Terrifier 2

MOVIE #1,183 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 10.08.23 50 MOVIES IN 32 DAYS! Wow. This is 100% better on all fronts than its two predecessors. It's definitely too long but not only does it have a plot, the plot is actually good! Dare I say, VERY good. Whereas the first movie is almost a non-entity, simply existing as a showpiece for the gore FX, this feels like the proper first installment of a franchise: cultivating characters and creating an emotional investment, establishing an intiguing mythology, etc. The over-the-top torture porn violence is still not my bag but it's so much more palatable when packaged in a story with compelling roles, characters who have a rich history and feel real.

Though, on the former point, he ratchets it up so much that this was probably the goriest film I've ever seen (the act 1 scene where Art literally tortures a girl in her bedroom was the first time I was slightly nauseated during the series — that being said, Leone does deserve credit for shooting and editing it so keenly, even if it is simply not my bag AT ALL).

The mood and arc here are indicative of the classic 80s slashers, complete with the high school/Halloween setting, strained family dynamics, a demented original jingle for a nonexistent cafe and — most importantly — a very strong final girl/protagonist, played excellently by Lauren LaVera in the role of Sienna. There's also an added fantastical element both in the demented, seemingly unkillable villain and, more interestingly, with the heroine Sienna, who derives power from a sword gifted to her from her late father. To that end, the backstory of the dad is played perfectly, revealing just enough to make the plot work but also leaving more than enough meat on the bone for the inevitable sequels. And like Robert Englund brings something undeniable to Freddy in the Nightmare movies, the actor portraying Art the clown (David Howard Thornton) deserves a special shout-out. He has a flare here that's undeniable. I did not expect to chuckle during Terrifier 2...


Where seemingly nothing was considered (beyond the logistics of capturing the kills on the camera) in the original film, everything is given care here, including the origin of the odd title — “Terrifier” is the name of a haunted house attraction at an amusement park, and is the setting for the delirious final showdown which clocks in, somehow, at close to 45 minutes — as well as not forgetting about the Vicky character, the only useful holdover from Terrifier 1. The most shocking aspect of this movie, it turns out, was how much I enjoyed it.

But the elephant in the room remains the torture porn element and I just want to close with a long paragraph about it, which — please — feel free to skip!

I think this would have garnered a 9 for me if it wasn’t so fucked up (it also would have cleared a good chunk of that extraneous run-time!). This can be boiled down to a point of personal preference, I suppose. As I’ve said earlier, if that stuff is the only reason you’re into this, then knock yourself. Although, in all truth, do I really feel that way? I do think it’s perverse if not fully problematic if that’s the only reason you’re seeking this out. There’s always the risk of coming off as holier than thou when you get into these weeds, but just as a fan of cinema, I think it does a disservice to Leone to triumph that over the myriad other elements which are crafted so nicely. I’m a big fan of practical FX gore but I think there’s a fine line. Part of what Leone clearly wants to do is obliterate that line completely. It’s not an instinct that I’ll ever enjoy or even appreciate, but in some way, I do respect it. I just genuinely hope it doesn’t/won’t hold people back from engaging with this franchise. This movie is good, with or without it, and it’s clearly found an audience, one way or the other, either because of it or in spite of it. There is a gray area here I don’t have a handle on: if the gore is toned down but the next films are better/continute to improve (via larger budget, growth of the story and characters, etc.) will that core audience get turned off? This seems like an inherent issue with any movie aiming to be “the most fucked up shit you’ve ever seen!” And I don’t really know a thing about Leone (other than he is clearly capable of both writing and directing and crafting a really good film) but as he functions as the lead FX designer in edition to writer/director/editor, this is all under his control. (This is partly a marketing issue, but that’s another can of worms altogether.) To me, there is a stark difference between torture porn violence and good old over-the-top slasher/horror violence. You can get creative with the kills without focusing so much on the pain and anguish of the victims. A good example — SPOILERS — is in the post-credits sequence where we see Vicky give birth to Art’s severed head in the mental hospital. It’s beyond fucked up and disgusting but not specifically tied to any visceral human suffering, and I think you can handle character deaths in a similarly creative manner. Look, I’m onboard for Terrifier 3 regardless at this point. This is just my 2¢ on what is a pretty complicated issue. Thanks for reading.

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Terrifier 2 is a 2022 American slasher film written, directed, edited and produced by Damien Leone. A sequel to Terrifier (2016), it is the third feature-length film to feature Art the Clown. It features the return of David Howard Thornton and Samantha Scaffidi, who respectively portrayed Art the Clown and Victoria Heyes in the first film, and stars Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Sarah Voigt, Kailey Hyman and Casey Hartnett. The plot follows Art's resurrection and pursuit of teenage Sienna Shaw (LaVera) and her younger brother Jonathan (Fullam) on Halloween night — a year after the events of the first film. It was released on August 29, 2022.