1980s Candy in Killer Klowns!
If you’ve never seen Killer Klowns from Outer Space, fix that! The 1988 film is exactly as weird as the title suggests, but it’s also just a good little movie.
Those who have seen it may remember a minor scene wherein the Killer Klowns invaded a pharmacy. That’s why I’m here tonight…
This was shot in a legitimate pharmacy somewhere in California. I don’t doubt that the crew made some modifications, but even the most talented set dressers couldn’t “fake” a mom-and-pop pharmacy so perfectly. It had to be a real one.
The scene establishes the Klowns as aloof menaces, but it subtly offers something more: A rare glimpse of a genuine candy aisle from a late ‘80s drugstore!
Many of those candies are now out of production, and even the ones that are still around have had major package redesigns. Since there’s so little footage of 1980s candy aisles, this scene is secretly super important.
Below are five of my favorite fallen candies spotted in Killer Klowns from Outer Space:
#1: Freshen-up Gum!
Freshen-up was discontinued fairly recently, but you probably thought it’d been gone for decades already. After all, the gum spent its final 30 years being available only in hospital gift shops and your grandmother’s purse.
While it seemed tragically unhip on the surface, each piece of Freshen-up had a liquid center of candy goo. Few kids ever picked Freshen-up outright, but even fewer scoffed at it. Candy goo was always a win!
#2: Peanut Butter Twix!
Peanut Butter Twix has a long history of changing names and evolving flavors, but as I understand it, the version currently on the market — “Twix Creamy Peanut Butter” — closely resembles the original incarnation seen here.
Even if it has been resurrected, it’ll never “feel” the same without the original wrapper. Something about that yellowy orange wrapper spoke to me as a child, and helped make every experience with Peanut Butter Twix feel like a huge event.
This stuff was much harder to find than regular Twix, so it’s one of the few candies that I can distinctly remember savoring. Whenever I got my hands on Peanut Butter Twix, I didn’t just mindlessly devour it on the ride home. I treated that shit like Kobe beef.
#4: Nestle Alpine White with Almonds!
Nestle’s Alpine White bars were mostly famous for those TV commercials, which looked so much like moody ‘80s music videos that you absolutely needed the giant product shots to confirm that they weren’t.
The official Alpine White theme song was honestly good enough to be on any 1980s compilation. As for the candy itself, even water cooler advertising couldn’t get the public to embrace white chocolate Nestle bars.
#4: Tribbles!
Barely visible were several packages of Tribbles cookies, which I’d never heard of until spotting them here. My guess is that they were short-lived and only available regionally.
These were tiny-sized cookies sold by the handful, said to be only a bit bigger than chocolate chips. It seems that a similar snack with the same name was later sold by Keebler, which probably means that those damned elves bought the rights.
Despite the name, these had nothing to do with the Tribbles of Star Trek fame. Which kinda sucks.
#5: Bananaberry Split Bubble Yum!
You’d never catch this one while watching the scene normally. I had to take an individual frame, zoom in and then spend an hour on image searches. When I finally made a match, I did Admiral Ackbar’s Proud Chair Lean.
Bananaberry Split was part of Bubble Yum’s line of “double flavor” gums, mixing a strawberry shell with banana-flavored innards. Each piece looked like some kind of SDCC-exclusive LEGO brick. I’ve never been a fan of bananas, but the presentation was just aces.
The next time you watch Killer Klowns from Outer Space, pay close attention to this scene. You’ll spot even more fallen candies — everything from ancient Life Savers to Carefree chewing gum!
PS: This article would not have happened without a tremendous tip from Drew, aka DismalAbysmal. Thanks for giving me something to write about, mang!
