killer clowns cyborg

After the death of the slasher genre in the late '80s (and before its rebirth as a series of self-aware inside jokes in the late '90s) the horror genre found a comfortable groove on home video. All that was required was a splashy title and eye-catching artwork to lure in the 2 for 1 rental audience. But, quite often, the freedom afforded filmmakers at this level produced some legitimate classics. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) isn't one of them. But it is a well-meaning tribute to classic sci-fi schlock like The Blob and Invaders from Mars that is far cleverer that its title suggests.

Setting up camp under their extraterrestrial big top, a clown-car full of pasty-faced antagonists hunt down the residents of a small town, imprisoning them in cotton candy cocoons and drinking their blood through crazy straws. Written and directed by the Chiodo brothers, who pitched in on the Critters series among others, there's certainly no lack of effort expended on the animatronics and practical effects. From low rent gags like a pack of balloon bloodhounds to the impressive circus inspired set design, Killer Klowns was made by people who obviously gave a damn. But the concept itself panders to the cult audience in rather obvious fashion, resulting in something made almost too well to become the true bad movie it wanted to be.

Arrow Video's special edition features a brand-new 4K restoration and a great new documentary about focusing on the Chiodo brothers' early fascination with sci-fi and special effects (all their early stop motion efforts and included here as well on HD for the first time). There's also a quick new interview with The Dickies, who crafted the films them song and a huge amount of carry-over extras from the previous Blu-ray release.

Just a year after his debut in Bloodsport, Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in Cyborg (1989), Cannon Films' post-apocalyptic action effort made up of the discarded costumes, sets, and scripts ideas from a never-made Masters of the Universe sequel. Considering its patchwork origin, director Albert Pyun's film holds up surprisingly well, establishing the tough-but-tender persona that would serve Van Damme well through a string of films well into the '90s.

Still stinging from the death of his adopted family at the hands of a muscle-bound gang leader, Gibson (Van Damme) gets his chance to save the world and get revenge by rescuing a robotic damsel in distress who carries a cure for the plague. Reportedly re-cut to focus on action over story, the film sports a series of memorable fight scenes...usually culminating in a signature flying roundhouse kick. Working with barely a paragraph of dialogue, Van Damme sweats an irresistible amount of sensitivity and charisma. And for all its obvious low-budget end-of-the-world building, Cyborg is the movie that proved Van Damme had the chutzpah to be a star.

Shout Factory's new 2K scan of the interpositive looks as good as the day it was released in theaters (yes, I was there) with a new audio commentary from Pyun, Making Of documentary, Effects featurette and gobs of extended interviews from Mark Hartley's Cannon Films documentary.