Terrifier 2 Movie Review

Written by Ricardo Serrano Denis

Released by Bloody Disgusting

terrifier 2 cover large

Written and directed by Damien Leone
138 minutes, 2022, Not rated
Released on October 6, 2022

Staring:
David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown
Lauren LaVera as Sienna Shaw
Elliott Fullam as Jonathan Shaw
Sarah Voigt as Barbara
Kailey Hyman as Brooke
Casey Hartnett as Alli
Chris Jericho as Burke

Review:

The first Terrifier movie managed to achieve a very difficult thing: the creation of a new slasher icon. Art the Clown wasn’t just a creepy clown, he was a force of violence that carried a sense of character through a delicately balanced silent performance by David Howard Thornton. Mind you, the character hasn’t reached Jason or Michael Myers levels of iconic, but he’s growing, and the latest sequel helps put him on the path towards that.

Terrifier 2, directed by Damien Leone, is a movie for fans of the first one, for those who elevated Art the Clown into his still niche iconic status (contradictory though that may be). It goes for the ‘bigger and bloodier is better’ routine that horror sequels usually adopt when it’s time for another bout of terror with the same monster or killer. As was the case with the first movie, and slashers in general if you consider their track record, the killer is almost entirely the only redeeming quality of the story, or lack thereof in this case.

terrifier 2 01 terrifier 2 02

What perhaps sets this sequel apart from the rest is that it very clearly wants to build a mysteriously complex world for Art, with an eye to expand on his myth. Problem is little of it makes sense, leaving the story at the mercy of the buckets of gore that accompany the viciously sadistic kill scenes. They make an impression, sure, but the new material is so convoluted that you wonder whether there’s something more behind the experience other than watching a strikingly designed murder clown add to his kill count.

The story follows Sienna as she prepares for a long-awaited Halloween night in which she plans to reveal her angel warrior costume (complete with angelic wings) at a party with friends. She’s having a tough time dealing with the cruel death of her father while simultaneously dealing with an overworked and stressed-out mom and a little brother that obsesses with the story of Art the Clown.

On Art’s side, things take a turn for the weird in totally incomprehensible ways. He’s shown coming back to life and getting ready for another Halloween night filled with mayhem and dismemberment, but this time there’s a small and creepy girl clown, known as the Pale Girl (played by Amelie McLain), that follows him around. Only he can see her (for the most part) as she offers a helping hand in getting him back to his killing ways as swiftly as possible. Very little is offered about the character other than this and it often feels as if she’s just there to add to the scenery.

terrifier 2 03 terrifier 2 04

As is the case with Art, the Pale Girl does look the part of scary clown hallucination. Jackie Hughes and Alana Rose do a great job with the makeup effects, just as much a strength here as it was in the first movie. Art’s profile and color scheme transfers over into the Pale Girl and it does make for a terrifying clown duo. What lets these two down is the story behind them, of which there is barely the semblance of one.

There’s only so much killing that Art can do before things start feeling repetitive and redundant. In the first movie, it could be argued that Art’s character development hinged entirely in his silent approach to killings. But this isn’t It and Art isn’t Pennywise. Where Stephen King's monster had a motivation and a large sense of story about him, Art is all death and no direction. And yet, there was tension behind the hunt as Art killed people off. Director Leone’s strategy for part two, it seems, is to basically extend the kill scenes’ run time by keeping the camera on Art as he digs deeper into his depravity to get into the maiming fans will surely get a kick out of.

Ironically, the violence does feel like overkill after the first few are up and done. Brutality can be an effective source of terror and fear, but too much of it can dull the senses. Terrifier 2 falls victim to this; by thinking that more gruesome kills can lead to more interesting character moments, the story loses sight of other things that could’ve strengthen it, namely the lore around the killer clown and the new characters.

Sienna is somewhat of an interesting character, but Leone never does anything interesting with her or her brother to make them memorable slasher protagonists. There’s something to their backstory about their father and an art book he left behind with comic book-like character designs that might tie to the clown, but it never gets fully developed. In fact, it ends up adding to the confusion on the movie’s lore.

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Nothing really coalesces into something that future movies can latch onto for exploration, either. The only thing that ends up keeping everything from falling apart is the fact that Art is a sadistic clown that kills in wildly violent ways. It’s the only thing we have in terms of connective tissue that brings some of the story together.

If a killer clown is enough to whet your appetite for an enjoyable horror watch, then Terrifier 2 will do it for you. Being a fan of the first movie is a requirement if you hope to like the sequel. And even then, someone who might’ve been on the fence with the first one and was hoping to get more of a story the second time around might do better to temper those expectations and go in expecting more of the same (albeit with a few more gallons of blood for added effect). On top of that, not one of the deaths in the sequel ever reach the highs of the woman getting sawed in half in Terrifier. Iconic though Art may be, nothing else surrounding the killer clown seems worthy of the title.

Grades:

Movie: oneandahalfstars terrifier 2 small cover
terrifier 2 small cover

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Ricardo Serrano Denis
Staff Reviewer
Ricardo believes that everything can be explained with horror. It’s why he uses it in his History classes and why he writes about horror comics. He holds a Master’s degree in Comics from the University of Dundee in Scotland in which he studied the relationship between Frankenstein and Marvel’s Ultron. He was born and raised in Puerto Rico and is now based in Brooklyn.
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