SPOILERS AHEAD!

Who were the Killer Klowns?

The Killer Klowns were the main antagonists in the 1988 horror film “Killer Klowns from Outer Space.” They were an extremely dangerous race of aliens that looked like mutated versions of circus clowns. They wreaked havoc on Crescent Cove, a small town located in California. Their spaceship landed in a forest and began a “harvest” of humans in the town, utilizing devices such as ray guns which trapped people in cotton candy, shadow puppets, acid pies, and more. Their only weakness is being hit in their giant red nose.

They were led by their leader, Jojo the Klownzilla, an 18-foot-tall Killer Klown who stayed safely in their headquarters: Big Top space-ship. Jojo was the only clown aside from the females who did not kill humans.

What was “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”?

“Killer Klowns from Outer Space” was a horror-comedy film released on May 27, 1988. The film started outside of Crescent Cove, where Mike Tobacco and Debbie Stone were at the local lovers’ lane, where they spotted a strange shooting star falling to earth. Mike and Debbie arrived at where they thought the strange star landed and found a large circus tent. When they entered the tent, they discovered a long hallway with bizarre rooms. In one tent, they found a human dead in a cotton candy cocoon and were spotted by a Klown. When spotted, the Klown shot popcorn at them and then chased them with another Klown that used a living balloon dog and tracked them. 

When Mike and Debbie escaped to the local police station, they reported the incident to one of the officers, which was Debbie’s ex-boyfriend, Dave Hanson. Mike took Dave to the ship, only to find it had disappeared. They went to lovers’ lane, and found everything abandoned with cotton candy everywhere. Meanwhile, in town, the Klowns started to trap people in cocoons using rayguns. Mike and Dave saw a Klown that used puppets and shrank a crowd of people, then forced them into a bag full of popcorn. 

Another Klown walked into the police station and another officer, Mooney, arrested him because he thought it was a teenager. Dave went back to the station and found the place trashed and the Klown was using dead Mooney as a dummy. Dave shot at the Klown and the bullet hit its nose, which caused it to spin and explode. When they found out that their nose was their weakness, they used it to their advantage. 

Mike met with Rich and Paul Terenzi, and used the PA speaker on the brother’s ice cream truck and drove around to warn people of the Klowns. In Debbie’s case, popcorn from the Klown that shot at her morphed into another Klown that trapped her in a balloon. Mike, Dave, and the brothers saw Debbie get captured and followed the Klowns to an amusement park, where their ship was. After they found Debbie, they rescued her and ended up in a maze full of traps.

All of them found themselves surrounded by Klowns. The brothers drove their ice cream truck to them and used the PA and distracted the klowns. Jojo the Klownzilla appeared, and Dave used his badge to poke Jojo’s nose, which caused him to explode and destroy the ship. 

How successful was “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”?

The movie was not popular when it was in theaters, but throughout time the film became a classic and made a lot of money in action figures, DVDs, and t-shirts. This film made about $43 million in box office profits, with a game based on the movie coming out in early 2023.