Aliens, Clowns & Geeks - Aliens, Clowns & Geeks( Blu Ray) [MVD Visual/Elfmaniac Media - 0000]Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is a wacky ‘n’ deranged pulp sci-fi fantasy comic made into a live-action-comedy film. It’s based in Hollywood's present-day, though it has more than a few retro/ noir touches. It follows a luckless outwork actor, who becomes aware of a secret invasion by aliens and clowns from out of space- who are after an Intergalactic key to the universe, which has been secretly placed up his backside. Here from MVD Visual/ Elfmaniac Media is a region-free release of the film, with a few extras Released in 2019 Aliens, Clowns & Geeks was written and directed by semi-pro wrestler turned wacky auteur Richard Elfman. He is most known for the nonsensical/ surreal musical fantasy Forbidden Zone (1980), though he also helmed female martial art action film Streets Of Rage (1993). Full Moon produced voodoo horror-comedy Shrunken Heads (1993), and the sleazed bloodsucking horror of Modern Vampires (2003). Aliens, Clowns & Geeks is most certainly a low-budget affair, though Elfman & co do their best to use it to the full. With the whole coming off like a more adult humour-focused and colourfully wacky take on a 1950s ‘when aliens invade' picture.
Playing the lead of Eddy Pine (as well as one of the clowns) is the wonderfully named Bodhi Elfman- he’s a down-on-his-luck actor, whose only one claim to fame is he appeared in a LA area mattress TV ad. One night while drinking away his sorrows a robotic-like clown approaches him, asking for the key to the universe- he thinks it’s just another whacked-out patron, but he won’t give up/ let go- and this catapults the luckless Eddy in the wacky action-adventure.
Fairly soon we find out the key- is a mini stone obelisk, and some years ago it was placed up his backside. And as the film unfolds with the help of his bulky cross-dressing brother, he encounters twin sexy blond Swedish scientists, a middle-aged doctor who claims to have all the answers, Asian gangster, a crooked small person and simple-minded bird-suited giant duo, and of course the aliens & clowns. The aliens are of the green antenna humanoid type- and have the power to control certainly folk during sex. And the clowns are led by an uppity and horned small man clown, who can fire red static from his eyes
The film slides in around the one-hour and a half mark, and remains a decidedly pacy, wacky, and at times downright silly ride. It’s ‘when aliens invade’ plotting is lined with both sexualized and slapstick comedy- with the occasional darts into the low-fi trippy/ surreal. On the whole, I found it an enjoyable romp of a film, though I’d say you definitely need to have a penchant for silly 50’s sci-fi films, and wacky humour.
Moving onto this region-free disc- and we get a few extras. The first and largest of these is a selection of nearing thirty-four-minute selection of interviews with the cast and crew, this starts off with the films score composer Danny Elfman being interviewed by a ventriloquist dummy!. Moving on to interviews with Ego Plum, who also contributed music to the film, lead actor Bodhi and more. There’s a nearing four-and-a-half-minute on-screen interview with director/ writer Richard Elfman, as he talks about this being his first film since Forbidden Zone where he has complete artistic control. And a music video for 'Mambo Diabolico', and a trailer.
If you have a taste for the wackier side of sci-fi B-movies, which is liberally dabbed with touches of humour, the surreal, and the bizarre… then Aliens, Clowns & Geeks will most certainly be your thing. And let us hope the director/ writer Elfman gets free reign again- because this is really an amusing/ crazed romp of a film. Roger Batty
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