A Quick Look: KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE (1987 - color)

   KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE represents perfectly why the 80's were such a good decade for genre films. It was really the last point in movie history where you could take a wacko idea and run with it, presenting your product without any sense of irony. (Most horror movies produced since the 90's tend to think themselves above the material, and present their wares with a sly wink to the audience, thus cheapening the picture.) The result is that KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE is a genuinely creepy monster movie where the absurd is terrifying because it's so unpredictable and dangerous. The plot is taken almost directly from THE BLOB, which interestingly enough was remade the next year. Some "teens" see a meteor fall to Earth and investigate, only to find a mysterious circus tent in the middle of the woods. Turns out the structure is actually the spaceship belonging to vampire clown monsters from another world. On it's surface, the concept is satirical in the extreme, but the execution results in one of the best monster movies of the 80's.