Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a horror comedy from 1988. That movie is "Killer Klowns from Outer Space".
Now, I've wanted to watch this movie for a long time, probably 5 years now. But I never really got a chance to watch it until tonight. And being that Halloween is right around the corner, I think, now, would be the appropriate time to cover it.
The only thing I can tell you that I know about this movie is that it involves a bunch of clowns who arrive on Earth, cause trouble, and start killing people. How do they cause trouble, I don't know at this time.
Honestly, I can't tell you much else that I know about it. I am hoping for this movie to be good, and given it's cult status, I certainly have high hopes going into this movie. And the only I'm gonna find out if this movie is any good or not, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Killer Klowns from Outer Space".
2 minutes later
You guys can't hear this for obvious reasons, but this opening song is catchy as hell. I have a feeling I'm really going to like this movie, guys.
4 minutes later
OK, I have a bit of a stupid question here. So this old guy was reading about Halley's Comet. And because he thinks that he saw a glowing light pass over him, he thinks it's Halley's Comet. Supposing that it was a comet that he saw, wouldn't the comet cause some sort of colossal impact? Because if I saw a comet pass right over me, I would probably do the exact opposite of this guy and run away from the impact that it would cause. I totally understand that it's a completely minor thing to be bringing up, but still, I would use a little bit of common sense in that situation, you know?
13 minutes later
So that clown's gun had the ammunition of popcorn...I don't know how that makes any sense, but I will say it was kinda funny.
14 minutes later
Well, guys, this movie teaches you a very valuable lesson. Never, ever, destroy this clown's bicycle. Otherwise, he will literally knock your block off. That is a very valuable lesson to learn, guys.
6 minutes later
So, hold on a fucking second here. Officer Mooney just got multiple phone calls about how these clowns are terrorizing the town in some way, shape, or form. Instead of going to investigate any of these claims, he just thinks it's a game and isn't going to do anything about it. Dude, I don't care if you think it's a game, I think getting multiple calls with the same problem isn't a coincidence for you to think it's just a game. Get off your lazy ass and investigate these claims! Holy shit...
5 minutes later
O...K. Well, guys, I think I just witnessed the most creative death in this entire movie so far. That was...really fucking cool.
13 minutes later
Well, guys, I now know why popcorn was stashed inside trash containers. I wasn't expecting that. They're certainly gross-looking things, aren't they?
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Killer Klowns from Outer Space". And we're closing out with the same awesome song from the opening credits. As much as I'd like to listen to more of it, I have to review this thing. So let me shut that off...OK.
I want to start by saying that when it comes to movies I watch every year for Halloween, my list isn't as big as I'd want it to be. I will say that it has come as a tradition for me to watch certain movies such as the first 5 "Puppet Master" movies, along with "Retro Puppet Master" and "Puppet Master 9: Axis of Evil". I also plan to watch movies such as "Chillerama" and "Witches In Stitches", which is an animated short that I have to watch every year, because, not only have I seen that movie many, many times as a kid, but it's one of my favorite Halloween movies of all time. When it comes to "Killer Klowns from Outer Space", if I were to rank it somewhere in my movies that I have to watch around every Halloween, I would rank it somewhere in the middle. Because it certainly is a fascinating film. So much so, that I may wind up watching it every year, just on DVD, whenever I watch it. By the way, I did wind up watching this movie on YouTube, just in case someone is curious to know how I watched it.
But, anyway, let's start this off by talking about the writing. The writing here is, mostly, good, at least with what you have to work with in terms of a plot involving killer clowns. The one big positive I can give this movie's writing is the pacing. This movie speeds on by. At no time, will you ever feel like the movie's dragging on or coming to a dead stop at any point. That's actually a problem I had with the first "Puppet Master" movie. Where, in that movie, the story was really slow at points, and you didn't really see the puppets all that often in that movie. Now that was probably intentional, because that movie wanted to showcase that less was more. But I still felt like that was somewhat of a problem for me. Compare it to this movie, you see the clowns a lot in this movie. In fact, the first 10 minutes shows you one of our clowns, as he ends up killing the old man. Well, turning him into cotton candy, to be more exact. I will talk about the kills later on.
Now because we are working with a story involving killer clowns, you're not going to expect a deep, complex, story here. Especially considering that the movie is advertised as a horror comedy. And the humor is certainly rather funny in a lot of areas. Most of that has to do with our clowns, because they will come up with some really creative kills that will make you laugh. However, I do have to admit that, if you are viewing this movie as a serious film, then you might see some of the kills as kinda cheap. But you really can't do that with this kind of movie. And I know that there are those who might not find the creative kills to be all that funny, but, again, you have to view it as what it is. So, the humor is mostly good, provided you are into horror comedies.
