the original.) One might also find similarities in the many films where clowns are depicted as pernicious and evil. The special effects and the music in KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE are unexpectedly good.
GENERAL PREMISE. KILLER KLOWNS begins with teenagers making out in their automobiles, just as in the opening sequences in THE BLOB and ALIEN TRESPASS. The heros of the story, Mike (boy) and Debbie (girl), noticed a shooting star, investigate, and discover a circus tent. They go inside, and discover that it is really a rocketship, complete with colorful buttons, bubble chambers, a vast hexagonal chamber several stories tall, and pink pods. The pink pods are made of cotton candy, but inside are human beings being incubated. During the course of the movie, the clowns amble into town, entice the townsfolks, and play various tricks on the townsfolks and then zap them with ray guns. Mike and Debbie spend much of the movie trying to convince the townspeople that they are in danger. Eventually, Debbie is captured by the clowns, and Mike finally acquires the cooperation of a young policemen and two young men (Terenzi brothers) driving an ice cream drug, where the goal is to rescue Debbie. The Terenzi brothers are a recurring theme in this film, but they eventually prove crucial to the resolving the danger of the Killer Klowns.
CLEVER IDEAS. The movie overflows with an abundance of ideas. Here are a few:
(1) After Mike and Debbie discover the circus tent spaceship and explore the interior, they are discovered by the Killer Klowns and they run out and escape into the forest. The Killer Klowns follow them, with the help of bloodhounds. But the bloodhounds are really colorful balloons that are twisted into the shape of dogs (we have all seen clowns making twisted balloon animals at parties). The balloon-dogs act like real dogs, and run, and sniff the air.
(2) A clown walks down mainstreet. It wants to avoid detection by shoppers. The clown spots a motorized gorilla in front of a drugstore, waving its arms slowly around. The clown then stands near the gorilla, and mimicks the gorilla's arm-waving actions, thereby avoiding detection.
(3) A clown sets up a little puppet shown in the town square. A teenager views the puppet show, which features a boy puppet and a girl puppet. The boy puppet wants to get romantic with the girl puppet, but the girl puppet pulls out a ray gun and vaporizes the boy puppet. (The teenager laughs at this.) Then, a Killer Klown stands up, holding the girl puppet and the ray gun, and the Killer Klown vaporizes the teenager.
(4) A small Killer Klown rides a toy motorcycle into a dark alley, where a motorcycle gang is meandering and loitering. The small Killer Klown parks his little motorcycle, and one of the gang members decides to have fun and pick on the small Killer Klown. The gang member says, "What are you going to do? Knock my block off?" Then, this is what happens, the small Killer Klown actually knocks the man's head off, and it lands in a trash bucket, and the headless body collapses.
(5) In a scene at a burger restaurant, a Killer Klown stands near the door, beckoning to a 6-year old girl who is inside dining with her mom. The 6-year old girl approaches the door. The Killer Klown plays peek-a-boo with his hands covering and uncovering his eyes, in an attempt to attract the girl. (Whoever wrote the screenplay has a high degree of awareness of little children. This scene was very, very accurate in this sense, and scary too.)
(6) A group of elderly people, perhaps in their 80s, are waiting at a bus stop at night. A Killer Klown begins to entertain them with hand-shadows. The old people are charmed. They smile and laugh. Then, the Killer Klown makes a shadow-puppet of a tyranosaurus rex, and the shadow eats the old people. Gulp!
THE PLOT MOVES FORWARD. In addition to the clever episodes disclosed above, the storyline features Dave (young policeman and protagonist) and Mooney (obnoxious older policeman). The teenagers complain to Mooney about the Killer Klowns. Mooney receives various phone calls at his police desk regarding the Killer Klowns. But Mooney dismisses all of these as pranks. Mooney curses at the teenagers. But eventually, one of the Killer Klowns pays a late-night visit to Mooney, and that's it for Mooney. At about this time, Debbie is shown getting undressed at home in her bathroom for a shower. Nothing X-rated is shown. There are not even any cheesecake scenes. The bathroom scene is entirely appropriate for the juvenile audience. (So don't worry, parents!) As the plot moves along, the storyline returns now and then to the bathroom and Debbie, and eventually the Killer Klowns overcome Debbie in her bathroom and encase her in a large yellow balloon, and bring her to their rocketship tent.
Another recurring theme is where the protagonists (Mike and Dave) encounter more and more of the cotton candy pods. Yet another recurring theme -- more a running gag -- is the Terenzi brothers, and their goal of using a large ice cream truck as a way to attract girls, so that they can find girlfriends. While the Terenzi brothers and their truck appear to be merely a running gag, they eventually provide crucial to resolving the problem of the Killer Klowns. (I DO NOT GIVE AWAY THE ENDING.)
CONCLUSION. The various plots and sight gags are skillfully woven together. The plot moves along with the velocity of hurricane. The colors are abundantly splashy and a treat to the eye. The interior of the circus tent rocketship is detailed, colorful, and was (in part) inspired a typical amusement park fun house. The movie is clever and well-organized in the same way that a Mozart sonata is clever and well-organized. The movie is clever and well-organized in the same way that a legal argument by a partner in a law firm is clever and well-organized. The only negative thing that I can say about this film is that the clowns are too scary for children under seven years old.
Description of Killer Klowns from Outer Space
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