Home Video
‘Killer Klowns from Outer Space’ 4K Review – It’s Time to Upgrade This Movie One More Time
Scream Factory has just released Killer Klowns from Outer Space in 4K to celebrate its 35th Anniversary, and what an exciting time to be a fan of the 1980s movie. With the recent surge of Klownapalooza happening in the past few years, including tons of merch made available by Spirit Halloween and the much-anticipated video game scheduled to be released next month, it seems apropos for the Klowns to finally make their 4K debut.
In 1988, the Chiodo Brothers (consisting of siblings Stephen, Charles and Edward) took their seemingly ridiculous premise of having otherworldly monsters in the form of circus clowns land on Earth to wreak havoc on a quiet little town and produced it into a full-length motion picture. Inspired by creature features and B-movies alike, their unconventional film with a deliberately hokey title would garner an initially significant following that evolved into a major cult classic close to four decades later.
In Killer Klowns, After seeing what they perceive to be a comet crash down in the woods, Mike (Grant Cramer, Hardbodies, New Year’s Evil) and Debbie (Suzanne Snyder, Weird Science, Return of the Living Dead Part 2) investigate, only to find a totally misplaced Big Top circus tent with some high-tech interior décor and loads of cotton candy. It all seems like a fun time for all, until Mike discovers that the cotton candy contains the bloody corpses of local townsfolk.
The couple seek help from the local police, who of course do not believe their whacky tale. It doesn’t help that the officers include the grumpy Curtis Mooney (played by the late John Vernon in a role almost as memorable as the Dean he portrayed in Animal House) and Debbie’s ex, Dave Hanson (John Allen Nelson, former Baywatch hunk). Hanson is more receptive to their accusations, because he still has a huge soft spot for Debbie, but also has some serious ill will towards Mike for being his replacement. This dynamic is understandably super awkward and a nice little subplot to get you to care about those characters, because who doesn’t enjoy a nice little love triangle. On the flip side, Mooney believes it is only a promotional stunt by Mike’s BFFs, the offbeat Terenzi Brothers (Michael S. Siegel and Peter Licassi), who sell ice cream out of their truck adorned with a giant clown head.
Soon the Klowns get down on the town and start their reign of terror. Will they take over the planet and turn it into one giant cotton candy cocoon? Will Dave win Debbie back or just pummel Mike to let his aggression out? Will the Terenzi Brothers score with the ladies without needing to bribe them with unlimited ice cream? Will Mooney ever crack a smile? All these questions and more are answered in the 88-minute running time.
The Chiodo Brothers created a bizarre yet beautiful carnival of creativity with the Killer Klowns universe that is a major part of the film’s appeal and hardcore fanbase. Let’s start with the Klown headliners— Jumbo, Fatso, Shorty (my boo), Rudy, Spikey, Slim, Bibbo, and Chubby. They are all great villains, vastly unique in look, personality, and weaponry. And that weaponry dreamt up by the Chiodo Brothers is as innovative as the Klowns themselves. The Klowns hunt their prey with cotton candy cocoon guns, flesh-eating popcorn, lethal shadow puppetry, super-sized mallets, animated balloon animals, and boxing gloves with some serious extra “pop.” And if you haven’t seen the film and you think those gadgets sound cool, well they are even more awesome to see in action. Even if the special effects are from the ’80s.
All this talk about extraterrestrial clowns and circus weaponry can easily overshadow our human stars. Kramer, Snyder, Nelson, and Mooney are all fantastic as the leads, playing their parts perfectly. And then there are appearances by veteran actor Royal Dano (Ghoulies 2) and Christopher Titus (Titus), well before his popularity hit its stride.
Now I am sure you are wondering how Scream Factory did with the transfer, and you will be pleased to know that they did an awesome job. The picture is absolutely gorgeous and quite a step up from the previous Blu-ray release. Considering that legacy Blu-ray looked pretty good, you can imagine how great the Dolby Vision is for this 4K presentation. Wish the audio was Dolby Atmos instead of DTS, but not a deal breaker by any means because the sound is fine.
The 4K also comes with a Blu-ray that houses the bonus features. There are not a ton of extras, but the ones they have are very interesting, even if previously released: a making-of featurette, an SFX featurette and a featurette dedicated to the film’s score. There are also deleted scenes, bloopers, audio commentary with the Chiodo Brothers, Easter Eggs, and more.
If you are ready to open your wallet and grab a copy, there are a few editions to choose from. You can either grab the standard edition, the deluxe edition that includes an exclusive slipcover, two posters and a Prism sticker, or the limited edition SteelBook—which this review is based on.
You can order one of these versions now at shoutfactory.com.
Home Video
‘Mirror Mirror’ 4K Ultra HD Review – Dark Force Entertainment Resurrects ’90s Cable Staple
Do any of you hardcore horror fanatics remember Mirror Mirror from 1990? It had a theatrical release, but garnered much of its popularity on the shelves of Blockbuster Video stores nationwide and became a late-night cable staple for several years throughout the decade. And yes, it should be considered somewhat “popular” since it spawned three sequels. If you haven’t seen the original Mirror Mirror, don’t worry because Dark Force Entertainment, headed by Demon Dave, has released it in 4K UHD. That means you OG fans of this B-movie classic can relive some sense of nostalgia from that decade, now in 4K clarity.
Let’s dive into the film’s plot. Megan Gordon (Rainbow Harvest, Old Enough) and her mother Susan (the legendary Karen Black, Five Easy Pieces and Trilogy of Terror) move to L.A. and into a new home to begin their equally new lives. The previous residents left behind a lot of their belongings that are being sold by an auctioneer named Emelin (Yvonne de Carlo, The Munsters). One of the left behinds is a large, ominous, and mysterious mirror in Megan’s claimed bedroom, which she instantly becomes enchanted with.
William Sanderson (Blade Runner) also pops in for a small role (even though he is prominently promoted on the film’s original poster), shacking up with Karen Black’s character.
Being a goth and pretty timid, Megan obviously has a hard time fitting in with the beautiful people at her new high school, who proceed to torment her as bratty teens seem to do. The offending clique is headed up by class president-wannabe Charleen (Charlie Spradling, Puppet Master 2) and her boo Jeff (Tom Breznahan, The Brain). Megan has a mega man-crush on the latter, which plays into major events later in the film. The only people she has in her corner are Charleen’s competition for the class president seat, Nikki (Kristin Dattilo, Chris Issak Show) and her boyfriend Ron (Ricky Paull Goldin, The Blob), who is a bit reluctant to accept Nikki’s new connection to Megan.
While all this high school drama is going on, Emelin researches the history of the mirror and discovers that this reflector is no bueno and needs to be handled. This coincides with weird stuff happening to Megan, like her seeing the mirror oozing blood and having an unsettling zombie dream about her late father. Add in the fact that her teacher Mr. Anderson (Stephen Tobolowsky, Memento) almost has a fatal asthma attack and Charleen gets a wicked nosebleed, and Megan soon embraces the power of the mirror that she believes will help her right all of the horrible wrongs in her life. But we’ve seen enough of these films to know it is all going to go terribly wrong for her.
Is this film by director/co-writer Marina Sargenti (Lying Eyes) original? Eh, not really. Many detractors have criticized it for pulling in certain ideas from other better-made horror films and it’s hard to argue against that critique. Let’s check all the tropes. An antique containing evil? Check. Sympathetic outcast as the lead character? Check. Popular crowd being mean to the outcast? Check. Outcast getting powers that seem to help initially? Check. Outcast gets revenge against the mean popular crowd? Check. Outcast eventually gets overrun by the powers and things go completely off the rails? Check. Teenagers played by actors who are obviously in their late-20s? Check.
But in its defense, many horror films back then (and even in future decades) were very derivative and recycled each other because certain formulas worked and kept making money. It also seemed that people in general did not really make a fuss about the recycling of horror concepts, as long as they were having fun. Like many, this is one of those films that could only exist back in the ’80s. Yes, it was released in 1990, but it was filmed in the ’80s and it shows— with its vibe and especially the hairstyles.
The lesser-known Dark Force Entertainment might not be boxing in the same weight class as some other companies, being a younger company with a smaller staff and budget, but they do have a moderate selection with distinct packaging and presentation. And you can always tell they put a lot of love and effort into their transfer attempts, because they always look great. Their offering of Mirror Mirror is no different, with a 4K HDR scan from the original 35mm negative. This film’s last home media release was by Anchor Bay in 2004, and it has been OOP for quite some time before Dark Force decided to accept the challenge of giving it a much-needed upgrade.
There’s even a bonus feature of Demon Dave and John Rubin of Vinegar Syndrome providing a commentary worth listening to. The only disc included is 4K, no standard Blu-ray like other releases, so please be advised.
You can pick up a copy at Dark Force Entertainment. The limited edition, glow-in-the-dark slipcover sold out fast, but you can still grab a standard edition with the same great transfer.
8 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘In a Violent Nature’
Five Summer Slashers to Stream This Week
‘The Front Room’ – A24 Horror Movie from the Eggers Brothers Releasing in September
5 Deep Cut Horror Movies to Seek Out in June 2024
Vincent Price Action Figure from NECA Features Multiple Heads from Different Eras
You must be logged in to post a comment.