I am tickled to death. It has been forever since I have been so enamored with a new slasher character. After several years of seeing both All Hallow’s Eve and Terrifier pop up in my streaming recommendations, I finally pulled the trigger. Terrifier did not disappoint. The film introduces one of the most original slashers to spray blood on the screen since Freddy Kruger. Of course, I am referring to Art the Clown.
Be sure to check out our newly released Terrifier 2 review!!!
Where to Watch
Silent but Violent
The concept of a silent killer is not a new one. Both Michael Myers and Jason are both the strong silent type. Art the Clown, played by David Howard Thornton, never utters a word but is not lacking personality. The juxtaposition of Art’s horrifying make-up against his goofy pantomimes creates both a chilling and entertaining dynamic. While he goes about it, a silly little hat sits perched on his head like a cherry on-top of a murderous sundae.
Damien Leone both directs the film and performs the make-up for Art. Leone’s design is brilliant in that it facilitates Art’s ability to transition from seamlessly from comical to menacing to terrifying. Using a minimalist aesthetic, Leone avoids overdoing it. By simply using a white backdrop for Art, spilled blood to continues to paint the character throughout the film.
A Murderer of Many Talents
Apart from Art’s appearance, there are other things that make Art the Clown a great slasher. First off, Art attacks his victims as viciously and violently as any slasher in history. Likewise, he exhibits a level creativity that evades even the most enterprising slashers. Art carries a huge sack filled with various implements of death. It’s like he has a bottomless ACME crate of goodies for any occasion. The horror community has been inundated by butcher knives and machetes forever. While Art still loves butcher knives he shows much greater range. In fact, he doesn’t hesitate busting a cap in Tara to save himself from being beaten to death.
Further alienating Art from his peers, he uses of intravenous drugs to incapacitate victims so he can force them watch his craft in action. Finally, most slasher hide on the cover of night, but Art has no problem plopping down in a pizzeria to harass a couple of women before slaughtering them. He even displays his artistic talents with some unsolicited poopy art on the walls of the pizzeria bathroom. What a hoot!
Terrifier – The Movie
It would be all too easy to pick this horror film apart based on it technical merits. The camera work is not great. The film has the boxed-in feeling of a soap-opera. The picture has a grainy, washed-out quality that attempts to convey a vintage patina, but it feels digital and not very authentic. The sounds effects and music do successfully build tension, but ultimately feels like a cheap afterthought. Leaning on the soap-opera metaphor again, the atmospheric soundscape the hollow tone of poor microphone placement.
There is no plot other than a clown named Art tearing up the town on Halloween. Two girls, drunk from a party, get caught in Art’s web leading to a heck of a lot of brutality and mayhem. Of course, several others get caught up in the gears along the way. Had it not been for Art’s poopy handiwork at the pizzeria, the nobody would even know his name. The acting, apart from David Howard Thorton, checks is middling at best. Fortunately, Damien Leone did not try create a character driven film.
Damien Leone keeps his scope tight, which likely had the upside of keeping the budget tight. The majority of the film takes place in the confines of an apartment building. While the building tries to convey a massive labyrinth, but recycles several locations. Instead of feeling like a sprawling maze, it feels bounded and tight.
Practical Effects
Terrifier bombards the audience with steady doses of brutality and buckets of gore. Art does more than simply kill his victims, he brutally disfigures them. Those that survive wish they were dead. Even for harcore fans, the kill scenes trigger a gag response. I one scene, Art bifurcates of Dawn with a hacksaw, vertically, starting his cut in the most cringe inducing areas. It makes even the hardiest of gore-hounds wince. In another instance, Art murders the pizzaria owner and turns his face into a burning jack-o-lantern.
Who is Art the Clown Anyway?
Throughout the film Art appears very human. Art the Clown goes down when he is hit by a 2×4. He hurts when a 6 inch rail spike plunges into his foot. He dies when he puts the barrel of a Colt .45 into his mouth… or does he? One of the big reveals at the end of the movie is that Art possesses a supernatural ability to rise from the dead. From the looks of things, he’ll be back! Now the producers can steadily leak his backstory over the course of a few sequels, slowly unraveling the enigma.
There is so much to love about Terrifier
Sometimes the best thing that a low-budget film can do is to realize its own purpose. Terrifier does this by realizing that its strength lies not in its story, but rather the insanity created by its flagship antagonist. This self-realization allowed the production crew to dramatically simplify its approach and focus on a ravenous sub-set of the horror community, the gore guzzling slasher fan. This film targets the thousands of fans that have been begging for a bad-guy of this caliber since Freddy last faced off against Jason.
By recognizing its own strengths, Terrifier overcomes several glaring weaknesses that would sink a lesser movie. That being said, there is still much room for improvement in the camera and sound departments. Leone released a great movie for hardcore horror fans and provides hope for those that have been waiting for the next great slasher franchise.
Terrifier (2016) - A Terrifying Work of Art - Malevolentdark
Director: Damien Leone
Date Created: 1970-01-01 00:33
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