Scared of Clowns? Blame The Chiodo Brothers

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) represents one of those rare instances where some innovative people had a wild idea, the necessary technical know-how, and full creative control. Written, directed, and produced by special effects masters, the Chiodo Brothers, Killer Klowns promises viewers a unique showcase of visual gags and surprises. After gaining renown within the special effects for their work on the stop motion Large Marge sequence in Peewee’s Big Adventure and their puppetry work in Critters, the Chiodo brothers, came up with a pitch and were given a modest budget by the first production studio they approached. Their movie would expand upon their trademark style in design, practical effects, and stop motion animation found in other people’s movies but using their own goofy concept as the foundation to build from.

Killer Klowns spawned from a simple idea: what do people find scary? These days, a phobia of clowns (or coulrophobia) is relatively common—the idea that something sinister lurks behind the physical jokes and overly whimsical painted faces is reported in 1 in 10 adults. For that 10%, all the juggling and balloon twisting is a ploy to lure one into a false sense of security before the true, sinister agenda is revealed. In reality, clowns are, in almost all circumstances, a safe and, depending on preferences, delightful entertainment that has a long history dating back to the Middle Ages. In fact, the fear of clowns was only recently identified as a phobia. The term coulrophobia supposedly began circulating in the late 1990s, and has, to the detriment of family-friendly clowns, persisted ever since. Killer Klowns presciently explores the seed of that fear and then lets it grow into a series of ridiculous hypothetical conclusions, all through the lens of a 1980s horror-comedy. Since this film was concocted by practical effect specialists, it is the instances of the ridiculous juxtaposition—innocent entertainment that is also gruesome threat—where the brothers' creativity truly shines.

               Killer Klowns from Outer Space starts with clowns as the point of reference and, in true '80s horror fashion, builds out from that core concept for every single set piece. Anything associated with clowns or carnivals becomes something threatening, and the representation of that threat is only limited by the imagination of the effects artists. The underlying mythology, which is briefly considered shortly before the climax of the film, is that humans were visited by these aliens centuries ago and that all of our traditions surrounding clowns derive from that ancient, terrible encounter. That gives the filmmakers free rein to transform popcorn into creepy-crawly spores of the invaders; to turn cotton candy from a sweet treat into massive human-liquifying cocoons for the klowns to slurp through a crazy straw.

Every aspect of clowning gets its chance to terrify or delight in the film; their shoes leave nonsensical and physics-defying footprints in the ground, and their one weakness is their round, red noses which, when popped, explode in a shower of glitter confetti. But while the dedication to the joke might be commendable, it's the attention to detail that puts the oversized cherry on top of the melted pie-guy sundae.

At one point in the film, a character considers the reason these alien invaders have been terrorizing the people of Crescent Cover, theorizing that, “Maybe they’re just crossing through the galaxy and stopped here for a bite to eat.” The other characters are at a loss for words because the possibility that the horror they’re experiencing could be driven by something so arbitrary is too terrifying to fathom. But that's the joke. There is no apparent reason behind anything that the Killer Klowns do beyond their glee in causing torment. Each Klown has their own approach to entrapping their prey, often involving an elaborate display of playing with their food.

One of the most fun examples of this is when a Klown puts togehter a stop-motion shadow puppet show for some people waiting at a bus stop. The Klown throws a few innocent silhouettes upon the wall to delight and awe before conjuring up the T-Rex that swallows them whole.

The horror of Killer Klowns from Outer Space thrives on the perversion of transforming things that are normally associated with innocent play into things that are menacing. We don’t have to venture far beyond the inhabitants of the film’s title for an example of this. To an adult that is well-seasoned in the world of horror films, this movie is not very scary. But if there is a singular truly unnerving moment in the movie it would be this one:

In one scene, a Klown prowls around a fast-food restaurant and, through the window, captivates a child with a game of peek-a-boo. The child, who is being ignored by her parent, is enticed to join the Klown outside when he motions to her with his come-hither finger while he waits with a mallet hidden behind his back.

The whole vibe of this scene smacks of Ernest Scared Stupid, a film that instilled nightmares in a slew of early ‘90s children with its child-snatching trolls. What a personal thrill to learn that it is indeed the Chiodo Brothers who are responsible for designing them… and all my nightmares!

Clearly, this film is a horror-comedy. I’ve found it necessary to stress the elements of horror present in the film because the comedy aspects are not subtle. The whole movie feels like a running gag that travels so far beyond the comedy rule of threes, that it, through repetition of the same old joke, veers into the realm of absurdity.  In a reality where sadistic clown-like aliens make a pit stop on Earth to harvest human snacks, you have to watch what you say lest it result in a literal manifestation just for the laugh. If one were to ask a Klown “What are you going to do? Knock my block off?” the Klown would leave no opportunity to interpret the question rhetorically. They would literally knock your block off for the punch line.

Officer Mooney, the abusive cop that stubbornly refuses to accept the reality of the situation, certainly seals his fate when he confidently announces, “You won’t make a dummy out of me!” Though none of the aliens were there to witness this statement, the movie itself seems to be in on the joke. When one Klown wanders into the police station during their victim hunt, it can't help but teach Officer Mooney the fallacy of speaking in absolutes. 

These days, it's hard to browse a horror list without seeing at least one killer clown or clown-adjacent movie, but in the 1980s, it was far more rare. Stephen King's It had only just been published in 1986. It seems that the Chiodo Brothers were tapping into something that would eventually become its own sub-genre of horror when they presented the idea in 1987. By that time, the brothers’ complementary creativity as a unit and what they added to other people’s projects had come to be well respected within the special effects community. So much so that when they got their small budget to develop their own wild idea, their colleagues in the industry contributed their own expertise to the project for very little compensation. Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a labor of joy and love, a collaboration of creative people seeing an original and outlandish idea through to completion. It may not have been a box office hit when it was first released, but has since become a well-loved cult classic, awarding them, in true Killer Klown fashion, the last laugh.