Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) | Spaceship Slaughters!

In Space, No One Can Eat Ice Cream! 

...But we can because it's Pillow Fright Slumber Party time! We close out our month of Spaceship Slaughters in colorful style with 1988's Killer Klowns from Outer Space, a true cult classic. Along the way, we also discuss our favorite clown movies, the origin of Kay's coulrophobia, and the charm of old school puppetry and practical effects.

So grab your popcorn gun, settle into your cotton candy cocoon, and let's get this slumber party started! 

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Pillow Fright theme by Brandon Scullion

Transcript

Welcome to another Pillow Fright Podcast Slumber Party. I'm Elissa I'm Kay. And I'm Ama. And we are your three besties here to keep you in the loop with all things horror. Can you guys believe that it is the last week of our Spaceship Slaughters series? How did that happen? That just flew by. Flew by, just like a spaceship. It really did. But you know what? We are ending the series with a true classic.

A cult classic, think. Cult. You are absolutely right. You have to add the cult classic. I mean, to me, you know, it is a TCM classic. But that being said, you know, there are spaceships. There are clowns. And there's outer space. What are we talking about? That's right. We're talking the 1988 classic, Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

Say Kay What is this movie about? Well, in case you don't know, Killer Klowns from Outer Space I'm just gonna say it. We're having fun, y 'all. When teenagers Mike and Debbie see a comet crash outside their sleepy small town, they investigate and discover a pack of murderous aliens who look very much like circus clowns. They try to warn their local authorities, but everyone assumes their story is a

Meanwhile, the clowns set about harvesting and eating as many people as they can. It's not until they kidnap Debbie that Mike decides it's up to him to stop the clowns' bloody rampage. The synopsis doesn't even mention the third character in their throuple. No, was gonna say it pretty much gives away the whole plot right there. Except... Mike Tobacco!

His name is Mike tobacco why it was like Debbie filter. It's Debbie Stone But before he's stone because she has the most basic of all that is a very adult film friendly name Friends before we get really into Killer Klowns What's your favorite clown movie? If you had to choose there are no good clown movies because clowns are the worst

Is there a movie where someone just goes in and just like kills a bunch of them in mass? I'm sure there is. sure that exists. It has to. What's your favorite clown movie? To be completely honest, I think it's this one. I think it's this one, but also not a movie. But I love the episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark. It's not it's Zeebo right? Yeah. Zeebo the Clown. Yeah. The Ghastly Grinner, Zeebo. Don't get me started on Are You Afraid of the Dark. But yeah, I think it's this. I kind of, I gotta say I really love.

It chapter one. I think that's good filmmaking of the original No part of chapter one being the remake not part one of the mini -series. Yes. Chapter one is so good. I remember watching the mini -series as it aired as a kid and that shit scared the bonkers out of me. It's scary. I never saw it. I wish I I wish I had no, I've seen it now. I didn't see it as a kid. I feel like it doesn't hold up that well, right?

In like an endearing I think he did a really good job. There are some parts where he's creepy, but I don't think he's terrifying. But if you saw it as a kid, he's probably terrifying. yeah. Absolutely. Like, he gave me nightmares. Yeah. I can see that. And like, Seth Green being... I remember we talked a different episode where I was like, why the fuck is he this age? Why is he a teenager? I don't understand. And then it just like really messed with me. He's just ageless. He is. I remember growing up in Bangor, Maine.

that there's lots of fun things they would do to celebrate it. They would put balloons coming out of the gutters, like out of the sewer. man. That's messed up. Yeah, especially for like the premieres of these new movies. bless you, friend. I bet it was a great time to live in Bangor, Maine during the premiere of these new movies. I did it. I lived here, but I saw pictures my friends were posting from back home and it looked so fun.

That sounds amazing. Yeah, that would be awesome. No, that's a really good one. That might be one too. I can't believe I forgot about that. Well, it's crazy because Derry is like there is no Derry Maine It does not exist. But Bangor is actually Derry. So I could like if you guys ever want to come to my hometown, always I could take you to all the locations like that the movie is based on. we can go to your hometown. We can't go stay in my grandpa's clown. I want to go to all of that. Let's go. will. Yeah.

