Terrifier 2
review by Bobby Blakey
In 2013 Art the Clown made his terrifying first appearance in the anthology film All Hallows’ Eve from previous short films from director Damien Leone. After becoming a fan favorite he spun off into his own film Terrifier in 2016 with Leone once again at the helm. Now he is back for more gruesome fun with Terrifier 2 starring Felissa Rose, David Howard Thornton, Griffin Santopietro, Lauren LaVera, and Chris Jericho with Leone back to direct again.
Terrifier 2 follows Art the Clown who returns to the timid town of Miles County where he targets a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween night after being resurrected by a sinister entity.
The film picks up at the exact ending of the first film and reminds you that it is all in on the gore department. One of the things I loved about the first film was the lack of explanation of Art and just letting him wreak havoc on the poor people he is terrorizing. This time around it wasters no time in joining Art and getting to peek a bit into his mind which I think is the proper evolution to the character and its charm. At the same time it still leaves it to the imagination and just lets him be crazy for crazy sake which is the best thing. We don’t need a back story for every crazed killer, just let them do their thing.
Art the Clown is better than ever and should be thrown up there with the other icons of horror. His sheer joy of doing what he does makes it all the more insane and made all the better by the fact that he never makes a sound. He is one of those characters that has a memorable look, but also brings more to the slasher genre with his willingness to use guns along with everything else.
The story is a bit all over the place at first, but finds its footings with the clear targets and just goes crazy. The story is simple and just brings as much is needed to get it going while still connecting it to the original film in some simple ways. Filled with all the annoying young people that are common in the genre that you can’t wait to see slaughtered, but thankfully no one overly annoying that you can’t still have a great time.
They really amped the gore up this time around which is saying something after the previous film. There is one sequence about halfway through that is filled with bones breaking, dismemberment, eye gouging and everything else you could imagine. They have really upped the quality of the violence this time around and delivered it in spades. The sheer amount of blood spewing in this film alone seems like it could fill a pool.
Obviously these movies are for a specific audience, but for those gore hounds that love this genre like I do they will no doubt have a great time. There is a supernatural element during the finale that I don’t think really fit to the rest of the film, but still bloody fun. Let’s hope this isn’t the last time we get to see Art put a bloody smile on someone’s face.
The film killed it in theaters financially and caused all kinds of controversy with reports of people getting grossed out and leaving, throwing up and/or passing out. Now fans can get the chance to see the film at home available now on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD.
