"Killer Klowns from Outer Space" (1988)

Some movies are bad, but there are lots of sorts of bad. There’s incompetent bad, incomprehensible bad, disturbing bad… but then there is the rare gem of bad: so-stupid-its-entertaining bad. “Killer Klowns” is one of the later, not poorly made or incompetent, just stupid.

The story is as follows: aliens from outer space arrive in a small college town to harvest humans for food. They fly a ship that resembles a big top tent, they bundle people up in something resembling cotton candy, and—they look like clowns.

This is one of those horror comedies. It is funny in a silly way, scary in its implications. The only problem is that, whereas clowns are scary, these aliens are creatures that resemble clowns. They are not truly scary. If they had been played by people made up as clowns, then I probably couldn’t have sat through this film. As it is they are too “other” to scare. But some of the moments would have been terrifying if done seriously. The girl in the restaurant scene comes to mind…

What I like about this story is something that, admittedly, one has to dig deep to find. And, this is not the best example of it but…

There is a school of thought that says that all myth is born in truth. This film implies that clowns, with all their fun, tricks and candy are scary because they are inspired by creatures luring in their prey. That is nonsense.

There is clearly a far more sinister and evil history at work in clowns!