Terrifier 2 (2022)
Directed by Damien Leone
Written by Damien Leone
Starring David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Chris Jericho
Release Date October 6th, 2022
Published October 24th, 2022
I went into Terrifier 2 with a chip on my shoulder. I had made many assumptions about the movie before seeing it and my cynicism was beginning to shape my perception of the movie without seeing it. What a surprise it was then to have walked out of Terrifier 2 having been turned into a huge fan of the movie. Rather than being edgy and perverted, Terrifier 2 is a triumph of both incredible DIY gore and a sense of the absurd macabre of the horror movie that is employed to make the movie watchable beyond the off-putting if groundbreaking approach to horror.
Terrifier 2 stars David Howard Thornton as the terrifying horror villain, Art the Clown. I'm told that Art the Clown made his film debut in Terrifier 1 and became such a cult phenomenon that a sequel became a demand of the fans. The sequel over-delivers on the original in which, though I have not seen it, I've been told, Art has less personality and even more brutality. In Terrifier 2, writer director Damien Leone and star David Howard Thornton have fully realized the potential of Art the Clown by leaving him silent but giving him an even more terrifying physical personality.
Opposite Art the Clown is our hero Sienna (Lauren LaVera). Sienna is a teenager dealing with the suicide death of her father with whom she shared a very special bond. Sienna's dad used to write comic books and dedicated his stories to her, especially a beautiful and strong female hero. On Halloween, Sienna plans to pay tribute to her dad by using her incredible cos-play skills to re-create the look of the female hero her father created. She may be the only one who knows the character, but regardless, the costume means the world to her.
Sienna's little brother Jonathan however, he's another story. Jonathan's costume is an edgy homage to a massacre in their rural New York state town. Jonathan wants to dress as Art the Clown, something that infuriates both his sister and their mother, Barbara (Sarah Voight), who orders Jonathan not to wear his favored costume. This scene and another that comes up in the wake of a disturbing slaughter, play our love of Halloween blood and guts and serial killer obsessions against us, calling us out for turning real life terror into entertainment.
That scene, the slaughter scene, is easily the most disturbing and illness inducing. You've perhaps heard stories about moviegoers becoming sick while watching Terrifier 2. Well, as much as that is merely a marketing campaign for the movie, I can see where this slaughter scene might cause people to become unwell. As Art scalps his teenage victim, cuts out their eyeballs, and is discovered playing with the victims' entrails, while the victim is still alive, we are kept at a distance by the absurd level of graphic visceral human destruction. Art's horrifying rictus grin casts a gaze directly at the audience as if accusing us of enjoying what he's done. It's chilling and farcical all at once.
Click here for my full length review of Terrifier 2 at Horror.Media
