You know what’s cool right now? Clowns. Between the It movies and last year’s Joker, clowns have become a popular storytelling device for dark films.
But what if we took it one step further and made them from outer space? Well, turns out it already happened in 1988 with the release of the cult classic, Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The movie flopped in theaters, but once it reached the home video market, it became a sensation. With so many reboots and sequels happening, it might be time for Killer Klowns to have its turn now and one of the pic’s co-creators, Edward Chiodo, is happy with handing the reins over to another filmmaker with a new perspective.
“That’s certainly part of the conversation. Not that we claim to know everything, we do have a pretty unique understanding of how the Klowns operate and what that universe is,” Chiodo shared with ComicBook.com in regards to the possibility of a reboot. “We’ve always worked with other filmmakers, other creative people, so we’d welcome the right opportunity to make that happen. There’s a lot of fun to be had with the concept. Like our ‘Trilogy in Four Parts,’ it’s very fun. There’s a certain dark comedy to the original that we were playing with. We love the genre, we’re having fun with the genre, we’re making fun of it, but not because we want to make fun of it, but because we love it and are embracing it. People are responding to that.”
Of course, the ‘80s were a different time. It was a lot easier to make a cheesy or kitschy movie, and with such a limited budget, Chiodo and his brothers had to get creative with how to tell their story. Thankfully, though, the finished product ended up satisfying audiences.
To make another film in the series, it’d have to be similar in tone and you couldn’t use the technology of today as an asset. It has to be intentionally bad, otherwise, why make another one in the first place?
But like Robert Englund’s recent comments about A Nightmare on Elm Street needing a fresh perspective, an updated version could work with today’s audiences. As Chiodo explained:
“Hopefully we get the opportunity to play with our ideas, but it would be really interesting … seeing some of the fan art, how they’ve taken it to a new vision, a new direction, maybe a little more visceral than we would ever take it, so I think there is a great opportunity to take it to a new level and still honor the original and make it something that resonates with today’s audiences.”
Chiodo and his brothers have been trying to make a sequel for years now and with the film’s recent release on Netflix rejuvenating interest in a follow up, hopefully they can finally get it off the ground. In the meantime, you can enjoy Killer Klowns from Outer Space in all its low-budget glory on the platform when you get a moment.