A maniac named Art the Clown terrorizes two friends on Halloween and everyone who gets in his way.A maniac named Art the Clown terrorizes two friends on Halloween and everyone who gets in his way.A maniac named Art the Clown terrorizes two friends on Halloween and everyone who gets in his way.
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- 1 win & 5 nominations total
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Featured reviews
A brutal, barbaric & bestial horror packed with harrowing kills & senseless savagery, Terrifier is completely devoid of basic narrative fundamentals and exists solely to shock, upset, disturb & disgust its viewers with its endless gore & no-holds-barred carnage but for those with a taste for the extreme, this indie slasher may just prove to be a welcome thrill-n-kill ride.
Written, produced, edited & directed by Damien Leone, the plot is merely an outline with nothing of value brewing underneath and only exists as an excuse for the filmmaker to indulge in the old-school tricks that power the violence & viscera. The make-up & special effects are worth noting but with an absent narrative & no characters to support, the film doesn't cover a lot of distance.
Further hampering the journey are the shoddy dialogues & awful performances, not to mention that it's also lacking in tension and is rather predictable & repetitive. The cardboard characters keep making the idiotic choices throughout the film which only diminish our interest in their fate, if there was any. Nevertheless, David Howard Thornton impresses in his role and is sickening to watch.
Overall, Terrifier is as repugnant & repulsive as it is raw & ruthless and often gets carried away with its scenes of torture & terror. While there is an audience for this kind of cinematic offering, the film remains a forgettable ride for the most part. Still, Art the Clown does exhibit promise & potential to become a horror franchise icon but his character & mythology needs to be fleshed out better than how it's done here.
Written, produced, edited & directed by Damien Leone, the plot is merely an outline with nothing of value brewing underneath and only exists as an excuse for the filmmaker to indulge in the old-school tricks that power the violence & viscera. The make-up & special effects are worth noting but with an absent narrative & no characters to support, the film doesn't cover a lot of distance.
Further hampering the journey are the shoddy dialogues & awful performances, not to mention that it's also lacking in tension and is rather predictable & repetitive. The cardboard characters keep making the idiotic choices throughout the film which only diminish our interest in their fate, if there was any. Nevertheless, David Howard Thornton impresses in his role and is sickening to watch.
Overall, Terrifier is as repugnant & repulsive as it is raw & ruthless and often gets carried away with its scenes of torture & terror. While there is an audience for this kind of cinematic offering, the film remains a forgettable ride for the most part. Still, Art the Clown does exhibit promise & potential to become a horror franchise icon but his character & mythology needs to be fleshed out better than how it's done here.
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.
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.
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.
This film really needed a PLOT. And characters, some people to root for. Instead, the poor pacing, lack of tension and suspense made for a kind of dull film experience. Yes, Art is a crazy, vicious clown killer. If that's all you want, then you'll see it here as he wounds, kills and dismembers people. The problem is, he will injure someone--a woman's ankle is almost torn out--and the next scene, she's running. People have their heads bashed in...and later, are able to get up and function. It really doesn't make a lot of sense and since Art seems to pop up in more places than possible, he's never really a surprise--he's overused. Clearly the director knew the story was thin, so every few minutes, Art pops up to attack someone. It really is disappointing since the short films showed some potential but when a whole film is given to Art, he's boring and predictable. I'm sure there will be another one--I hope the screenplay is given as much attention as the gore effects.
I didn't hold out much hope for this movie. Was expecting the usual bad acting and shoddy plot. However I was mildly surprised. If you like gore, a little bit of nudity and a killer clown that kind off pulls of crazy without saying a word then this could be for you. Don't expect a Spielberg plot though.
Better than the wonky cam, let's run through the woods movies.
Better than the wonky cam, let's run through the woods movies.
Did you know
- TriviaDavid Howard Thornton was the sixth person who auditioned for Art The Clown after Mike Giannelli retired from the role and acting altogether. During the audition, he began miming tasting his beheaded victim's blood, but then added salt to it to improve its flavor. This is what won him the role.
- GoofsIn the strangulation scene at around minute 30:30, Art's thumbs clearly have no contact with his victim's windpipe, which they would need for an efficient "front-to-front" attack as depicted.
- Alternate versionsThere is a heavily edited version on YouTube which removes the graphic violence and gore, as well as the nudity.
- ConnectionsEdited into Terrifier 2 (2022)
- SoundtracksI'll Try
Written and Performed by Thanks
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Gã Hề Điên Loạn
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $35,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $339,946
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $123,957
- Jul 23, 2023
- Gross worldwide
- $421,798
- Runtime
- 1h 25m(85 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.90 : 1
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