Written by: Damien Leone
Starring: Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi, Catherine Corcoran, David Howard Thornton
Rating: [2/5]
Creating a new horror icon requires a combination of the look, actions, and story surrounding this horrifying figure to attach itself to the minds of all fans of the genre. The quality of the films they’re found in definitely vary but these icons certainly need to stand out amongst it all, which happens mostly in Terrifier. A striking look and personality make this clown entertaining to watch but he finds himself in an absolutely dreadful film.
On Halloween night, everyone’s out in their costume as Tara (Jenna Kanell) tries to navigate going home with her friend after leaving a Halloween party when they encounter Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). As they attempt to get away from him by entering a pizzeria and then into a closed building, they realize this clown has some murdering he wants to do.
The tone of a horror film signifies plenty about what we can expect about the seriousness of the story and whether or not actual fear should be elicited from what we see on the screen. Terrifier navigates between uncomfortable, strangely comedic, and horrendously gory in how it presents this killer clown and his distinct behavior. He certainly has quite the look and displays a simply terrifying appearance with just a cursory glance. Walking around during Halloween presents the opportunity for it to blend in more with others wearing costumes much like Michael Myers and the interactions we witness in this feature when he decides to be goofy make for some eerily funny moments I certainly did not expect from this killer clown.
However, once the violence gets going, we see a clown who can enact some horrific damage and do it with a disgusting smile on his face. The finest moments of this feature lie in those earlier moments in setting everything up but once it shifts to the killing spree for the clown, the film gets disgusting in an unenjoyable way. Incredibly generic, and downright head-scratching in why the filmmakers involved in this project thought they made something worthwhile. The emptiness of the whole exercise here ultimately prevents it from having any staying power and this mostly occurs through such thin characterization.
When you have a mute killer clown wreaking havoc on people, the victims, therefore, need to have personality and give us something to cling onto. This means the narrative needs to take some time in actually presenting them as real people which raises the stakes for what we will lose should they die at the hands of this clown. Unfortunately, the characters in this film receive nothing, leaving them paper-thin meaning they just become these empty vessels to watch as this clown brutally murders them. It certainly can serve as a fun experience for individuals who want to see gore just for the sake of it, but I definitely do not sit in that camp leaving not much to enjoy in this film.
As we get to the killing occurring in this feature, what the clown does borders on gross gratuitousness. One specific kill reaches a level bordering on downright inappropriate, which feels quite odd to say in a movie about a murder clown but it goes beyond the pale in what it depicts which only further enlightened me on the intention of these filmmakers. You’ll know exactly what kill I’m speaking about should you decide to watch this film, which I do not necessarily recommend. Then we continue to see brutal and empty kills throughout the rest of this feature making for something below the 90-minute mark quite the slog to get through. Everything here feels incredibly empty and simply an exercise in how to brutally mutilate people with a creepy clown.
While establishing a scary-looking clown with plenty of potential, Terrifer ultimately scares you off with its lack of substance and anything to truly attach to. This feature certainly has its audience, as some truly enjoy just watching gore for the sake of it, but this type of storytelling certainly did not work in crafting a competent feature film. You get plenty of limbs ripped off of characters’ bodies but none of it carries any weight in the slightest. Art the Clown certainly deserved better because the first act did carry some promise, but it could not follow it up with anything significant on the backend.
Films with Josh 