Friends, if you're watching this and you would like to fund a pillow fright road trip across the United States, we love that. we. For your kindly donation of a dollar 99 less than the price of a cup of coffee, you can send the pillow fright podcast team to go film in my grandpa's clown room before my family says enough of this shit and takes it down. And then we can go to Bangor, Maine to see all the sights. See all the Stephen King.

should be in arms of Satan. All right. Yeah, I anyway, I don't think I didn't watch any clown movies growing up, but I like I literally grew up surrounded by fucking clowns. Is that why you're scared of them? I yeah, of course. That's why I'm scared of them. Of course. Like I never watched it. I never saw it as a kid and I never saw it as a kid. So when a lot of people are like, I'm terrified of clowns. That's not what did it for me. It was actual clowns. My grandpa.

loved clowns, specifically hobos, the sad clowns. That was his jam. There was like a circus museum in Wisconsin that we would go to and I really... Wisconsin? What was it? Wisconsin. Not making fun. Look it up on a map. Not making fun. just love a good accent.

But yeah, they had a, like I love the sideshow museum that they had. Like I thought that was real cool. Yeah, I've been doing this the whole time. I don't know how you didn't notice my unicorn. And like the sideshow museum, like they had the conjoined twins. They had like little statues and they put them in little things. Like they put them in cages. was real, it was, maybe it was problematic. But like the, he legitimately loved clowns and the entire family room of the wood paneling walls is covered in clown.

Paintings, not prints, legit paintings. like velvet paintings? Yeah, there are some of those. Amazing. Plates, like when people would buy those commemorative clown plates, he has a series of those. And that's also where the only big TV was. So late at night, that's where I would watch horror movies. no. would watch horror movies in the clown room and like the shadows are playing off these creepy ass portraits that I'm like on the couch, like looking up at them. but.

A lot of that and like going to the circus. And then the only clown though that I grew up with in the Midwest is Bozo. Did everyone get Bozo? Is Bozo the waving one? Well, Bozo had like, had a kid show. had big red like actual, yeah. Bozo buckets. Like, I remember going to a taping of that. I wasn't scared of clowns then. I think it developed a little later. Ooh, have you seen Stitches? Wait, is that the We should watch that sometime. Wait, is that the one that went -

It's no no what's the clown? no that clown the one that got like canceled and then re -brought back Where they were gonna release it and then they were like, no, we're not releasing this and then later on like it got released to streaming or something It's an I I think it's Irish. I'm not positive. No, I don't think I've seen Stitches I would watch that sometime the actual I did like that clown movie though. I think it's just called Clown Clown

Yeah, the Eli Roth one. Where he like, it's like a body horror, but it's, yup. That one's actually really gruesome. I like saying clune. It's clune. That is, it really is. I've watched it again, but when I watched it, I was like, this is really, really, really dark. I can't wait to have a clown's month. When Terrifier 3 comes out, will you go see it with us? I have to still see 2. That's better than We'll watch it. Can we tie you down to watch it with us? I don't know why we have to you down, but.

Clockwork Orange eyes. Yes, I'm gonna say the same thing. If I can make it through the laundromat scene, I'll be fine. I have watched this movie four times and I've turned it off after the laundromat scene every single time. you want a beautiful corpse, you are in for a treat. You know what? I love a good corpse. Do not love a good floor shittin'. So unfortunately There's not too much floor shittin' part two, I don't think. There's a huge amount

in part two? The laundromat scene. He poops on a floor. She does. She like releases a vile, ungodly amount. Spoilers for Terrifier 2 I think it's been enough time. my gosh. Ungodly amount of liquid -y stuff on the floor. I just, don't, if it had been blood, I would have been like totally cool with it. No, body functions are not fun. They're not fun. So I just have not made it past that. I'll do it. We'll watch it.

