Common Sense Media Review
By Jose Solis
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Gory violence, language in campy '80s sci-fi horror.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
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Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE drops a spaceship shaped like a circus tent into the woods outside the small town of Crescent Cove. Mike Tobacco (Grant Cramer) and Debbie Stone (Suzanne Snyder) drive out to see what fell and find a farmer wrapped in a cotton candy cocoon. The things that put him there look exactly like circus clowns. They treat the whole town as a food supply. Nobody believes a word of it, and Officer Mooney (John Vernon) throws Mike in a cell for lying. Officer Dave Hanson (John Allen Nelson) listens long enough to go look for himself. By the time anyone takes the story seriously, the Klowns have taken Debbie, so the two men go into the ship after her.
Is It Any Good?
A generation of nightmares came out of this gleefully silly creature feature. Killer Klowns from Outer Space looks at first glance like a cartoony B-movie, right down to the theme song over the opening, which recalls the title track of The Blob and the whole campy 1950s run it came from. Then the Klowns arrive. Stephen Chiodo and his brothers Charles and Edward designed them so the longer you look, the worse they get. The dirty creases on their necks, the painted nails on those strange arms, the way the eyes move, the sounds they make. Every choice commits to being creepy.
The film buys its own joke and believes completely in its silliness, which works because the whole thing runs 88 minutes and never outstays its welcome. The performances help enormously. Everyone plays at a pitch borrowed from the 1950s, stylized and loud, with the volume turned up to 100 in every scene. Even Debbie's long stretch as the girl waiting to be rescued goes by before it can become a problem. Plenty of movie clowns terrify, Pennywise among them, though this one does something else, creeping up on you precisely because it stays funny and disturbing at the same moment. Watch it as a kid and it will haunt you for life. Watch it as an adult and it delights you with how crazy and weird it gets. Families looking for a gateway horror-comedy might enjoy it. Teenagers into cult classics will love it, while the people who already know it by heart will rewatch it this Halloween the way they do every Halloween.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Killer Klowns from Outer Space turns something sold to children as friendly into the monster. Why do clowns frighten so many people, and what does a horror-comedy gain by picking a figure from kids' birthday parties?
Mooney refuses to believe Mike. What should someone in authority do with a story that sounds impossible, and what does the film suggest it costs when they refuse to listen?
The Chiodo brothers built every Klown, cocoon, and balloon by hand, since the computers to create them didn't exist yet. How do the effects compare to modern-day ones? Is the movie still scary?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : January 1, 1988
- Cast : Grant Cramer , Suzanne Snyder , John Allen Nelson , John Vernon
- Director : Stephen Chiodo
- Studio : MGM
- Genre : Horror
- Topics : Aliens , Fantasy ( Monsters )
- Character Strengths : Communication , Courage , Teamwork
- Run time : 88 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : October 6, 2026
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