Stale Popcorn

There are movies from my childhood in the 1980’s that I remember with such fondness that I always wonder when I get to see them on DVD if they are going to actually live up to my memories. So far, I haven’t been disappointed. Goonies is still a fantastic movie. Monster Squad is still a fantastic movie. So what of one of my other favourites from the 1980’s? Of course, I can only be talking about Killer Klowns From Outer Space, a movie I have been itching to see again for many, many years. A movie I have been meaning to import from the States ever since I realised that it was available on DVD over there. A movie that is now being released on Region 2 DVD. But is it still a great movie or have my memories betrayed me this time?

Let’s get the plot out of the way, just in case you have never heard of this movie before. In a small town, two young lovers, Mike Tobacco & Debbie Stone, are at Makeout Point when they see a shooting star flying through the sky. A shooting star that seems to land just over the mountain. Debbie decides that she wants to go and have a look at it and convinces Mike that they should go and see if they can find it.

So Mike & Debbie make their way around the mountain to where they believe the shooting star landed. To their surprise instead of a crater they discover a circus tent! Going inside the tent, it’s soon obvious that this isn’t an ordinary circus tent and it’s not long before they realise that not only are they inside what they thought was a shooting star but that it’s inhabitants are clowns. But not just any clowns, they are Killer Klowns From Outer Space!

As Mike & Debbie try and convince the local town police that they have killer klowns on the loose, the klowns set about taking over the town and dispatching the townsfolk and collecting them for food. It’s soon up to Mike, Debbie & police office Dave Hanson to stop the klowns from killing the entire town.

Now, if the plot sounds ridiculous - that would be because it is! Seriously, how could a movie about killer klowns be anything but ridiculous! But thats the thing, despite being daft beyond belief, this is a great B movie and it has some killer moments. The little klown getting into a fight with a huge biker, complete with oversized boxing gloves (and the immortal line of “What you gonna do - knock my block off?” to which the only possible answer is visualized onscreen), the sniffer dog made out of balloons, the T-Rex shadow puppet eating people, the popcorn that grows into little killer klown headed snake monster things, the candyfloss coated people and curly straws used by the klowns to drink blood - I could go on and on!

The acting is about what you would expect, with none of the performances exactly Earth-shattering but in a B-movie of this quality they fit right in. One of the standouts is John Vernon as police office Curtis Mooney - a no-nonsense copper who refuses to believe Mike Tobacco about the klowns because of Mike’s trouble maker friends. His performance is over the top but is utterly brilliant as well.

The real star of this movie though are the klowns. As the movie was written and directed by The Chiodo Brothers, who have worked on special effects for movies from Critters to Elf and Team America: World Police, you would expect the creature effects to be of good quality and they are! The klowns are wonderfully disgusting and creepy (but maybe that’s something to do with clowns being creepy anyway!) and there isn’t one single effect that has dated badly.

Despite being released in 1988, The Killer Klowns From Outer Space still has a strong following today, with toys and other merchandise available all over the internet, including T-shirts and new klown busts from the Chiodo brothers website and if you like guilty-pleasure/B-movies then you should really check out this DVD.

But the DVD release isn’t perfect, and for that reason the rating is a little lower than it could have been. You see, despite how great the movie is I have deducted one whole popcorn due to the fact that the Region 1 DVD release, which has been available since 2001 (I think), has an audio commentary from the Chiodo brothers, five featurettes on the movie, deleted scenes and photo galleries. And what do we get on the Region 2 release? A trailer. Which is pathetic. So, while this is a great movie (and I enjoyed it just as much as an adult as I did when I was a child) I am afraid the DVD release is a real let down for Region 2 fans. So here’s your rating:

Now, excuse me, I’m going to go and order the Region 1 release (which is a four pop-corn DVD, if you’re wondering).

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Posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 12:37 pm under DVD Reviews (R2) by Gareth.
Tags:DVD Review Region 2

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