I'm excited. I'll see three. But you've seen the bedroom scene, Or have you read about it in part two? No, I don't read anything about Don't do anything? Watch it with us for the first time! god. I mean, one is really cool. One is where I got Taint to Tip from, so. Taint to Tip. I didn't think they'd be able to beat it, but they did well. OK, anyway, what movie did we watch today? Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

I'm doing my D's in the face choreography from the fashion show. Okay. I'm so proud of myself. I haven't said one bad word yet. I am so proud of myself. It might not last, but I am trying. Anyway. Well, and speaking of Terrifier three, two and one, we have another film tonight.

that is created by makeup artists. We have the Chiodo Brothers. So we have Charles Edward and Steven Chiodo, the creative family force behind the cult classic, Killer Klowns from Outer Space. That Chiodo brothers. Don't eat that. I won't eat it, I promise. you. If I haven't eaten it yet, this was from like, do you remember that?

convention that I don't think it was Midsummer Scream, but it was like Scare. Scare LA Scare LA It was the first year they did that and I remember I think I got that, wait, nope. I it was the first Midsummer we went to. Go on. Cool. Cool story. So what did you guys think of this movie? I mean, I think the only time I've really seen this movie was like back, it was on cable one day and I think I was packing up.

for college, I was, or no, I was packing out of my senior year apartment college, senior year college apartment, and I just had something on, and I was like, okay, this movie's campy and fun, I'm gonna watch it. So I don't think I watched all of it, I definitely did not remember the dog. I did look that up later, where I was like, it's okay, it's not that on screen, the yelp is It's barely there. Yeah. Pooh bear. Pooh bear. Pooh bear. Get you.

But I didn't Yeah, I think this movie would have been a lot more fun to have seen like with a group of people like watching it like this Like we just watched it. Versus like having it just on in the background was like, okay This movie is very nostalgic for me. I remember discovering it because I think this might have been the one of the ones my mom may have to taken home for inventory at her

Her Albertsons VHS days we talked about in the first episode. You should watch and get to know us. I think this was one of them. And I remember specifically the punching scene, the shadow scene and the puppet scene. Scared the poo poo out of my b -hole. God. This is definitely one of those movies for me that I don't know when the first time I saw it was. It's just sort of been.

Like I just accepted that it was in my zeitgeist from the start or something. It's definitely a movie that I often put on for background noise and that I really love for the aesthetic of it. But yeah, it is a fun, campy movie. Like I don't remember the last time that I sat down and actually watched it like we did today. And, you know, it holds up for what it is in a really, really great way. Like it's such a creative movie and it's it's it's all.

It's all vision on the screen. Like you can tell that every dollar went to creating this ridiculous world. And I respect the hell out of that. No, it really is. Because this was, I think, my first time in a while seeing it from start to finish. And I feel like this is one of those movies that every time I, in particular, watch it, I love it more and more because they knew their assignment. The creative team, the actors.

The soap opera, Dave, like, they all knew their assignment and they took it so seriously, treating it like a drama, like a real straight horror movie and that's why it works. And it's one of those movies too where I believe the composer had gone in to the office of, the production company. Like, I guess everybody was like, all this movie's gonna be such a stinker, it's gonna make no money. And he's like...

Are you kidding? He's like, we got a cult classic on our hands. Like they said that while they were like in post, like they knew that this had like some longevity to it. Well, I mean, good practical effects, good puppeteering, which I will say like puppeteering, especially the eighties really was still doing that to the level where like everyone loved it. And they had so many clowns, just, I did not remember there being so many

background clowns And I thought that was so cool. And it was interesting because you mentioned, are their eyes moving? I can't tell if they're moving. But it reminded me of that same mechanics that they did the ninja turtles with. It's that kind of puppet costume human hybrid that's... Yeah. I think you do all the stuff in the close ups. I would rather see that than CGI.

But these, I mean, each of the background clowns, had different haircuts, they had different costumes, they had, they built these, they built them. This isn't like someone putting an extra in makeup and going like, okay, you're the hero zombie, you're the background zombie who's just wearing a mask. Like they individually built them so that each of these clowns had a personality, had a little story of their own. have names, they each have names.

Maybe not every single one of them. Maybe they gave names. Joe was the last one on the roster, if you look at the... Wiki He was like, the parade security or something. Well, the game you get to pick your clown in the game that came out this year, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, the game. Which still want to play. We should play for sure.

because you can play between either humans or clowns. And when you unlock all of the clowns, you can play, can even play as a female that only got a very brief moment in this game, which they should have had more. I'm sorry, brief moment in the movie. But you can unlock those skins and you get to pick their names, but you also, they have their signature weapons. Like, yeah, you have this gun. got the popcorn. the boxing gloves. Yeah, the little, he has the don't think anybody can see this, but a little.

