Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) - Parents Guide Movie Rating
- BBFC Reason
- Contains moderate horror and one use of strong language
Powered by 
Sex & Nudity
mildA girl is in her nightgown and the nightgown is so sheer that you can easily see her nipples through it. One girl is shown in a sheer nightgown. The lower half of one girl's white bra is visible before she takes a shower. No sex or nudity involved. Several couples are seen making out in their cars at the beginning of the movie. A rude comment is made about a woman's roommate. Two female clowns grow breasts (for comic effect.) Two characters start selling ice creams "to get some girls"
Violence & Gore
moderateA Klown ALMOST hits a little girl over the head with a mallet, but is stopped just in time by her mother. All of the violence in the film is very silly and over-the-top. An old man is shocked by an electrical wire. In the scariest scene of the film, A police officer's dead body is used as a ventriloquist dummy. There are bloody smears on his face and cheeks. After saying a series of disturbing phrases, the Klown takes his hand out of his back, covered in blood, and throws the body away. In the film's most iconic scene, Shorty the Klown sucker-punches a biker gang leader's head off. The head flies through the air and falls into a trash can. Although we see the neck gore and some blood, the scene is meant to be cartoonish and funny. Slim the Klown drives an invisible car into another man's car, sending him off a bridge and crashing down into the water. Slim the Klown makes a shadow puppet dinosaur that eats a crowd of people. The dinosaur shrivels back into his hands, and he reveals the people have been turned into popcorn. The Klowns use rayguns that cocoon their victims in cotton candy. Inside of the cocoon, their bodies are converted into a bloody, milkshake like substance. The Klowns then drink from the cocoons with crazy straws. A group of Klowns chuck dozens of cream pies at a security guard. The man starts to melt, until he's a steaming pile of the pies, as they were made with acid. Rudy the Klown cocoons two girls in cotton candy offscreen inside of a store. He then walks up to a cashier, holding a bunch of vitamins and wearing a propeller hat. We hear a zapping sound and the cashier screaming over the phone, implying he was also cocooned. Jumbo the Klown uses a paper whistle-type extendable arm device to snap the neck of a police officer. When the Klowns are killed, they spiral around and a bunch of flashing lights emit from their bodies, before they explode into confetti. Many are shot by ray guns that mummify then in cotton candy. Sometimes, the cocoons have gruesome faces and/or limbs tearing out of them. At one point, a man's severed arm (completely turned hot pink from the cotton candy) drops down. A man is pulled into a trash bin by unknown creatures. Screaming and crunching sounds can be heard as his legs shake violently.
Profanity
mildThere are several "profanity words" in the public version of TV showing.NO- f word, sh*t, or d*mn. 9 uses of shit 1 with bull 2 uses of f word several uses of shit, damn, hell and asshole, bastard is used once
Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking
mildA police officer is seen smoking a cigar A college student is seen carrying a bag of beer and drinking a can of it. Two college students have a bottle of wine with them. A police officer pours a shot and downs it.
Frightening & Intense Scenes
mildeven though this is a horror movie it is very comedic in tone, but there a still moments that could scare younger viewers Several snake-like Klown larvae jump out and attack a character. The larvae come out of nowhere, and could get a jumpscare out of some viewers. A Klown uses a man's dead body as a ventriloquist dummy as he says very creepy and threatening messages. In contrast with the majority of the movie, this scene is quite dark, and could catch many viewers off guard. A dead man's arm falls out of a cocoon suddenly, covered in blood. A clown tries to lure a small child outside of a restaurant to kill her with a mallet. She almost goes outside to see him but is stopped by her mother who brings her back to their table. An old man and his dog go to investigate the circus tent. The dog is kidnapped by the clowns and the old man becomes distressed, grabbing an electrical wire and getting electrocuted by it. Their cocoons are seen later in the movie. The scene where a clown performs a shadow puppet show for a group of people and uses a shadow dinosaur to eat them. And turns them into popcorn. A security guard is seen having acid pies thrown at him. He dissolves into a pile of white goo that the protagonists find later after a klown placed an oversized cherry on top. Some blood is mixed in and his skeletal arm is seen sticking out. The clowns attack a convenience store employee while he is on the phone with the police. He is heard screaming from the other end. The faces of the dead people in the cotton candy cocoons are slightly graphic. Several intentionally goofy jumpscares happen in the film. Only 2 of them are actually scary. The Klowns themselves, although comical in appearance, look very creepy and grotesque. The finale has a giant clown, Clownzilla, attack and try to kill the protagonists. One of the protagonists is in her house when she is ambushed by clown-snakes in her bathroom. She runs to her front door to find a clown and tries to escape out her window but finds more clowns waiting for her outside of it. The clowns corner her in her living room before kidnapping her.