Ernest Scared Stupid sees the titular character fighting an army of trolls, but here's where to spot a cameo - of sorts - from the Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Fear of clowns is a common phobia exploited by horror films, which s for the terror that IT's Pennywise the Dancing Clown has instilled in audiences. This same terror was also used to great effect in the 1988 horror comedy Killer Klowns From Outer Space.
Like the title implies, Killer Klowns From Outer Space sees murderous, alien clowns land on Earth and terrorizing a small town with an array of strange weapons. Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a loving homage to b-movies from the 1950s, and it features some amazing practical effects work by special effects artists The Chiodo Brothers (Team America: World Police). The movie wasn't much of a hit back during release, but it is now hailed as a horror cult classic.
On the surface, it seems the Killer Clowns From Outer Space would have little in common with the character of Ernest P. Worrell, played by the late, great Jim Varney. That's (kind of) the case, though, with 1991's Ernest Scared Stupid. This was the fourth film in the Ernest series and saw Varney's lovable but dim hero accidentally unleashing a troll named Trantor on a small town. Ernest Scared Stupid's - which is a great horror movie for children - troll wastes no time raising an army and turning children into wooden dolls, so it's up to Ernest to lead the locals in a fight against Trantor and his minions. In the finale of Ernest Scared Stupid, it's possible to spot some recognizable klowns too.
The Chiodo Brothers also worked on the effects for Ernest Scared Stupid, including the finale where the troll army is destroyed by townsfolk throwing milk. To save a little money on creating new masks for these trolls, the siblings took two mask molds from Killer Klowns From Outer Space and painted them to resemble the trolls. It's easy to miss on first viewing, but the two clown masks are easy to spot for viewers familiar with Killer Klowns From Outer Space.
Of course, this isn't a true crossover between Ernest Scared Stupid and Killer Klowns From Outer Space (which has a horrific kill count) and was simply a case of the Chiodo Brothers helping keep production costs down. It's not uncommon for effects or props from one production to find their way into another movie or TV series either. The PKE meters from Ghostbusters are briefly seen in John Carpenter's They Live, while dead bodies created for Event Horizon later found their way into Dog Soldiers.