So like these clowns, each clown meant something. Each clown was someone in their little hive of murderous aliens. Who's your favorite clown of all of them? I could confirm the name later. Okay. I mean, I really hate the one that looks like a pug. Yeah. Isn't that Fatso? think that's Fatso bothers me. I don't know. He looks like a dog with a ball sack. Is this one Shorty?

Shorty, yeah, the boxing guy. think that's Shorty. Shorty was really adorable. He just, felt really bad for him. They all are actually quite upsetting, so I don't love any of They're upsetting to look at. I think Shorty's my favorite because he's adorable and I love him, but I also love how scary, I forget his name. I don't know if they're official names or not, but the one.

That puppeteers, the scary menacing one that tries to lure the kid. yeah. He's so scary, that actor's good. This one. Is that your favorite too, Tangie? But in general, no, they're all awful. They're all horrifying. Very creepy. do, actually I think my favorite is when they're embryos, when they're the little popcorn. they're so cute. No, no, not just the actual actual moving popcorn. That's my favorite version of the clown. That When they're just moving popcorn. That makes sense. Yeah.

I love like all the sets that they did and then I love like all the like the matte painting type things they did to like extend their sets I think there are matte paintings unless they were real paintings like background paintings on set I mean I didn't really want to watch a lot of behind -the -scenes for this before what sitting down actually watching it because I figured that would be a lot of spoilers, but I would love to see What it was like between the when the clowns don't have the eye movement versus when they do like the variances that they did

I would love to see more about the spaceship. The spaceship was very intricate, very fun house. And the way that they really planned it all out, like the power core scene is great, where they like their little electric ball and that it's so campy. Yes. So circus. I love it. But it's...

You know, it is a working, it's a spaceship. has, everything's thought out for it. It's just like, I don't know why that these clowns exist in the universe that they do. It's not like... a planet of clowns. Yeah, they didn't explain it in the way that they explained it or anything like that or Pennywise. They, but they still, you know what? That's their thing. They tried for a second. They're like, what if clowns are inspired by this? like, nah. No, I love that...

The Horror Nights maze was amazing. They did such a great job with the set design in this, like replicating that, mean. Yeah. go through a Horror Nights maze for this. It's better than actual clowns. I think these clowns are less creepy. They were really fun. They actually interacted as much as they could for being at Horror Nights, but I remember walking by one time and I was wearing my Killer Klowns tank top and I think it was Shorty. He walked by and he was like, because it's Shorty on the shirt. He was interacting. I was like, that must have been so fun to be able to interact with the guy.

Yeah, and they had the guy being is it I want to she was bud for some reason that could be wrong that the like old man with the dog No farmer green Gene Green Gene Green Royal Dano plays father or farmer Gene Green They really had an actor outside doing that whole thing and they were trying to get electrocuted it was really cute. he's so cute. I mean they they play into the camp you have these like very clown makeup faces

and then disgusting teeth because they are eating and living on the sugars of humans, like dissolved sugars that are left in our bodies. That's what I assume. That makes it so much grosser. Well, like, that's the only thing that made sense to me. Like, if they're eating, it's just like our liquid sugars that they've dissolved and they like left in there like a hummingbird with a weird -ass straw.

When you put hummingbird liquids right, so I guess that makes sense. These are just hummingbird creatures. They're just really hummingbird. The technology of hummingbirds. But the like, gory, grotesque to this, where it's so camp and it's so ridiculous, but it is still eating and murdering and dissolving humans. Yes.

We're all still wearing party hats for no reason at all. No, it's that one scene. That one scene. Big Top Burger Big Top Burger And there's two scenes there, by the way. Let's use scenes, but there's only one hat. Yeah, well, we're wearing hats. We're wearing hats. We have them left over from Longlegs And we also, because we didn't have giant -ass bow ties. So I want to talk about the cast and specifically their performances. Mike?

Mike Tobacco. Mike Tobacco, what a name. a name. What a name, what a haircut. there was a lot of haircuts in this movie. There were a lot of haircuts. I really want to know what happened after this movie with the love triangle of like Mike, Dave and Debbie. Debbie. They all got very, very bonded. Very touching.

