in the 1991 film Ernest Scared Stupid. Soundtrack The film's score was composed by John Massari. The title song "Killer Klowns" was written and performed by the American punk rock band the Dickies and was released on their album Killer Klowns from Outer Space in 1988. Frontman Leonard Phillips wrote the song without seeing the movie. A limited-edition complete soundtrack was released in 2006 through Percepto Records and features twenty-six tracks of the score, the title song "Killer Klowns", and four bonus tracks at a running time just over sixty-nine minutes. Release Killer Klowns from Outer Space was released in the United States on May 27, 1988. The film was released on VHS by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on July 17, 2001, and on VHS and DVD as part of MGM Home Entertainment's "Midnite Movies" line of home media releases on August 28, 2001. MGM released the film on Blu-ray on September 11, 2012. On May 25, 2013, the film received a 35 mm screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Vintage Park in Houston, Texas, as well as a 35 mm screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Yonkers, New York on June 20, 2014. On April 9, 2018, Arrow Films released their special edition Blu-Ray of Killer Klowns From Outer Space. This release was newly restored, with interviews, documentary featurettes, Klown auditions, bloopers, deleted scenes, a double-sided poster that features the original theatrical poster, as well as art by Sara Deck, and more. Critical reception The film has been considered a cult classic. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an average score of 76%, based on 25 critic reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Killer Klowns from Outer Spaces title promises darkly goofy fun – and more often than not, the movie delivers." Leonard Klady of The Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "demonstrates both above-average technical skill and large dollops of imagination". Film critic Leonard Maltin initially declared the film a BOMB ("Strictly tenth-rate."), but gave the movie a second look after a few years; this time, Maltin awarded the picture two-and-a-half out of a possible four stars. In his second review, Maltin wrote "Routinely plotted, but vividly designed, with cheeky humor ... plays its premise to the hilt, all 'circus' bases touched". Charles Bramesco of The A.V. Club recommended the film, writing that "The film is patently absurd, but the filmmakers