Tag: Terrifier

CAUTION: SPOILERS

(I had no idea what I was in for with this movie…)

SURPRISE! I watched Terrifier, and brethren, I was not mentally or emotionally prepared whatsoever. I had been wanting to watch this movie for some time, and since Terrifier 3 came out on a day I happened to be home and wasn’t feeling well, I thought, “Perfect! I’ll add the first one to my Spooktober list and surprise the gang.”

If you don’t know, Terrifier is a slasher with our main man being Art the Clown. This guy dresses up in a black and white clown outfit, and is essentially a mime. He doesn’t utter a sound throughout the entire movie, which just adds to his sadistic nature. And… well… that’s it. We don’t get any backstory in Terrifier, but I do know that there’s a prequel called All Hallow’s Eve that adds a little bit of insight to who the hell Art is. But, yeah… no one is safe from this dude, and even when you think there might be some humanness to him, you are quickly proven wrong.

I was quite literally not ready for what transpired in that ~90 minutes of pure chaos. Just the opening scene itself! From the first 5 minutes until about halfway through this movie, you’re on the edge of your seat wondering where the fuck these directors heads were at making this and are they like… mentally sane? And I say “until halfway through the movie” because there is a bit of a lull where things go from 100 to 0 pretty drastically. I feel like that might have been on purpose to give the audience some time to breathe in-between the absolute madness that occurs.

There’s a scene in a pizzeria where Tara and Dawn (our mc girlies) are trying to sober up before they drive home. Art, who has already been seen by the girls, sits down at a table across from them. Tara and Art have the best stare-down, tension building moment. When they lock eyes, Art begins to make faces at her, seemingly trying to get a reaction, but Tara is stone cold. One of the workers at the pizzeria asks Art to order something or GTFO. There’s a bit of a struggle and Art leaves.

Blink and you miss it, but at the pizzeria there’s a jack-o-lantern on top of the glass case where they put the pies. Of course, as you might have guessed, these dudes have no chance of making through the rest of this movie. BUT when one of the guys comes out from the backroom looking for his co-worker, he’s met with Art, covered in blood with a big ole knife in hand. As he’s being attacked we get a glimpse of the missing co-workers head on the glass case, which replaced the jack-o-lantern, lit up and all. If you’re not completely sickened by the gore and slashing that occurs, it’s actually pretty hysterical.

After the pizza shop interaction, I literally wrote in my notes, “I really think I found my new favorite horror movie.” What that says about me, I dunno. We’re a judgement-free zone here, okay? The reason why I like this movie so much is because everything happens so quickly and there’s no time to process what’s going on. It’s almost as if the directors were trying to get the audience in a real Fight or Flight of what they’d do in each situation. It’s so wild to experience.

I’m not going to go too much into detail about some of the scenes because you need the unawareness going into this movie if you haven’t seen it. I refuse to spoil the shock factor!!!

Now, let me talk about Art the Clown as a character. Aside from his outright absolute brutality, his mannerisms and demeanor make him such an unconventional character. Like honestly, there’s some shocking ways that Jason Voorhees, Michael Meyers and Freddy Kruger kill their victims, but nothing compares to Art’s style and savagery.

The acting by David Howard Thornton is impeccable. The way in which he utilizes his entire body to express his emotions is beyond impressive. When he’s reacting to certain things that take place, his expressions are so over-the-top that it’s relatively easy for the viewer to guess what he would be saying if he could speak. (I assume there’s a reason he can’t… unless it’s a voluntary attribute that Art takes upon himself to implement… which would make his character even more insane than he already is.)

He’s brutal, man. When he’s attacking people, he’s making sure he’s getting them good. I also feel like he plays up to each victim’s personality, almost like he’s mocking them. Like with Tara, since the pizzeria incident, the antagonistic style of his attacks and torture mimicked the way he was egging her on sitting at the table with his facial expressions. There’s another character, who is referred to as the “Cat Lady” according to casting, who is clearly homeless and mentally ill. She has a doll that she thinks is her daughter and Art takes advantage of her motherly instinct after she asks him, “Is there kindness in you?” And I swear, you start to think for a second that she possibly makes some type of impact with how she asks him that question. Unfortunately, no one is safe in this movie. Literally every single person that enters the chat is not safe in any capacity.

Another thing that really freaked me out was that, even when Art was stabbed and beaten by some of our brave characters, he doesn’t utter a peep, dude. Like no noise at all. Then will shoot the camera a side-eye or an eye-roll breaking that third wall and you’re like… “Are you kidding..?” Then he does some shit like popping into the room on a mini bicycle to chase one of the girls. Or when he pulls out one of those oversized clown horns to tease one of the victims. He even gives the finger to a girl that bamboozles him in the midst of them duking it out. Nothing is serious to this guy and it makes it ever so slightly easier to watch, but man, the barbarism is enough to really fuck you up.

To be completely honest, though, I really dig Art the Clown as a horror icon, and, dare I say, he’s my favorite. If you’ve seen the movie, you absolutely know what I mean. He’s a goof and he’s actually pretty funny, just in really fucked up ways. Some of the scenes are so detailed and so raw, and then we have Art sprinkling in humor, like he’s playing up the sadistic clown stereotype. He’s truly the best at it.

I will say, about 3 quarters of the way through, I was feeling kind of exhausted, like the flip flopping between absolutely wild slasher scenes and unexpected comedy. It’s like, not only does Art play with the emotions of his victims, but he plays with the audience’s emotions as well. I couldn’t tell how on edge I was during the entire movie until the end credits came on and I involuntarily breathed a sigh of RELIEF. The ruthlessness of how he kills people is just so profound, it makes you physically, verbally and emotionally react to what’s happening. I felt like I was traumatized for a couple days after the fact.

I’d assume Art is something like Michael Meyers or Jason because of the sequels, Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3. This guy just keeps coming back. Although, truthfully, I think I’d stand more of a chance against Michael or Jason than Art. If you found yourself in one of the Terrifier movies, there’s little to no hope for you, bestie. Sorry!

You’re probably wondering if I’m planning on seeing the sequels… and absolutely I am! I’m spacing them out though. I haven’t decided if I’ll be writing reviews for those yet, but make sure you’re subscribed so you’ll be the first to know if I do!

Let me know in the comments or on the socials if you’ve seen Terrifier, and if you agree with my thoughts about Art the Clown. That’s all I have for this one.

Stay tuned for my next Spooktober horror review!

Xox