Frankly I wasn’t looking forward to it but I knew I couldn’t take on evil clowns without having a looksie at this ahem, “cult classic”. Within 10 minutes I just wanted to slap this movie. I’m not opposed to campy drive-in movie throwbacks like Night of the Creeps but I resent the ones that strive to be terrible and then congratulate themselves when they achieve that goal. I took particular offense to the way that protagonist Mike delivered his lines with that knowing grin on his face. Just shut up Mike.
That’s not to say KKFOS is a complete abomination. If you submit to the stupidity (as I eventually did) then there are rewards to be reaped. The clowns’ big freaky alien heads while not scary, are certainly a sight to behold. The disarming goofiness that comes with being a clown enabled them to get the jump on their victims before they realized they were in danger. I can’t say I’ve ever seen death by shadow puppet before.
Better yet was the Pee Wee's Playhouse meets The Death Star design of the alien spaceship that the annoying jerks stumbled into early in the film. I wanted to explore every inch of this science fiction/carnival playground.
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| Today's magic word(s): "fully operational battle station" |
Like Snakes on a Plane or Hobo With a Shotgun, the title alone summarizes the movie better than any synopsis could. I consider that to be a refreshing alternative to ambiguous titles like House, The Cave, Scream, The Reef, Insidious, Monster, Kitchen Sponge etc. (Ok I made that last one up.) That doesn't make it a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. I'm purposefully omitting a lot of cheesy sequences and plot holes but maybe I'm missing the point. Perhaps Killer Klowns just wasn't meant for solitary weekday viewing. It's probably better suited to be aired in front of a rowdy group of drunkards and hooligans. Count me out though.
