The camp classic. The title sums up this one. Aliens who just happen to look like clowns, and whose spaceship just happens to look like a circus tent, and whose guns just happen to shoot killer popcorn land on Earth one night to eat humans. Lots of imaginative clown gags here, like a balloon animal bloodhound and a killer shadow puppet. John Vernon (Dean Wormer from Animal House), as the cranky police chief, gets most of the funniest lines.
This is the only film directed, written, and produced by special effects guys/puppeteers, the Chiodo brothers. They make great use of every dollar in their small budget here. The clown costumes, the bizarre spaceship sets, as well as the colorful cinematography (by Alfred Taylor, who also worked on Spider Baby and The Swinging Cheerleaders), are truly eye-catching. The movie looks like a bowl of Lucky Charms.
Killer Klowns didn’t go very far in theaters, but it became a hit on video. Every video store in 1989 had this movie and every 12 year old boy got his mom to rent it for him.