I was like, they are all going back to Debbie's to take another two hour long shower. There's no shame in a throuple. And I think that's probably what they decided on at some point. They bonded. They trauma bonded. my god. They were in it together to the very end after that. If Mike and Dave aren't together together, I hope they're BFFs for life. Right. Because that's really cute. Well, you can't have that kind of thing and then still be like, well, now we still have to fight over this chick. Like, we all went through this, but like only one of us gets the girl.

Demi wears fucking khaki for like everything. Like who wants to fight over that? And she has a beige Italy poster in her bathroom. Girl loves beige. She loves Portofino Italy. Well, you know, she was going for a cop and then she was going for the guy that brought a raft to his SUV she's got a type. Seems bland.

But you know what, maybe you needed Debbie and our leads to be so, so bland because our killers were so extreme That would make sense. And it's like, maybe, was the whole underlying theme of this movie root for bland? no. Maybe. Being bland is good. It saves lives. Blend in and you'll survive. They saw they live and they were like, you know what, we really got that backwards. Let's try this again. They are very opposite. Yeah. Messaging. They all took it so seriously. That's what made it work.

They say the best comedy is drama, like acting like a drama. I always was taught that. No, Dave was acting like this was a soap opera life or death, but not about the clowns, just about Debbie. feel like that was probably his direction was that he was spoke because the love triangle in the middle of this horror comedy. And I feel like his direction had to have been like soap it up because how else, why would that be his act?

It just worked. The town doesn't matter. Just Debbie. Is Debbie like kind of toxic? you know, the first thing goes wrong and the first thing she wants to do is like rub her new boyfriend in her old boyfriend's face. Like, I know somebody who can help us. Like, well, who's she gonna go to? Mooney? I mean, don't get me started on Mooney. I mean, I thought it was maybe gonna be like her smart college professor friend or something like this guy in her class who's like smarter and maybe he's in love with her, but not like your

let me take my current boyfriend to show off in front of my cop ex. Like Debbie, that's rude. That's like bad decision making on her part. She's like, there's clowns and they're eating people. guess things are higher, but I kind of think she did it on purpose. Debbie's a little toxic. Debbie did this on purpose. Yeah, she wanted them to fight for her. Yeah, and Debbie was definitely being like all in front of, this is my, da, I'm playing both sides. Was she just using?

Dave tobacco or Mike tobacco to get back with cop guy. Like, right. I have questions. Like at the end of the movie, he's like, like cop is like kissing on her neck and I'm like, what? And she's just like fine with it. No reaction whatsoever. He's like, okay, I guess all normal, all normal. Well, and in the car where poor Mike's sitting in the middle of the back seat while Debbie and Dave are in the front, he's like, doesn't change my feelings for you, Debbie. she's just happy to do, do, do, do, do. It's fine.

Nope, this isn't a thing. If I were Mike, I would been like, date over, gonna take my water champagne and go home. His water champagne? Yeah, I don't need to be a part of this. I've seen what's going on. I'm just gonna leave town. I'm out of here, man. Welch's water champagne. I don't like how Dave learns the clowns weakness is shooting them in the nose, and he does not give this information to anybody else. know! He's so human, because Dave is gonna be the hero.

Fuck all y 'all. He keeps it to himself because he wants that alien money. He that. He immediately has the opportunity to tell everyone who matters, tell the entire ref, send a lot of help to die so I can be the hero in this. only motivation he has is Debbie. I need to really look good in front of Debbie. So I probably need about 20 other cops to die foolishly so I can look.

real good Yeah, and they took such a long time to get there in such a small town. They took forever. It's the state caps! Yeah. How are they gonna get there? They have to travel the whole state. It's true, and they have to pay attention. Like, God, have they ever seen super troopers? I know! I will say, this is probably the perfect town for these clowns to show up to, because they got a whole wharf going on. yeah. No one's questioning the big top happening, or like, no one questions anything.

