In 1988, three brothers took it upon themselves to create their vision of the perfect movie. It was a mix of science fiction, horror, and comedy and had fantastic practical costumes. This movie wasn’t an instant classic when it came out. However, it has slowly gained cult status and has become a beloved horror movie to fans worldwide. It even managed to get itself a video game that comes out this year. The brothers are the Chiodo brothers, and the movie is Killer Klowns from Outer Space. We got to sit on a panel with them and the developers of the new game at this year’s PAX East.
Along with the Chiodo brothers, Jordan Matthewson and Jared Gerritzen from IllFonic joined the panel to discuss the game and what it was like to collaborate with the brothers. The game is a survival horror game like Dead by Daylight and the Friday the 13th. In the game, you can play as either the Killer Klowns or the humans in environments taken straight from the movie. As you play each round, the humans must be intelligent and collect items while avoiding being killed by the Klowns in delightfully violent ways.
The guys from IllFonic explained the development process and their conversations with the brothers. They explained the importance of maintaining the same feeling of the film and the horror elements that frightened both of them as children when they first saw the film. They explained that the gameplay (when playing as humans) relies on you picking up certain resources that you need to survive the Killer Klowns. Jordan talked about how while playing as the Klowns is fun, the fear aspect of the game comes from playing as the humans and trying to survive the night.
The Chiodo brothers went into their creative process and inspirations throughout the panel. They stressed the fact that they had never wanted the movie to be graphicly violent or too gruesome. They explained that they had been approached after the film to do other horror effects and costumes. However, all the offers they got were for uncomfortably bloody projects. The brothers also tried to get people to take their idea of a horror comedy seriously. Back then it wasn’t as common an idea. Their pitch revolved around the classic alien movie where humans try to make the authorities believe that aliens have arrived. They wanted to make a situation even more difficult for humans to explain to the authorities. So they went with clowns from outer space.
The panel was then opened up for questions from the audience. We heard about everyone’s personal favorite Killer Klown to play as and some other personal favorite parts of the game. The Chiodo brothers also shared behind the scenes stories from the movie and how they made certain practical effects. They were then asked about the possibility of a sequel all these years later. The reply was that they would love to make a sequel and utilize the new digital filmmaking tools. Tools that they didn’t have in the late ‘80s. They also said that this game feels like a sequel of sorts. They’re pleased to bring more attention to their wonderfully weird movie. And we did get a bit of an accidental announcement in the form of one of the Chiodo’s revealing that you can play as a male or female Killer Klown in the game!
We unfortunately didn’t get to demo the game while at PAX East this year. However, we were able to see a bit of gameplay. Judging by the substantial involvement of the Chiodo brothers in the development process and the developers wanting to make the game as faithful to the movie as possible, this game definitely has potential.
The game is set to release on June 4, 2024 and will be on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
From a young age, Tyler has been amazed by filmmaking and writing. When he’s not watching movies in theaters, he also enjoys playing video games and binging one of the numerous shows he’s watching at any given moment. Working with The Young Folks was a highlight of his writing career and he is looking forward to this new adventure with In Between Drafts!
