Reviews: Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) Movie Review
- Related: [ Movie Details for Killer Klowns from Outer Space ]
Subgenres: Comedy, Campy, Clowns, Maniac, B-Horror
Exploring Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) through our review, we cover its story, scares, and how it fits into the broader horror genre landscape.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) is an American science-fiction horror-comedy film shot in several locations in Watsonville, California, USA, and Santa Cruz County, California, USA. Director Stephen Chiodo (Adventures in Wonderland (1992-1994), Team America: World Police (2004), Screamers (1995), Vincent (1982)) did a fantastic job being us this comedy movie that made me chuckle a few times here and there.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is about evil aliens that look like circus clowns from an unknown region whose sole purpose is to capture, kill and harvest the human inhabitants on Earth. The oversized head aliens from outer space use their cartoon-like ray and popcorn guns, vehicles, balloons, and other things to capture the people. If you think this is the weird part - it is not. The aliens keep the human bodies on their ship in cotton candy cocoons, but their ship is disguised as a circus tent.
A few of the young people in the town knew better and did not fall for the alien’s tricks. They realize what the clowns/aliens are genuinely up to and arm themselves with an ice cream truck that they hope will help them defeat the alien army. Mike Tobacco (Grant Cramer - Hardbodies (1984), Santa Claws (1996), New Year’s Evil (1980)) and his girlfriend, Debbie, are the first ones to realize what the aliens/clowns are really up to and gain the help of a few others. Mike and Debbie (Suzanne Snyder - Weird Science (1985), Fools Rush In (1997), Return of the Living Dead II (1988)) enlist young police officer Dave Hanson and ice cream truck owners Rich & Paul Terenzi, who are twins that use their truck to get girls.
There were several no-name actors, so please do not expect superb acting - be realistic. What shines in this movie is the cheesy SFX, clowns, and comedy. The cinematography was very colorful, which added a lot of charisma to the film and made it fun. The sound was good and flowed well with the movie - there were a few creepy songs. All jokes aside, there were some scary scenes that horror fans and nonhorror fans might get a scare or two from. Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a hit or miss, and it was indeed a hit for me. Watch the movie with an open mind, and you will surely enjoy it.
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Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Killer Klowns from Outer Space Rating Scores
- Our Score: 6/10
- Overall Score: 6.13/10
- IMDB: 6.2/10
- MetaCritic: 4.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 8.1/10
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