Terrifier

Here is a film that will induce a big frown, as a marauding psycho wanders around town, with oversized boots and a dark crooked smile, a bag full of tools to remove and restyle, expresses emotions with gesture and mime, will take all you've got when you've just reached your prime, no mercy or pity, as you beg and you plead, feasting on all features, as you drain and you bleed.

If inflicting and unleashing violence and pain on another individual utilising a range of tools is your thing then step on in and enjoy the disturbing world of Art the Clown as he carves his way through several torsos while teaching Takashi Miike and the butchery trade a thing or two about carcass dissection.

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.

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.

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

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.