For years we’ve been waiting for the sequel the almost instant cult classic, Terrifier, and it’s finally upon us, for better or worse. Terrifier 2 hit theaters October 6th and has been met with fairly mediocre reviews spite the impressive profits. With a measly budget of a quarter of a million dollars, the film has already brought in over $6 million and is still steadily climbing. Media headlines reporting that patrons of theaters have experienced fainting and vomiting could be factor as this is the Halloween title to see this year for even people who aren’t fans of the genre. The media has been used to drive box office sales like this before with films like The Exorcist and although this film doesn’t come close in terms of quality or budget, the appeal to watch something “you shouldn’t” is still there.
One of the biggest criticisms of the original film was the lack of plot and basically just the movie being a feature length of blood and torture (Let’s not forget turd smearing. Oh the turd smearing). That’s not a bad thing if that’s what you’re into but as the horror genre as a whole has refined, even a modicum of characters and plot are expected. Did Terrifier 2 rectify this issue? Well…they tried.
Terrifier 2 is set a year after the original, and is essentially a 120+ minute rehashing of the first one. 2 hours of Art the Clown being nasty. Just plain nasty. It’s usually fun to break down horror movies by making fun of the tropes like questionable character decisions, this movie doesn’t really have any. We have a girl that sneaks her friend some drugs, that’s pretty sketchy, but has no bearing on the plot (there’s a plot?). Either way, lets move to the actual review.
Plot: 1/10
Terrifier 2 starts off with Art escaping the morgue, directly after the events of the first movie. We skip to a year later and follow a family on Halloween. Just trying to explain the plot to this movie gives me writers block as there’s just nothing of relevance to put here. It’s Halloween so Art comes out and kills people. There is this little girl clown demon that at first you’re led to believe is part of Art’s imagination, however the son of the family mentioned earlier, Jonathan, and his sister Sienna both see her towards the end. Plus between the little girl and the mid-credit sequence you see a lot of orange eyes suggesting we have some sort of demon theme? I don’t know, it’s kinda there, kinda tacked on, and a whole lot of bad. I’ll give this movie credit where credit is due, the story is definitely better than the first one because there almost is one, but I still can’t say it’s great. I’m hoping with the profits this movie has brought in they can afford a writer for the 3rd installment. Damien Leone directs the hell out of this movie and you can tell what strengths he has as a writer, but character development and a cohesive, functional story aren’t in his wheelhouse.
Characters: 6/10
Art the clown was created by Damien Leone for the 2008 short film The 9th Circle. Inspired by an episode of The Twilight Zone, he is creepy yet you can’t get enough of him. In 2013, the short and its characters are used for the feature length anthology film, All Hallows’ Eve, where Art is the main attraction in a segment. These were both portrayed by Mike Giannelli. In 2016, with the popularity of the Art character rising, Leone released Terrifier, with David Howard Thornton playing the role of Art the clown. If you’ve ever seen the Giannelli shorts (I’ve personally never seen The 9th Circle but have watched All Hallows’ Eve) you can see where Thornton really makes the character his own. He’s been in an episode of Gotham as an orderly but has had a very limited career otherwise (he does have some pre-production credits but nothing looking huge) and I’m really hoping with the success Terrifier 2 has had he gets more work because this man is a gem both on screen and off from what I’ve seen from the behind the scene extras for Terrifier. The only reason the score in this category is as high as it is is for Art’s character alone. His concept and direction from Leone and his portrayal by Thornton are flawless.
There are only a few other characters of note. Sienna, played by Lauren LaVera, isn’t nearly as fleshed out as she should have been for a lead protagonist and as I mentioned previously some of the plot points toward this character is plain dumb. She is given ecstasy by her friend, and then in the same night is fighting for her life and wins. As sobering as a killer clown might be and even being stuck in a dunk tank, I don’t think that’s going to sober you up from that. Jonathan, however, I felt was a much more relatable character, and I felt that young actor Elliott Fullam did the role justice. Also as a positive, Amelie McLain’s portrayal of the little pale girl is both creepy and memorable, even if the character itself is poorly written and fairly pointless. I’d also like to mention that we were all excited to see horror icon Felissa Rose as well as professional wrestler / horror enthusiast Chris Jericho and while they both did phenomenally as expected, there wasn’t nearly enough of them.
Cinematography: 5/10
The cinematography was adequately done by George Steuber. There isn’t really anything spectacular going on here, no shots really stood out. However, Stueber is obviously no amateur and gives us that professional quality plus the views we all wanted.
Sound Design / Score: 8/10
This was one of my favorite parts to this movie, and I think a dramatic improvement to its predecessor. Paul Wiley brought in a lot of 80’s synth into the score, along with some hits that really built in some of the suspense through the film. Even the campy clown song is fantastic. I can’t say I remember much if any of the music for the first movie so again, huge improvement.
Cheese / Camp Factor: 8/10
When devising this rating system, the point of this category was to look at the tone of the movie and see how well it works for the overall setting. Terrifier and this sequel aren’t meant to be funny, but a feature of visceral horror that keeps you queasy until the end credits roll. I think this film is very successful at what it’s trying to do.
Rewatchability: 2/10
This is the 3rd film from Leone that I’ve taken the time to watch. Will I watch his next film? Absolutely. Have I ever watched one of his films a second time? Nope. I absolutely enjoy these grindhouse style films but these in particular are over stylized and over the top on the brutality with none of the story or the fun to make you want to sit through it again. Friday the 13th and similar movies have pretty mediocre stories and characters as well but they are fun to watch and keep you wanting more of the same. This style of movie isn’t fun for me as a solo watch in the same vein that Cannibal Holocaust and pretty much any rape/revenge movie is. I enjoy them the first time, but the only chance I’m going through it again is to show my friends.
The Kills / Makeup and Effects: 9/10
There’s a lot to be said here, since this is all this franchise is about. We get the privilege to endure 2 hours of Joshua Petrino, Damien Leone, and Phil Falcone’s teams put their greatest talents on display with a massive amount of practical effects. As mentioned before, this movie is hyper stylized and over the top with its brutality, but if you have been following this production of this film and have been waiting for its release, this is what you paid for and they certainly delivered. There are a few negatives, for example the most notable kill in the movie is a girl getting flayed to death which sounds fantastic in paper but the chick refuses to die. Her mother finds Art cutting into her leg, half her face missing, an arm cut off, chunks of her legs taken off, and she’s still alive. Her wounds are bleached and salted. This isn’t a ‘Yas Queen’ type of moment, just die already. There’s no way in hell someone is living through even a fraction of that. We’ve met a woman who is immune to shock. Either way, much like the original the kills and the brutality are the primary selling factor and really what makes this movie.
Conclusion: 5.5/10
I think this movie really succeeds in what it’s trying to do, and I’m not sure if this would be a controversial opinion or not, but I think this is better than the original. The production quality is vastly improved, however they still fall short in the writing and (non-Art the clown) characters. I look forward to seeing more work by Leone whether the franchise carries on or not, just as long as he gets himself someone to write a proper script for him.