In terms of our characters, most of them are rather shallow. And I know that it's kind of a standard when it comes to horror movies, where most characters end up being kinda flat and lifeless in terms of personality. However, I'm going to give most of that a pass, because the movie is still really entertaining and funny enough, to a point where you don't have to worry about shallow characters. That being said, I am rather shocked to see that we have a lack of names for all of our clowns. Because none of them ever get named, or even get hinted at having some sort of name. And I'm not totally sure why that is. Because I would certainly like to have seen some of these clowns get even one name, so that I would have a better time understanding which clown is which. However, there are a lot of clowns in this movie, and I could understand not wanting to name all of them, because a majority of those clowns show up in the latter half of the movie. But, still, I would've have like to seen these clowns get any kind of names whatsoever. But that's really the only flaw I could think of when I was watching the movie. And to be honest, it's really not a big deal in the end.
There is only one character that has some sort of personality. And that is Officer Mooney. He is a complete retard in this movie. And when I say that, I'm referring to when he was getting a ton of phone calls from people who are being terrorized by these clowns. It didn't really make sense to me as to why he couldn't get off his lazy ass and try to investigate even one of these claims that these clowns are killing them. He's in his office with a beer bottle in his hand and just waves it off as a prank by these people. And he's just sitting there watching and listening to the phones ringing as he doesn't answer a single one of them. I mentioned this point earlier, but having multiple people calling about clowns potentially on the loose and are out killing people isn't what I would call a coincidence. And perhaps if Officer Mooney had some sort of morale, he would probably think maybe this wasn't a prank after all, and realize the situation of what's going on. Hell, even Officer Dave tried to tell them that this was really happening, but Officer Mooney just says "Nope. I'm not falling for this prank." Now, thankfully, Officer Mooney does end up getting killed by one of our clowns. Slight spoiler, in case you cared about the fate of Officer Mooney.
Now, beyond that one point. The writing here is mostly good, even with most of our characters being kinda shallow. What about the acting? Well, the acting is mostly good from the entire cast, save for one. And that would be whoever played Officer Dave. He was the only actor in this movie that sorta phoned in his lines. I'm not totally sure why that is, but there are some moments in this movie where he's giving off a stale tone with his voice, to where he was in his car with Mike, and his acting is kinda shit, because he sounds like he's not sure if he's suppose to give off an emotion or not. Now, mind you, even though I just stated he gives off a sorta phoned in showing, he still does OK enough to where you won't notice some of his bad acting in some scenes. So, overall, the acting is here is still good enough. It's just I wish the actor who played Officer Dave could've done better.
Now for the special effects. And there's a good mixture of both practical and digital effects. A couple of big examples I can think of are the makeup effects on our clowns. This is some really detailed makeup that we have on them, from the wrinkles on the clown's faces, to the inside of their mouth where you can see their yellowish teeth and that looks really good. And the costumes on these clowns look really good, too. But that's more so costuming than special effects, but still. As for digital effects, one really good example I can think of is when one of the clowns is performing shadow puppets. These are some of the best shadow puppet effects I have seen in a movie in a really, really long time. Then again, I can't really think of a ton movies where they involved shadow puppets, but that's beside the point. And the best part about these shadow puppets comes when one of them turns into some sort of...I want to say a snake demon or lizard demon. I'm not totally sure which, but that looked amazing. And I have to say it was quite possibly the best creative kill I have seen in this entire movie. Speaking of kills, that's where this movie really shines. I already mentioned the shadow puppets. But we also have creatives kills such as the cotton candy guns, as I'm going to call them. Because that's their main use of weapon, once they kill their victims. We also have kills involving the popcorn creatures, and where one of them ends up turning into an ice cream sundae. No, I am not joking. That is one of the kills that happens in this movie. If you want to see what I'm talking about, go watch the movie yourself.
Going back to special effects for a moment. If there was any one special effect that I thought looked rather weak, and you would really have to stretch it to call it a negative, but I still feel like it's worth mentioning. It's when one of the clowns is driving an invisible car that's chasing after one of the victims in a car chase. And the effect for it, up close, looks really cool. But when viewed by a wider shot, you can see the invisible car going by and the effect for it looks rather dated. But you have to understand that this movie came out in 1988. So by 1988 standards, it looks pretty good. But it could've looked a little better. And again, that is me trying to stretch it to even consider it a negative. And I can't really do that. So, special effects for this movie are rather good.
The music here is also really solid. The only song I can think of remembering is the theme song that plays in the opening and ending credits. That song is awesome, and it's really catchy too. It's definitely going to be the song that sticks out at you when you watch this movie. The score is also pretty good, too. Most of it comes from the guitar synths, and it's sorta catchy. Granted, it's not something that's going to set the world on fire, but it is still pretty good for what it is.
So, ultimately, guys, can I recommend "Killer Klowns from Outer Space"? Mostly yes. The only things I have to remind you is that the movie is a horror comedy, and you have to view it as a horror comedy. If you're expecting a more serious film involving killer clowns, then you're probably not going to like this movie. But I can still strongly recommend it to those who are fans of both horror and horror comedies. It's not a perfect movie, and, in some areas, it could've been better. But it's still a really funny movie overall. And after watching this movie after many years, I may have to finally track down a copy of this movie and put it in my DVD collection, so that I'll have it once I watch it again next year.
And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment