Franken Fridays: Frankenweenie (2012)

"Frankenweenie" is a 2012  film by director Tim Burton and serves as an expanded remake to his 1984 short film. It follows the same story as the original short but adds a broader cast of characters and is filmed in Tim Burton's mastered medium of stop-motion animation.

I remember working at a movie theater when this film was coming out, I had grown tired of Tim Burton as the current string of films he had released I felt didn't live up to his talents. "Frankenweenie", however, did live up to standard. I have always stated that Burton thrives with physical sets and practical effects, and this becomes amplified with stop motion puppets and hand-built sets for them. He creates his own little macabre world within these films, including "Frankenweenie".

                                            

What is so unique about this expanded version is how genuinely weird the additions are to the plot. There is a character called "Weird Girl" whose cat, Mister Whiskers, has psychic dreams about her classmates which are deciphered by his poop. Yes, this is an actual part that sets up Sparky's death.

                                           

The longer format of this film allows for more character development with Victor, as well as additional supporting characters. We spend more time with Victor in this film and he is more of an outcast. He has a strong passion for science, which his father pushes him towards sports. Much to his chagrin, Victor tries baseball to make his father happy, and at his first game sparky is hit by a car while trying to catch a home run. Victor being an outcast helps us 

The villain of this movie is Edgar, who is a play on the character Fritz from the original 1931 "Frankenstein". His role is much like that of  Dr. Pretorius from "Bride of Frankenstein". He blackmails Victor into showing him how to reanimate dead pets in order to help him win the science fair. This ends up going awry because he starts bragging to all of his classmates that Victor helped him bring back a goldfish from the dead which in turn turned invisible, causing them to pressure him into telling the secrets of reanimation.

Once Edgar is pressured into showing the classmates how to conduct their experiments, they all go to the pet cemetery and reanimate their pets. This is successful to a degree, as they become mutated and violent. We find out that this is caused because their desire to reanimate their old pets was just to win the science fair. Their heart not truly being in the experiment caused the process to not go as expected. These creatures get dispatched by Victor and Sparky only to lead to the windmill scene from the original movie. From there it follows practically the same ending except Sparky dies again saving Victor from a mutated cat rather than the burning wreckage of the windmill, we even get the same resurrection scene with the cars jolting Sparky back to life.

I remember the first time I watched "Frankenweenie" I absolutely loved it. Watching it again so closely with the original, I find a lot of flaws in the expansion of the story. I love the weird cast of characters and the little tributes to old school horror and monster movies. I also loved all three of Martin Short's characters in this movie and felt he had a blast working on this. However, the ending with the monster turtle leading the attack on the town feels a bit too over the top for the film. I wish we just got pets that were aggressive like "Pet Sematary" meets "Reanimator". 

My criticism aside I still love both versions of "Frankenweenie" and love how they both serve as love letters to the classic monsters of yesteryear. It serves as a great intro to spooky movies for kids of all ages. Let's punch "Frankenweenie" into the Patented Monster Meter:

Scares: 0/5
Monsters:5/5
Story:3.5/5
Final Score: 8.5/15

Both the "Frankenweenie" short and feature-length film can be found for sale and rent on various streaming platforms, or on Disney+. If you are a pet lover and a Monster fan like I am I cannot recommend these two films enough.

Jaws

So this past Saturday, June 20th was the 45th anniversary of the classic film "Jaws". This movie is an undeniable staple of American cinema and is loved by all, all that is except me, because up until June 20th, 2020 I had not seen "Jaws". My lack of seeing this particular shark film has gained a lot of confusion from my friends and family alike, hell with it being on TV all the time I'm surprised its taken me 28 years to see it too! To be completely honest I was worried going into it, "Jaws" has such a highly praised reputation that it seems it would never be able to live up to the hype my friends have given it. Boy was I wrong about that.

"Jaws" is a 1975 Adventure/Thriller film from director Stephen Spielberg. It follows the story of the small Island, called Amity, that thrives on tourist revenue. Their busiest time of year is when all the tourist come down to the beaches of Amity Island for the fourth of July weekend. Unfortunately this particular year sees trouble in the form of a giant great white shark that feeds on the swimmers. the island police Sherriff Brody, with the help of oceanographer Matt Hooper and shark hunter Quint, to track down this massive threat and destroy it before it can kill again.

To me "Jaws" was always labeled a horror film, this always peaked my interest. I could never picture Spielberg making a horror film, not because he couldn't but because it seemed so off brand for him. I was intrigued when finally watched the film to find it was more a Thriller with Adventure elements sprinkled throughout. At its core, "Jaws" features the heart that makes Spielberg films so enjoying for all ages.

What's interesting about this film is the shark itself. This film had a huge budget and a lot of that went into building this shark with practical effects, but unfortunately they malfunctioned regularly. Originally the shark was supposed to be featured more prominently in the film, but with the constant malfunctions putting a wrench in those plans, Spielberg had to find creative ways to use the character. Instead of directly showing the shark attack people, he chose to use point of view shots so we didn't see the monstrous great white most of the time, but instead view the attacks from it's point of view.

This is a testament to how great of a filmmaker Spielberg truly is, when faced with a problem that jeopardizes your entire production, he chose to take a more creative route that ended up creating significantly more suspense and terrified generations.

Another factor that really amps up the tension built in the film is the relationships between the three main characters. While Brody and Hooper get along quite well there is a strong tension between them and Quint. With his grizzled past, Quint has become grizzled and unorthodox and the rest of the crew doesn't quite understand his methods or why they have placed their faith in him. I think without this strong dynamic between the three, most of the movie would be very boring, but I found myself glued to the screen the entire time they were on Quint's boat, the Orca. You never quite know if Hooper is going to snap or Quint's true intentions and you just can't keep your eyes away.

"Jaws" was always so hyped up and it sure did deliver. I immediately understood why it was so beloved by so many people, its fun, it's scary, and its overall just a good movie! I highly recommend it to anyone that has or hasn't seen it before.

I did some up grades to the Patented Monster Meter so lets see how jaws measures up!

Scares: 3.5/5
Monster:4/5
Story:5/5
Final Score:12.5/15

As of right now "Jaws" is available to stream on HBO Max or on 4k for the 45th anniversary so go check it out!

Franken-Fridays: Frankenweenie (1984)

"Frankenweenie" is a 1984 short-film from director Tim Burton that serves as a pseudo-parody as well as a tribute to the 1931 classic "Frankenstein". It follows a young boy, Victor Frankenstein, whom has an inseparable bond with his bull terrier named Sparky. Victor makes short monster films with Sparky until one day the little pup is sadly hit by a car. After learning about electrical responses inside of muscles, Victor gets the idea to bring sparky back from the dead. When the experiment is a success Victor is over joyed, but the town doesn't quite share his enthusiasm.

So anyone who knows me knows how much I love dogs and Frankenstein, so this short is pretty much a match made in heaven for me. It even uses some of the same lab equipment that was used in the James Whale film as well as Mel Brook's "Young Frankenstein". 

Tim Burton was known to have come up with the concept after thinking about his childhood dog while re-watching the original James Whale film. After connecting the memories of his dog, and the concept of the "Frankenstein" film Burton built a storyboard pitch and presented it to Richard Berger, whom at the time was the production chief at Disney.  Berger loved the idea and they hired comedic writer Lenny Ripps to pen the screenplay. Unfortunately after the finished project was completed Disney decided to shelf the project, fearing that it was not sutable for a younger audience. It wasn't until after Burton's success with films such as "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" and "Batman" that the film finally saw a home video release in 1992.

Burton wanted to create a story about the love one has for their pet, and this is prevalent throughout. Oddly enough "Frankenweenie" is a very heart warming tale about a boy and his friendship with his adorable pup Sparky. I love the look of the reanimated Sparky in this film. He has that exaggerated style to his makeup that we are used to with Tim Burton's work. He features thick stitching on his head and neck as well as big bolts  on the side of his neck, paying homage to the Karloff design. Sparky seems like such a fun loving good boy and it makes me wish I had him as a pet. 

In the film's climax, the neighborhood forms an angry mob and chases Sparky to a mini-golf course windmill. From then its pretty similar to the windmill ending in the 1931 film, but Victor finds himself knocked unconscious inside of the windmill, which the mob accidentally sets on fire. Sparky ends up saving his friend but gets crushed by the rubble of the windmill in the process. This causes the mob to see the error of their ways and  they band together, using their cars to recharge sparky.

This proves successful as Sparky is brought back to life, and he even meets up with a poodle who bares a striking resemblance to the Bride of Frankenstein, sporting an up doo with a thick white streak through it. I enjoy this ending because it feels like a what-if kind of story for the original Monster and pulls on the sympathy a good portion of the audience feels for the character.

The original "Frankenweenie" is an awesome short film that I highly recommend to anyone whom hasn't seen it. It even got a feature length stop motion remake in 2012 which I will also be covering for a future Franken-Friday. I give the original "Frankenweenie" a solid 7/10 on the new and improved Patented Monster Meter!

Both the "Frankenweenie" short and feature length film can be found for sale and rent on various streaming platforms, or on Disney+. If you are a pet lover and a Monster fan like I am I cannot recommend these two films enough.

Ghostbusters (1984)

"Ghostbusters" is a 1984 comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and was written by the comedy legends, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray as Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stanz, Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler, and Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddmore. The movie follows a rag-tag group of parapsychologists, who begin a ghost catching team in the heart of New York. As the paranormal become more active in the city, the ghostbusters find themselves in an interdimensional battle for the fate of New York and perhaps even the world!

I grew up with "Ghostbusters" everywhere. As a kid we had the movies, toys, Ectocooler Hi-C, and even "the Real Ghostbusters" cartoon! I always enjoyed the films, but it wasn't until recent years re-watching them as an adult where I found a true admiration for the story of the Ghostbusters!
In the future I plan on talking about the sequel, remake, and even the reboot that is coming out soon, but for now I'm going to focus on the one that started it all!

One thing I wish to address right off the bat is the Winston issue. Allegedly the character of Winston was meant to be played by Eddie Murphy, who chose to instead act in the popular "Beverly Hills Cop". This role eventually was reduced and went to Ernie Hudson, which is a shame because I feel he was did a great job with the role and is my second favorite out of the four (first being Egon). Winston is a good straight man to the eccentric trio of Venkmen, Stanz, and Spengler. He always feels grounded and reels in other characters when they go off on scientific tangents, much like the famous "that's a big Twinkie" line. I feel like he represents such a good portion of the audience seeing the events from the view of someone who doesn't have a history grounded in parapsychology and its a shame we don't get more of him. 

we see a plethora of ghosts, demons and specters in this movie but we cant forget our first, the Library Ghost Elanor Twitty. She starts off as an innocent old lady, roaming the halls of the library as she did in life. Venkman meets up with Ray and Egon and they follow Elanor around they try to capture her with Ray yelling  which sets her off to become this spooky, ghastly figure making the trio race out of the library, excited with their first encounter. This animatronic is super creepy, and was brought to life by special effects designer Steve Johnson. The ghastly Elanor was also operated by a single puppeteer.

The next specter they encounter is this adorable hotel ghost, later named Slimer. He has an encounter with Venkman and covers him in ectoplasm, much to the excitement of Egon and Ray. This dude is my favorite ghost in the franchise and is one of the most interestingly put together effects in the franchise. To achieve the effect, puppeteer Mark Bryan Wilson donned the Slimer Costume so he could move his arms and body inside, where puppeteers controlled the mouth via wires to achieve the chomping and eating effects seen in the final product. Wilson wore all black while in the suit and was filmed on a black back drop while remaining in a single fixed location. In order to achieve the look of Slimer moving and flying the camera was placed on a Dolly and would move closer to the puppet to achieve the illusion of movement. 

Dan Aykroyd was known to refer to this character as the ghost of John Belushi. This was because Belushi was the original choice to play Peter Venkman before his untimely death. Steve Johnson has stated that Slimer was his most difficult effect to work on through the entire project. He has been known to say that the night before the final product of the character was set to be completed, Aykroyd and Ramis approached him requesting that Slimer bear a resemblance to the late comedian as a sort of a tribute. 

In the climax we see several Ghosts start causing chaos around New York, but at the center of it all we have the demon Gozer and their Terror Dogs. Gozer is the big baddie of the film that ends up trying to destroy New York City. Their terror dogs end up causing all kinds of mischief before meeting up with their master, even chasing Louis Tully around the city. In this film the Terror dogs are known as Zuul and Vinz Clortho, and end up possessing Louis Tully and Dana Barrett and set Gozer free.

Gozer gives the ghostbusters the choice of what destructor will cause their demise. Realizing that Gozer will read their minds to select the destructor, the team clears their mind of all thoughts, except Ray. He lets the thought of the Stay Puft Marshmallow mascot "just pop" into his head. This causes Gozer to summon a giant Mr. Stay Puft that starts stomping its way through the city, Godzilla style.

In order to defeat him the team has to cross their particle streams to cause an explosion large enough to reduce the marshmallow man  to piles of goo that cover most of the city, including the ghostbusters.

Mr. Stay Puft may be the most expensive effect in the entire movie. For the Film 3 of these suits were made, and all three were destroyed during filming the fight sequence. This is a huge shame because each suit cost approximately $20,000 to create. Mr. Stay Puft is one of the first images that comes to mind when anyone things of this movie, it feels like a piece of film history is gone knowing that none of the screen used suits survived the wear and tear of filming.

"Ghostbusters" is an absolute staple of comedic film. It's loved by so many people and helps bridge the gap between genre fans of any generation. I really liked it as a kid but as an adult I appreciate it even more. "Ghostbusters" earns a great 9/10 on the new and improved Patented Monster Meter! I highly recommend seeing this if you haven't and if you have definitely giving the series a re-watch before "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" comes to theaters in March 2021! 

RIP Harold Ramis, you were a comedic genius. Thank you for Egon and letting all of us nerds out there have a hero to look up to who was just like us.

Franken-Fridays: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

"The Bride of Frankenstein" is a 1935 horror movie that sees the return of director James Whale, actor Boris Karloff, and makeup artist Jack Pierce. The film takes place directly after the previous "Frankenstein" film. It tells the story of the monster as he tears through the mountainside looking for safety. He finds a blind hermit who teaches him how to speak but that is cut short as hunters try to kill him. He flees to a graveyard where he runs into Dr. Pretorius, whom uses the Monster as muscle to force Henry Frankenstein to repeat his successful experiment to create a mate for the Monster.

This movie is my favorite of the Universal Monster movies. This is where we really feel a level of sympathy for the Monster. Karloff dos an amazing job of emoting while in the makeup, to the point where the monster doesn't really need to speak in order for us to tell exactly how he is feeling. We see desperation from him as he simply wants someone like him so he isn't alone anymore. In fact, the only moments of peace we see in the Monster's life is when he is with the hermit, who teaches him to speak and helps him control his fear of fire. Up to this point, the blind hermit is the only person who has treated the Monster with any form of compassion aside from the little girl Maria.

We also see a remorseful Henry Frankenstein in this film. He truly feels awful for what he has created and the demise of the Monster. This is amplified by the introduction of Dr. Pretorius, whom wants to combine his creation experiments with Henry's to be able to create a mate for the monster. Henry continuously battles with his urges to want to perfect the experiment, and his sense of morality knowing that it is wrong. (Dr. Pretorius has been able to create life in the form of tiny humans, seeing as they are tiny humans and not monsters I wont talk much about them in this article). Once Pretorius accidentally meets the Monster, who happens to be hiding in the same grave that he is robbing for parts, he decides to use the Monster as muscle to force Henry to partake in the experiment by kidnapping Henry's wife, Elizabeth.

The experiment yields successful, creating the titular Bride of Frankenstein, played by the lovely Elsa Lanchester. I always loved her design, It shows the necessity of the collaborative efforts of the two doctors to truly perfect the experiment. They have both learned from the first creation and are able to build upon it, creating a life who resembles humanity a bit more closely in comparison to the first Monster. She features bold white streaks on the sides of her hair, which is elegantly held up in a frizzy wave. She also has various stitch marks on the sides of her neck. her gown may be my favorite part, as it seems to be an amalgam of  the hospital bandages she was wrapped in before being shocked to life, as well as a large hospital gown.

My favorite moment, which never fails to break my heart, is when the Monster excitedly meets his Bride. Finally this is the moment he has been waiting for across the two features, he finally isn't alone anymore because someone just like him exists... or so he thought. The Bride ends up rejecting the Monster, shrieking in fear at the very sight of him. He realizes in this moment she just sees him as everyone else does, as a monster and not a person. He becomes enraged, trying to break various objects in the lab until he finds a switch, which he is warned would overload the entire lab causing it to explode killing everyone. As tensions are heating up, Elizabeth arrives at the lab calling out for Henry, whom warns her she is in danger. Henry goes to the door to urge Elizabeth to leave despite her refusal. This is when we see the Monster shift, up until this point he has held a distain for Henry for giving him a life where he is hated and feared. (In fact one moment in the movie he even states that he preferred being dead.) Seeing the love that Elizabeth and Henry share, the Monster lets go of his anger towards his creator and urges them to leave but forces Pretorius and the bride to stay uttering one of my favorite lines in the Universal Monsters catalogue.

The Monster flips the switch allowing Henry and Elizabeth to escape while the Lab crumbles to the ground. What I always loved about this movie and it's predecessor, is how the audience can sympathize with the Monster. There's almost never a moment where I feel that the Monster is an evil person to his core. Even with the death of the little girl Maria, he regrets what he did so immediately because he didn't know that would happen. There is a sense of Child-like innocence to him that makes me feel so terrible for all the things that end up happening to him. My only complaint with this feature is that we only see the Bride for about 10 minutes of the film's runtime. I would have loved to see her featured a bit more.

"The Bride of Frankenstein" is still one of my favorite movies of all time. It balances comedy, drama, and horror elements all together to make for an enjoyable experience. I give "the Bride of Frankenstein" a well earned 10/10 on the New and Improved Patented Monster Meter.

If you have not seen this one please do yourself a favor and watch it, it's available to rent on most if not all streaming platforms and as part of a boxset from Universal that includes the 6 core monster movies in the collection.

Franken-Fridays: Frankenstein (1931)

"Frankenstein" is the 1931 film adaptation of the Mary Shelly classic that comes to us from director James Whale. It tells the story of scientist Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his life's work of reanimating a human corpse he created using parts from the various bodies buried in cemeteries and that hang in the gallows. This experiment works, creating a grotesque monster played by the incomparable Boris Karloff. For many this is the definitive Boris Karloff role, solidifying him as a Universal Horror key player among the likes of  Bela Lugosi, Claude Rains, and Lon Chaney jr.

Going over the story of "Frankenstein" seems pretty redundant seeing as it is a staple classic of the horror genre and is universally known. Instead I will be celebrating this classic and why I love it so much.

First and foremost, Boris Karloff is my favorite of the Universal Monster actors, specifically for this character. What I have recently found out was that Karloff wasn't the initial choice for this film. Originally the movie was to be directed by Robert Florey and producer Carle Laemmel Jr, wanted to capitalize off the success of "Dracula" by casting Bela Lugosi as the monster. Lugosi turned down this role due to the lack of dialogue and expressed interest in the role of Henry Frankenstein. Florey's original vision for the monster was very one dimensional, as he wanted him to be a ruthless killing machine and original makeup tests featured Lugosi looking similar to the silent film monster "the Golem".

Lugosi was later removed from the project when the project turned hands over to James Whale. This version that never was would have been vastly different from what we are used to the famous monster being. One of the aspects of the character that makes him so unique is the question of who the villain of the story truly is. A common theory of "Frankenstein" is that the monster isn't the true villain of the story, but in fact it is Henry Frankenstein for willing the monster to a life of ridicule and hate.

The concept of the misunderstood monster has become somewhat of a horror trope, being present in stories such as the Broadway adaptation of Phantom of the opera or the T.V. series Angel, but I feel a huge amount of credit is due to Whale's adaptation and Karloff's performance, particularly seen in the scene where the monster encounters the child Maria. When we see the monster flee from the lab and into the woods he comes across a cottage where a young girl is playing outside. The child sees him and treats him with kindness, even inviting him to pick flowers with her. She shows him how to make the flower heads into boats by throwing them into the nearby lake. Once the monster runs out of flowers to throw he thinks it would be fun to toss Maria into the lake, not knowing she doesn't know how to swim. This scene is heartbreaking because we see the confusion and regret on the monster's face the second he realizes he put her in danger. He becomes frantic and scrambles around trying to find help, to no avail because he cannot speak.

This is the most important scene in film and one of the most important moments in the history of the Universal Monsters and until recently it was cut from the film. Due to state censorship boards, the original this scene was deemed too graphic and cut from the original theatrical version of the film. This is a pivotal moment where we feel sympathy for the monster and are brought to view him in a a different light.  The thing the makes "Frankenstein" stick out is the motivation, where as other monsters are motivated for persona gain, this monster just wants to be treated normal, and aside from when he feels threatened he truly doesn't aim to hurt anyone. This makes the film more of a tragedy than a horror.

One of the biggest things that sticks in people's memory is the monsters iconic look. This is all due to the incomparable work of Jack Pierce, who was Universal's go to monster makeup master! Pierce was known to be a very brash person but worked abnormally well with Karloff. It took about 4 hours for Pierce to complete Karloff's makeup and Karloff even contributed to the overall look, removing a dental bridge in order to give his cheeks a sunken in look. This look had such a cultural impact that it became widely accepted as the definitive look for the monster. What is interesting is that even though the story of "Frankenstein" is in the public domain, the Universal Monster design for the monster is still copywritten by Universal until 2026.

Frankenstein was my first Universal Monster Movie, and it spawned my love for the genre. I remember going to local stores with my uncle to pick up the reissued movies on VHS and watching them each October over and over again! These monsters have unlocked the door to a world of entertainment that has become such a huge part of my life and I owe it all to this lanky green creation. I give "Frankenstein" a well deserved 10/10 on the New and Improved Patented Monster Meter.

If you have not seen this one please do yourself a favor and watch it, it's available to rent on most if not all streaming platforms and as part of a boxset from Universal that includes the 6 core monster movies in the collection.

Young Frankenstein

"Young Frankenstein" is a 1974 comedy from Director Mel Brooks, and written by Brooks with the help of Gene Wilder. It is a parody of the original Universal Frankenstein movie but instead follows the Grandson of Victor Frankenstein and how he struggles to disassociate himself from the Frankenstein namesake.

This will be less of a review and more of an celebration of this film. I grew up in a single parent household and my uncle used to take care of me on the weekends when my mother and grandmother would be working or out of the house. These were some of my fondest memories because my uncle would show me movies  or draw with me which are both deep rooted loves of mine. One night while roaming the isles of blockbuster he saw this tape on the isle and decided to rent it to show me, being a 6 year old kid I was a little apprehensive of watching a black an white movie, but from the beginning of the film to the end I was in awe.

This movie changed my entire perspective on film as a whole. It was clever, hilarious, and different all while paying such perfect tribute to the original Frankenstein film. "Young Frankenstein" also solidified Gene Wilder as my favorite actor of all time. Since watching this movie I have had a love/hate relationship with comedy as a whole, nothing really seems as well thought out as comedies from the past anymore. It seems like every new comedy relies on crude language or humor.

"Young Frankenstein" manages to be funny through the use of great wordplay and visual gags such as a character's name being Frau Blucher which makes horses neigh because the word "Blucher" means glue in German, or the infamous "Puttin' on the Ritz" tap dance number with the monster. It feels like every piece of this movie just fits so well and makes for a hysterical time. I also love some of the visual gags in the monster's design. He has a horseshoe haircut and traded in the originals bolt neck design for a zipper on his neck. It's nonsensical things like the zipper that just add an extra level of fun to this film.

Whenever Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder are on a project together it was aboslute magic, sadly we only got to see this dynamic duo three times with: "the Producers", "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein". Although limited to only three, when these two paired up we were given a dose of comedy gold that has made a great impact on my life and my love for film. This isn't the only dabble into the horror comedy genre that either of them have dabbled, with Brooks Directing "Dracula Dead and Loving it" and Wilder starring in "Haunted Honeymoon" with Gilda Radner, both never seemed to capture the magic that came with "Young Frankenstein".

"Young Frankenstein" is solidified as not only a definitive staple of the comedy genre but in film as a whole, and is so beloved that it has broken the Patented Monster Meter and can not be scored on a scale as small as 1-5.  If you haven't seen this film, please do, and if you have re watch it! I do several times a year and it's just as funny as the first time I saw it.

Rest in Peace Gene Wilder (1933-2016) Thank you for all of your movies that taught me to laugh, love, and appreciate all of life's ups and downs. You started my love for film and although I never got the pleasure to meet you I owe you a great bit of gratitude for your contributions to film and comedy.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

"Killer Klowns from Outer Space" is a 1988 horror comedy film brought to us by The Chiodo brothers Charles and Stephen Chiodo. It follows the lives of several teens who live in a small town that finds itself under attack by an army of alien Klowns hell bent on destruction! The film centers around a young couple, Mike and Debbie, and how their friends try to stop this grease painted threat.

"Killer Klowns from Outer Space" is one of my all time favorite movies and to this day the Klowns in it stand as my absolute favorite creatures from any movie I have ever seen. One of the great things about this movie is how creative every aspect of it is. The premise and title are so outlandish but you get exactly what youd expect from it, and it ends up being one of the most fun movies that I truly enjoy revisiting every single time I watch it. Unlike the manufactured B-Movies we get today, this one truly doesn't try too hard to be funny and never takes itself too seriously and it becomes an absolute treasure to the genre.



The Klowns and the rest of the special effects are fantastic and just a ton of fun. I'm one of those nerds who knows each Klown by name, but for the sake of not writing a novel I try to focus on the main Klowns we see prominently in the film, but first

SPOILER ALERT

The movie starts off with various shots throughout the city. As we see various people go about their lives we are led to a farmer who sees a shooting star he believes to be Hailey's comet, so he takes his dog poohbear to go try to dig it up. He goes to investigate and finds a giant circus tent that he excitedly goes to examine. While looking he notices that poohbear is nowhere to be found  and after being shocked by a chord coming out of the tent he is attacked by the first clown we see in the film. Jumbo!

Jumbo is probably the most active of all the clowns in this movie, he honestly has some of the creepiest moments throughout the film. He later tries to lurer a small child out of a family pizza restaurant so that he can presumably kill her with a giant mallet. He also has arguably the best kill of this entire movie where he takes out the town sheriff, Mooney, and turns him into a puppet. This scene really freaked me out as a kid, especially how he mimics Mooney's voice and the gross wet sound that comes from his hand as he takes it out of Mooney's back.

After seeing Jumbo the next clown we see is Rudy, when the main couple of Mike and Debbie head into the circus tent space ship the see him fiddling with the controls. and narrowly escape him when he chases them with a popcorn gun. Rudy is a fun clown and we see his various antics throughout the movie including hiding in plain site in front of a drug store, posing as an animatronic figure. He also later loots that same drugstore with my favorite Klown, Shorty.

Assisting Rudy in trying to catch both Mike and Debbie as they flee the ship is Spikey. His first moment in the movie is where he tries to help Rudy track down the couple by making a balloon animal dog that comes to life and acts as a bloodhound, trying to trace the scent of the two teens. Later we get a great scene where Spikey puts on a puppet show in the town, using it as a ruse to bait a young man and zap him with the cotton candy cocoon ray gun.

After Mike and Debbie escape into town we see some other Klowns such as Bibbo, Rudy, Jumbo, and Shorty all head into town as we get the awesome Killer Klowns March playing in the background and then a montage with all the various clowns abducting different people.

The next Klown we see is my all time favorite, Shorty. Shorty is the smallest of the Killer Klowns and is absolutely adorable! They also have some of the best moments throughout the film including robbing the drug store with Rudy, popping out of a pizza box to zap someone, and my favorite knocking a biker's head off with an uppercut. Shorty is easily the fan favorite of many people who adore this movie as much as I do.

Next in the invasion we see Slim attack a driver on the highway by ramming into him with his invisible car. This scene is a lot of fun because we see Slim literally sitting in midair pretending to drive a car repeatedly ramming into another car until it veers off the road. Slim also disposes of a group waiting by a bus stop by means of a killer shadow puppet. Legit this Klown kills a bunch of people by eating them with a T-Rex shadow puppet, its fantastic!

Throughout this invasion there is a really fun Klown car gag where 5 of the Klowns come out of a tiny car and throw acid pies that end up melting a security guard, as well as some of the Killer Klown popcorn that sprouts clown heads and attacks various people. Debbie also gets captured by Slim during the chaos and our heroes end up infiltrating the Klown spaceship to save her. 

This is where we see the two Klown ladies: Rosebud (pictured left) and Daisy (pictured right) Their appearance is brief, but they make for a really funny gag when the Terenzi brothers, who throughout the movie have been trying to pick up women with an ice cream truck, find themselves locked in a room with them, only to return later covered in kisses and ripped clothing.

This brings us to the final Klown I will be talking about here, JoJo or as most people know him Klownzilla. After rescuing Debbie, the rest of the crew finds themselves surrounded by Klowns, as the Terenzi brothers burst into the room using the mic from their ice cream truck to scare the Klowns into leaving their friends alone. This seems to work, until we see the massive Jojo Klown pop down from the ceiling and start attacking them. This Klown was also played by Charles Chiodo, making for a nice little Easter egg. Sadly Jojo meets his demise while attacking officer Dave Hansen and getting his nose popped by his badge.

"Killer Klowns from Outer Space" remains to this day be one of my all time favorite movies. I always find myself re-watching this one and loving it just as much as the first time I bought this at the local drugstore when I was about 10.  This movie is just such a great exploration in how much fun filmmaking can be. The Chiodo brothers always make light and fun horror content and you can tell how much they truly love their craft in each frame of the film. "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" earns a solid 5/5 on the Patented Monster Meter! 

Just remember friends:

In space, no one can eat Ice Cream!