The 2016 horror film Terrifier is the creative brainchild of horror filmmaker Damiene Leone and is the amalgamation of eight years of work developing the murderous maniac, Art the Clown. Since it's debut, Terrifier has spawned a franchise and taken the horror and greater film community by storm. So, for 31 Days or Horror I wanted to go back to the film that set the horror community ablaze and gave us a 21st century horror icon.
Terrifier follows two friends Tara (Jenna Kanell) and Dawn (Catherine Corcoran) as they become prey to the murderous clown named Art (David Howard Thornton) while Taras sister Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) comes to rescue them. The film also stars Monica Brown (All Hallows Eve, Red Canyon) and Michael Leavy (Screamboat, Stream).The film was written and directed by Damiene Leone and was funded independently through crowdfunding. Leones script for the film was said to be intentionally light on characters and heavily focused on making Art the Clown a violence menace and giving him a challenge of his practical effects work.
The film begins with a flashforward sometime after Art the Clowns reign of terror, with a television host interviewing a mysterious sole survivor left violently scarred and unrecognizable. After a fun title sequence showing Art the Clown suiting up for a night of terror accompanied by an energized yet sinister synth score, we meet our two protagonists walking back from a long night of drinking on Halloween. One thing I, and hopefully other fans of indie horror recognize is how this film utilizes its locations on a modest budget. Most of the film takes place in an abandoned building, something both cheap and scary as hell, with the rest of the film taking place either at a pizza place or some sort of makeshift hospital. I would also be remiss if I didn't point out Kanell and Corcoran's performances in the film, as they give the most they can with their limited screentime in the film, especially with Kanell's scrappy nature and endurance, and Corcoran's performance during one of the most intense kills of the film is one to admire.
Speaking of kills, Terrifier doesn't hold back. While there is one kill in particular that stands out as the most violent of the film, the rest of the 82 minute runtime offer other forms of brutal murderous torture. The best part of the mayhem though, it's all practical. Writer and director Damiene Leone also helmed the films practical effects, and trust me, there's a lot of them throughout. It's hard not to appreciate the multiple hats Leone wears throughout production, indie filmmaking at its finest.
As I said earlier, Leone's script puts characterization in the backseat while focusing on murder and mayhem, a choice that hasn't gone without criticism. While I and many other horror fans love complex storytelling and characters, it is admittedly fun to turn my brain off and just admire the splatter. To put it plainly, sometimes less is more, and when it comes to Terrifier, what it lacks in intricate storytelling and deep characters, it makes up for in grindhouse gore and tense atmosphere. Not to mention that when Terrifier 2 came around, the issue of storytelling (or lack thereof) was mended.
Terrifier is often regarded as "the little indie film that could" and I think that title is earned. You may have noticed at the top of this article I mentioned how this film was eight years in the making, that's because the very first time audiences met Art the Clown was all the way back in 2008, with Damiene Leone's short horror film The Ninth Circle. The Art we see in this short however is far and away from the lovable lunatic audiences find at Spirit Halloween today. In fact this interpretation of Art wasn't even played by horror icon David Howard Thornton, instead actor Mike Giannelli was the one to dawn the makeup for the 2008 short film and one more Art the Clown-centered short film, also titled Terrifier. Both of these shorts would be included in the horror anthology film, All Hallows Eve. This would be the final film before the Terrifier feature film would come out and change the horror industry as we knew it.
When I first watched Terrifier, I was instantly captivated. Not just by the startling opening scene and exciting score, but by how the film looked. The low lighting, the practical effects and how every scene is drenched in 80s era film grain. The movie felt like something I shouldn't be watching, even at the age of 17 it gave me the vibes of something one would be find the back of a video store that even the clerk ringing it up wouldn't recommend for fear of nightmares. To see it go from a niche grindhouse homage members of the horror community would whisper of, to having action figures sold in Wal-Mart and cosmetics in video games is something truly surreal and inspiring. Since 2016, Terrifier has spawned two sequels and is approaching a fourth and final installment, and while parts two and three dials up every aspect of the film it important to always revisit the one that started it all. Especially on a crisp October night.