Terrifier

Art the Clown started back in 2011 with a short movie by the same name, truth be told I didn't like it. The creator Damien Leone would keep Art around in his feature film All Hallows' Eve (2013) but as a small role.

Now here we are and Art has his own movie, but is it any good? Honestly, not really but it's better than his last solo outing.

It follows the standard slasher formula and sees a couple of girls on Halloween night come under attack from a psychotic clown.

So again this is generic stuff, it embraces all the usual tropes and though not predictable certainly has no surprises. It's also pretty ugly and oddly paced throughout.

What Terrifier does have however is sheer unadulterated brutality. This is gory nasty no holds barred merciless stuff, I was quite shocked actually. Considering the budget they make all of it look really good, so kudos to the sfx department.

I love clowns as antagonists but Art doesn't seem to tick enough boxes for me. He's less of a clown and more of a mime and doesn't seem to be an interesting enough character to carry his own film.

Passable stuff but by this time next week I'll have forgotten it.

The Good:

Impressively grisly visuals

Jenna Kanell

Unpredictable

The Bad:

Doesn't exactly flow

Poor cinematography

It was average low budget film, it was a little choppy at times but the end result for a budget film was what you expected, very gory, but lacked good acting at times, but we did get the bonus of Art such an enjoyable creep and it's sequel which I had a great time enjoying.

Yes there is almost no plot and it's very nihilistic and gratuitous, but it makes up for that with a truly creepy villain and some very well done and incredibly brutal gore effects.

The acting is perfectly fine. Nothing amazing, but it's perfectly acceptable. A lot better than you usually get in a low budget horror these days.

This isn't a movie that's going to revolutionize the genre, but it's a fun throwback to the good old days of unstoppable silent killers terrorizing people for arbitrary reasons.

Terrifier is completely comfortable with how gross and provocative it is. The 85 minute run time is the only nice thing about it in an extremely gory film that has some unforgettable kills and spends the majority of its time moving from victim to victim with no filler. It's a film of two halves where the first part contains all the best bits and takes some huge swings that the second half just can't live up to.

Jenna Kanell is by far the best out of all the speaking performers here. She's the person with the best fight or flight and the film's at its most investing when it's focusing on her survival. With his distinct look and committed performance, David Howard as Art the Clown is the main selling point and he's as funny as he is scary. He brings a lot of personality to Art, showing how much he's enjoying himself without any words.

Damien Leone's direction works with the noticeably low budget which adds a fair amount of charm. It's at its strongest when putting the unforgiving kills front and centre, even if it's very obvious that it's not being fair with its victims. Paul Wiley's score is a satisfyingly sinister presence which is a natural fit for a film rife with dirty sets, tacky gore and supporting performances that are knowingly bad.

Do you ever watch a slasher film and the characters make SO MANY DUMB CHOICES that you stop hoping they'll get out of it and hope they're put out of their misery instead?

Yeah, this movie is like that.

Art the Clown is a plus because he is truly terrifying-great costume/makeup and great characterization on his part. But the victims ultimately committed the sin of making me not care if they lived or died. They weren't bad concepts, just poorly executed (no pun intended). The film harkens back to some traditional slashers in the mystery of who the killer and his motivation, so that doesn't bother me at all for a slasher film, but the characters' dumb choices are awful no matter the kind of film.