Terrifier 2 Review from Dark Age Cinema!

Art the Clown is back to wreak havoc on a whole new level. Terrifier 2 has made a big splash in the horror world and has garnered some major fame and made some major leeway upon its release in theatres. Screening in various venues and popping up at many festivals/theatres big and small. The popularity and feedback the film has been receiving despite its over-the-top graphic violence and gore has been astounding. 

Most of this popularity having to do with Art played by David Howard Thornton. The persona of Art the Clown has gained much infamous notoriety and catapulted the character and film. A black and white painted face with a wide blinding black toothed grin, Art the Clown has risen from indie film infamy to a bigger worldwide spectrum and the word has been spreading. The brutal unflinching violence and rage Art unleashes upon his victims is intense and unrelenting. Just when you think the camera is going to look away it keeps filming that extra slash/cut/bludgeon, so the audience’s imagination is spared nothing.

Art the Clown was introduced in 2013 in Damian Leone’s film All Hallows Eve. All Hallows Eve was composed of several early shorts Leone directed including Terrifier. All Hallows Eve features a boy who goes out trick or treating on Halloween to find a vhs amongst his loot of candy which features horrific material of a clown murdering his hapless victims. 

A successful funding campaign was launched and in 2016 and a full-length Terrifier film was released. It was met with success and good reception. It simply features Art the Clown stalking a couple of young girls Halloween night and his subsequent rampage plus we get a background story of a woman who barely survived a previous attack from the clown. We get plenty of stomach-turning gore and a playful yet sinister Art the Clown. Personally, the film was not ground-breaking but it was well received and featured an unforgettable scene of a woman literally sawed completely in half from her groin up past her cranium. Actor David Howard Thornton definitely embraced the role with a murderous glee. 

Enter Terrifier 2 with a larger budget and just crushing it at the box office. As I write this the film is currently getting released to home platforms such as blu-ray and streaming. Walmart in the U.S. is even selling an exclusive steelbook edition blu-ray. The reception of an indie film of this calibre has been nothing short of incredible.

Terrifier 2 opens with Art coming back to life in the morgue after his demise in the original. Art kills the morgue attendee brutally and tries to replace his own missing eyeball by using the dead morgue attendee’s eyeball in its place in a ludicrous yet morbidly humorous fashion. We quickly learn Art is not human and apparently another worldly supernatural entity.

Enter the beautiful Sienna played by Lauren Lavera (Iron Fist) who is designing an elaborate warrior costume for herself on Halloween. The costume comes to hold significance later in the film along with a particular sword she received from her deceased father. Sienna lives with her brother Jonathan played by Elliot Fullam (Get Rolling with Otis) and Mother Barbara played by Sarah Voight (Ball and Vase). There is obviously family tension. Barbara struggles to keep the family on the right path as a single mother. Barbara takes her stress and frustration out on her kids regularly.

Sienna’s brother is showing a morbid interest in serial killers and wants to dress up as Art the Clown for Halloween. Sienna is worried about Elliot until she starts having her own bizarre dreams where she is tormented by Art. Dreams that seem all too real and cross over into reality. A particular dream sequence ensues featuring a group of strange people singing an annoying song called the clown cafe. Sienna is confronted by the clown in the dream and witnesses a subsequent mass execution/shooting carried out by Art.

Things only get stranger as Sienna’s friends and anyone she comes in contact with while Art is stalking her are brutally attacked and killed. Sienna’s friend Allie played by Casey Hartnett (What We Found) definitely experiences the worst prolonged death in the movie. Allie is slashed to pieces, limbs cut off, skinned alive, and heaping amounts of salt poured over her wretched pile of mutilated meat of a body while still conscious until her parents come home to find her.

Probably one of the funniest scenes in the film has Art dropping by a laundromat to get cleaned up. He strips down naked and waits until his blood-soaked clown garb is washed. While waiting we are introduced to the little pale clown girl played by Amelie McLain (General Hospital) who becomes a regular accomplice in the movie. 

The second half of Terrifier 2 really loses momentum. The over two hour run time causes it to lag and had me wishing for it to be wrapped up. It could have definitely been concluded in 80 to 90 minutes. The final confrontation with Sienna becomes muddled and the background story with her father is not elaborated enough to make sense. Even after the credits the scene in the mental hospital was confusing and over-long. 

Terrifier 2 is ambitious but has a lot of misdirected material. It seems as if Leone was trying to squeeze way too much in the time frame instead of keeping it simple, tight, and clean. I did love the soundtrack and cinematography but of course the practical special effects make up stole the show hands down. David Howard Thornton kills it as Art the Clown and used his previous training as a mime to deliver an epic dialogue-less performance. I recommend checking out Terrifier 2 even if for the crazy ideas and graphic over-the-top gore let loose on the screen. Terrifier 2 has solidified Art the Clown as a new horror icon in the genre.

AKA: Terrifier 2: El Payaso Siniestro, El Payaso Siniestro: Terrifier 2, Terrifier 2: Masakra w Święta, Terrifier 2 – O Regresso, Ужасающий 2, Страховидло 2, Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2, Gã Hề Điên Loạn

Directed by: Damien Leone
Written by: Damien Leone
Produced by: Phil Falcone, Steven Della Salla, Jason Leavy, Michael Leavy, Damien Leone, George Steuber
Cinematography by: George Steuber
Editing by: Damien Leone
Music by: Paul Wiley
Special Effects by: Damien Leone, Anthony Giordano
Cast: Catherine Corcoran, Lauren LaVera, David Howard Thornton, Jenna Kanell, Kailey Hyman, Samantha Scaffidi, Felissa Rose, Sarah Voight, Casey Hartnett, Amelie McLain
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 2h 18min

Studio: Dark Age Cinema, Fuzz on the Lens Productions
Distributor: Cinedigm Entertainment Group, Bloody Disgusting, Screambox