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David Howard Thornton has already had his brush with the darkness with his role in the slasher series Terrifier, where he plays Art the Clown. However, he delved deeper into the darkness as the Joker.

Although David Howard Thornton isn't officially in the running to play the Clown Prince of Crime, he got to play the infamous supervillain in a fan film. Taking off his clown makeup after playing the well-known Art the Clown, he put on a different makeup for the Joker. 2025's Jokers Wild is an almost 13-minute fan film based on the 1988 comics storyline A Death in the Family. The video can be watched only on YouTube due to the age restriction.

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The short fan film comes from Aaron W. Bennett, who wrote, directed, and produced it.

If you come to pop culture prominence by playing a blood-thirsty homicidal clown, the Joker comparisons are bound to emerge at some point. For actor David Howard Thornton, the man who has played Art the Clown in Damien Leone's "Terrifier" saga since 2016, that's apparently a welcome development.

Thornton, who landed the role of Art due to some nasty improv during his audition, has seemingly relished every second of portraying the invincible harlequin, turning Art into a burgeoning horror icon following the surprise success of 2022's "Terrifier 2". With 2024's "Terrifier 3" proving to be an even wilder splatter-fest than its predecessor, Art's pop culture standing only increased, and talk of Thornton branching out into other roles has abounded.

When you're as good at portraying a killer clown with a twisted sense of humor as Thornton, the idea of playing the Joker was always going to be part of that discourse.

Art the Clown is now the Clown Prince of Crime, as Terrifier icon David Howard Thornton takes on the role of the DC’s most infamous villain in Jokers Wild.

Now on YouTube, Thornton stars as the Joker in the 13-minute fan film alongside Joel LeBlanc as Robin and Hunter G. Williams as Batman.

Written and directed by Aaron W. Bennett, the short is inspired by a plot point from the 1988 Batman comic storyline A Death in the Family — with a gory twist.

The Joker has finally captured Robin. Will the Dark Knight be able to save him in time, or will the Joker enact his most gruesome joke to date? Find out below.

As a fan film, Jokers Wild was produced with no intent to benefit financially through its presentation. Rather, the filmmakers wish to express their love of the source material with fellow fans and hope to inspire...

After the success of ‘Terrifier 3,’ David Howard Thornton is taking on the role of The Joker in ‘Jokers Wild,’ a new horror short from Busted Knuckle Productions.

In the film, The Joker has captured Robin, and it’s up to Batman to try to save him before it’s too late. The short stars Thornton as The Joker, with Joel Leblanc as Robin and Hunter G. Williams as Batman. Written and directed by Aaron W. Bennett, the film also features makeup by Tatjana Bluchel, who worked with Thornton on ‘The Mean One.’

David Howard Thornton has portrayed The Joker before in the ‘Nightwing: Escalation’ web series and has expressed a strong love for the character.

He recently shared his desire to play The Joker in a DC Studios film, hoping someone like James Gunn would give him the chance to bring his unique take on the villain to the big screen.

After the massive success of Terrifier 3, David Howard Thornton is tackling another twisted clown with Jokers Wild, a new horror short from Busted Knuckle Productions. We’ve got a handful of images featuring Thornton as the iconic DC villain, which you can check out above! Thornton certainly looks the part thanks to some lovely makeup by Tatjana Bluchel, who previously worked with the Terrifier star on The Mean One.

The synopsis for Jokers Wild reads: “The Joker has finally captured Robin. Will the Dark Knight be able to save him in time, or will The Joker enact his most gruesome joke to date?” In addition to David Howard Thornton on The Joker, the short also stars Joel Leblanc as Robin and Hunter G. Williams as Batman. Jokers Wild was written and directed by Aaron W. Bennett, who also produced alongside Hunter G. Williams and Vanessa Leigh.

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Actor David Howard Thornton is making his mark on the horror genre with his continued portrayal of Art the Clown. Terrifier 3 is currently the king of the box office, even knocking the Joker sequel down into the No. 2 spot, but that's not the only connection between Art the Clown and the Clown Prince of Crime.

On the social media platform Threads, the Art actor shared a meme acknowledging how "inspiring" it is that he is starring in a film that took the box office crown from Joker: Folie Deux, as this comes years after Thornton actually played the Joker in online fan films. Coincidentally, Thornton also happened to be cast as Art the Clown and the Joker in the very same week, nearly a decade before Terrifier 3 battled Joker: Folie Deux at the box office. As Thornton said, "I was actually cast as Art and Joker in the...

Happy new year, Daily Deaders! This horror highlights commences with a tease of Fright Rags' goodies for 2018, followed by a Game of Thrones beer from Brewery Ommegang, a new trailer and key art for The Devil's Well, and Strawberry Flavored Plastic release details.

Fright Rags Teases New Apparel for 2018: As John "Ray" Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) from Jurassic Park said, "Hold onto your butts." The new year has come and we have some good Fright Rags news to share with our readers. Fright Rags has announced some of their apparel for the upcoming year in a quick video that you can check out below.

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I was contacted by the good folks over at Nightwing: Escalation to check out the web series and I have to say, I'm pretty glad I did. Keeping an open mind and coming in with realistic expectations, as this is a fan-film made on a shoe-string budget, I was pleasantly surprised to see a real attention to detail and a shift to a heavier focus on the Gotham police force. Also, there's tons of cameos and Easter Eggs in here, ranging from Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. to The Creeper and Huntress. While I'm not going to go into a full on review as the series is still unfinished, the series is placing a paramount on story in lieu of action. I was able to catch up with producer/writer/director Alex Valderana to ask about this concept and about where the web series is headed. Mark Julian: What's...