Everyone's like, yup, all right, another day in our small town. It's kind of cool how this only takes place over like a few hours though, in a night. It's not even, it doesn't take place over days, which I, in my brain, as a child, I thought it did, but. I love the, they had the deal, this like the store clerk, and he left the dude tear the place apart before calling the cops. Well, every other person just willingly opens their door and is like,

cool, pizza delivery by clowns, totally normal. Because my local pizza shop has been delivering by mimes this whole time, so clowns is just the logical next choice. any clown, disgusting clowns. And then the old lady, did you do this Harold? His name wasn't Harold, but I decided it was. how cute, this thing is disgusting. That is a face If I opened the door and I saw that, I would have probably melted into a pile of my own piss.

Like I just, that would have terrified the Zero percent chance I would have opened the door for a clown. Never in my goddamn life. I am not the brightest person with self preservation, but I would never open a door for a fucking clown, okay? I'm swearing this episode is the clown This all would have been avoided if they just had ring cameras at the time. If they all just. Or like.

Learned from the serial killers of the 70s and decided in the 80s that you're gonna start locking doors. Neighborhood watch. Where was there a neighborhood watch? Watching your children. Gacy came before this. Get it together, folks. That's true. This was post -Gacy. They should know better. should. Clowns are bad. Which also, Gacy is not the thing that terrified me of clowns living in the Midwest. Which is interesting. the room. So, but we forgot to mention Mooney. We gotta talk about Mooney.

Wait, it's not, I always think Edward Rooney from Ferris Bueller, so I always wanna be like, Edward Mooney. But he's from Animal House, I think. He's the dean in Animal House. He just plays that smug a -hole, like, ooh. He's such a He's so good it. brow work, though. I think that's why he gets His brow work. His brow work is very expressive. And piercing eyes are just, ooh, he's so good I just love that he's just like.

I, no matter how many people come to me, I'm never gonna believe there's clowns killing people. That's what I'm saying, that's why I said. I feel like his internal monologue or like the backstory was that he's retiring in like three days because he's drinking on the job, he's smoking a cigar, sitting there laughing at everyone. Throwing punks in jail. I think that this is how he's been acting this entire time. yeah. Because he's the only one left and he's like, who, there's no one above me. I run the coup.

And I can do whatever that I want, but I do love that he's like no matter, everyone is out to get him, which is definitely not a good idea for like It's just him and Dave. Like they're the only cops in town. Yeah, like they're like saying like, the chief is off. Like where is the chief? Is he on vacation? Chief's been gone. Is he in Margaritaville? Like where is the chief? Mythical chief. The chief that does not exist. he's gone. Mooney's in charge. Mooney.

What a dick. Small towns, you don't really get much of a choice, I guess. true. know. Unfortunate. But yeah, makes me wonder, what if somebody's like, my child, there's just a creepy man in a van staring at my child. he's like, vans. Vans don't exist. And this economy? Try calling again. my gosh. He's really rough. He's jerk.

There wasn't a lot of gore because it's PG -13. The head though. Couldn't do much. But they got away with what they could. For PG -13 they stretch it and it makes me wonder. know times were different with the MPAA at the time. for sure. It makes me wonder what, how further they wanted to go or could have gone. Did you do any research on that? A little bit. This is the movie they set out to make. Like I think this is all was always their vision. I think it works. Yeah. Yes it is.

I think if someone tried to remake this though, they would amp the gore up like times 20. Like the cotton candy would be like burning like through there. Instead of it just being like a pink face, it would have been like just a disintegrated skull. Cause there's a lot of that, like a lot of like body disintegration and things like that that they don't really show. But it wasn't gory. was like, at the end of the pie is just a skeleton hand. And I think a lot of times in today's world too, you hear, PG -13 horror. it's not gonna be good.

But I mean, and I feel like that also, again, times were different in terms of MPAA, what was allowed and stuff. But I wouldn't want to see this as a radar. But in today's world, I feel like it would be really cool just to see another version of that with what everyone can get away with with technology. But please don't remake this. While they're going to. are they really? Yeah. I think SyFy Channel owns the rights to it now, from what I understand. It's only a matter of time. I won't say, but I do have a few friends who've been

approach to direct it. And I believe they're trying to do it for the same amount of money the original was made for and not give them a good budget in today's world. as as they still have puppeteer cost. I don't think I think it would end up seeing anything with the SyFy channel, dude. it's gonna be 90 % seen. But you know, I'm kind of hoping with like the resurgence that they've had in the last few years. That the

it's going to be whoever ends up finally making that remake, it'll be done with a lot more love than what the Syfy would do. Because that's the thing about this movie is that people who love it, they love it because it's that nostalgic love. I think a lot of people, if they saw it in recent times, you still feel that kind of like, this is definitely an 80s movie. This is definitely like 80s fluff in the best way possible. And if you grew up on this movie, it's another one of, you know. It definitely is like a sign of the times.

