We last received an update about the Chiodo Brothers’ long gestating RETURN OF THE KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE last year . Now, with the Blu-ray release of the original KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE coming out next week, star Grant Cramer has come forward with new details about the film’s “requel” (that’s a buzz word for remake-sequel). Cramer will be reprising his role as town drunk Mike Tobacco, who in the original was the first character to come across the Klowns. His character is set to be re-integrated into the sequel’s story:
“The idea is that there may be multiple sequels, and in each one, there’ll be one character [from the first movie] who carries over. So we’ll pick up where each of them has ended up in some new small town, and happen to be there when the Klown stuff happens again. My character ended up being the first one, and I think it was one of the Chiodos who came up with the idea that everybody thinks Mike Tobacco is crazy. He’s kind of the town drunk/derelict who’s always mumbling about the Klowns coming back, and everybody thinks I’m nuts, because I’m sure they’re going to return to attack the world again.”
“And of course, when it happens, I have been planning for them to come back, so I end up being the mentor to these two young street performers whose car breaks down, and they end up in the small town of Kismet. It’s another town up in the mountains, and now all the fun begins again, except when they get into trouble, Mike comes up and teaches them the history of the Klowns and how to fight back against them. He’s somewhere between the energy of Kris Kristofferson’s character in BLADE and Christopher Lloyd’s character in BACK TO THE FUTURE.”
That actually sounds pretty great. The Chiodo Brothers seem to understand KILLER KLOWNS is a genuine cult classic among fans of horror-comedies, but are also willing to open up the franchise to potential newcomers. To take a character like Tobacco and turn him into a Captain Ahab archetype is genius. Re-using him in a veritable remake of the original should yield some fresh, hilarious Klown killing results for long-time fans while also keeping the concept pretty basic for those who didn’t catch the original. If you’re one of those people, I would highly suggest pre-odering KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE on Blu-ray. Then check out the pre-production teaser trailer for RETURN OF THE KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE below.