But there's also, so there's different ways when they remake 80s things or they set things in the 80s where it's like this campy caricature of the 80s or if it's what actually the 80s looked like. Which are two very, very different things. I think, you know, hopefully it will get a good remake eventually. I mean, if it's gonna happen, I don't want it to happen, but I'm saying if it does, I want it to be in the right hands to the fans. I think people really love this movie.

because it's so hands -on. think because you can tell that the Chiodo brothers put their hands on everything. They made everything, they painted everything. It was definitely a project made with love and intention. I think that's why. Exactly. Well, that's something that you don't always see nowadays. If films are just looking to make money or make a buck, they're going to cut corners with CGI. They're going to cut corners by not taking care of every character. How often do you see a movie where every single

of which there were at least 25, 30 clowns that they made. point. Yeah, at certain point. you look throughout the whole movie, if we did try to do a clown count just by, like, based on wigs alone. We'll do for the Patreon. Clown count, Patreon. But they don't do that anymore. Like, that's really, really rare. Which actually, talking about this, is the first time I actually thought about a remake happening because it's one of those cult classics that eventually would.

And that kind of makes me really sad because I do not want to see CGI touch this unless it's space, you know, coming down on earth. The things where CGI does benefit, I would love to see that. I would. mean, the effects. Yeah. The Chiodo brothers themselves have two sequels that they've written that they would like to make. And I don't think that they've ever been given the opportunity to do it. Wow. Yeah. They said that if my like if they got to make these like legacy sequels.

Mike Tobacco would be like the town like crazy. He would be like ranting about the clowns coming and nobody would listen to him. The crazy Ralph of the alien world. Exactly. my God. Would Debbie and Dave have moved in together and that's why he's so crazy and like he's their mayor or whatever. I would love that. my God, it could all take place at the Cove Carnival. I would love that. Anniversary or some shit. I think. TM.

You heard it here first. Pillow Fright Podcast TM. You think that when they can hire us to make it. We'll do it. We'll do it. I'll be a clown. With the game, like, and how excited people were for this game and all the, you know, all the care that they put into it and the nostalgia, like you said, and the love that people had for like, could play as a clown. I can do this. But they've also made it so that it's... It is something that you could easily make a sequel to.

Or you could expand more on the clown world or like the history, maybe not like a prequel in the sense, but you can expand without it having to be necessarily a remake. And I think that recently we've seen a lot more of that. We've seen that where it's like, we're gonna do this, but it's gonna be like Nightwatch where they did it later on and the 30 year, they've done a lot of like that anniversary thing that is.

instead of it just being like, here's this movie everyone loved and we're gonna remake it and have it suck and people not like it. because if it's not good, fans will revolt. yeah. Well, go on. We are in the era of the Requel. It's not a remake. It's not a sequel. It's a Requel. And I think that's part of it is keeping the legacy alive. I think, you know, the Halloween remake team really, really set that tone. And that's what it's been moving forward. Trend wise. absolutely. And I feel like a movie like this, it's...

Because it's so campy and so silly. as long as you keep that tone going forward, all you need is a sentence being like, well, there's more of them. We discovered like where they're coming from. And that's all you need. Like you don't even need an explanation. Really. I mean, it's not like it ended in a way that the clowns necessarily lost or the humans necessarily won. Might not have been the leader. There might have been more. There could be a bigger clown. is more. But this.

This definitely left it open -ended, especially if the brothers were already planning on they had the idea to make sequels and they ended it in a really fun, campy way. think this movie has really had sort of a resurgence in the last five to ten years. Yeah. All based on merch like Spirit Halloween and Universal Studios have bought this license and they have gone gangbusters with it. Like I remember during the pandemic, it was like when stores were just kind of opening again.

There was people fighting at Spirit over Killer Klowns floor mats. was like, really? I won't want to. I know. It was me. I didn't want to admit it. That was me. But yeah, I think I think seeing it at Universal and people like it's such an aesthetically fun movie. It's so it's it's joyful to look at. It's and it's kind of trendy. So I see I see the merit.

And I see why it's attracting a new audience, a younger audience. It's just a very colorful movie in every sense of the word when we are in very like drab time in life. Right? Like, so this energy is much needed. Like this is so fun. I know, look at this stuff. Who did these by the way? you know where they are?

I gotta go. They were able to do that while still making it horror, which is what we want. This is the best example of literal camp, but still being like kind of scary, kind of fun. Like you don't want to get turned into the human slurpee with the pickets eaten by a crazy straw. And I said earlier what they're like, they are clowns with disgusting rotting teeth. It's like, and there's something gross underneath them.

for some reason instead they explore into, they explode into neon green like light triangle things. And confetti. And confetti. Yeah. But it is, there is that level of keeping it the best of both worlds, which is probably why it was able to, you know, attract so many people. I think this is one of the best, my favorite comedy horrors of all time. And I think the eighties, there was a time where they did a really good just repertoire of like, not the comet, like all these movies that.

are an equal balance of comedy and horror? Because there are some pretty creepy moments in this movie. Well, that's, you know, this is another one of those space movies, which are lot of the space movies we've watched that have to do with the 80s or the 90s or 2K are very, very different. It's hard to find space horror comedies that are, you know, going all three. There's space comedies. Intentionally comedic. Right, right. Well, you have Mars Attacks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's to be another one. It's set on Earth.

There is a spaceship, but it's not the same, you know. There's actually a lot of spaceship scenes. That one could have worked. This one's more fun. Yeah, it was on my maybe list, but I was like, if we're gonna do a comedy, this kind of felt more fun. But they did announce a game for that too, so we are getting... Yeah, we're getting Mars attacks. This is a cozy sim builder in the sense that you're building a... You're on Mars playing as the CEO who is building a theme park and you kidnap...

Humans so that they could be in your zoo. like the Jurassic Park game. It's like the Sims It's it's like no, it's like a roller coaster tycoon essentially. Okay. Yeah, but it's like attacks But then you also have to build roller coasters You have to build amenities and then you have to watch out apparently because the humans are gonna revolt and try to like tear your Yeah, so that's coming out in 2025 they just announced it recently but yeah 2025 so fun, but yeah that

this campy horror space SyFy mix that is now getting also a resurgence in games, which will that lead to us getting more for movies when people like the games and people buy the merch? I hope so, because we need this campy stuff right now. We really need it. I truly believe that merchandise keeps movies alive. Yeah. Like, it's a thing, you know? Well, it makes you wonder, anybody who's like 21 right now, if the merch wasn't here, if Horror Nights didn't do it.

Would they really know what Killer Klowns from Outer Space is? Only the cool ones. Only people whose parents told them about it. Yeah. Or if they have Tubi. Watch this on Tubi for free with commercials. Tubi, Tubi, Tubi. Is that trademarked? I not do that? Tubi, Tubi, Tubi. I hate that new logo thing. It's also on Pluto. Let me enjoy my trash in peace, okay? I know. That being said, I...

love that this was a nice, easy, short and sweet movie to talk about, cause, You know what, after... My brain just farted. After the horror movie that was Alien Romulus, after like the intense SyFy and CGI heavy Event Horizon, but also practical things, but also Event Horizon was like a lot.

And then what was the other movie? God. Jason X was wonderful. You know, it was a month of like heavy movies. So it was really fun to wrap it up with something that's this much fun and this beloved and something that we all actually like, which is kind of rare that the three of us all agree so heavily on a movie. I'll take that any day. Well, I would call that a successful slumber party. Would you?

Yeah. Yay. You can see even longer versions of this slumber party as well as our other episodes on our Patreon. Yes, if you want to see like five hour versions. Not really, but there's a lot that you miss. Along with tons of other bonus content, so make sure to check that out. Also, if you're listening to this, you can also watch episodes on YouTube and hear, see what you're hearing. If you're brave enough.

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Don't think I won't sing the whole thing. Get me out of here!