For one night only, across multiple cinemas in the UK, the Terrifier double bill was held. I was lucky enough to grab two tickets to a local showing.
As a self proclaimed “horror fanatic”, I’d seen Terrifier and Terrifier 2 a couple times before going in to see both back to back. However, the friend I brought with me was new to the series, and he was in for a hellish almost four hour experience he’s bound not to forget anytime soon
Before we headed over to the cinema to get lost in the disturbing stories of Art the Clown, we grabbed a couple pints and had a quick catch up.
After feeling a rough buzz, we made our way to the cinema. As a quick warning, if you’re going to watch either Terrifier film, I recommend having a few drinks before.
The first film in particular is very cheesy and incredibly low budget. It’s a charming watch, but to get past some of the spotty acting and gory kills, alcohol will do the trick.
Since we were going to be locked in the screening room from half seven to quarter to twelve at night, rationing drinks and popcorn was essential. Can’t blow through your drink in the first hour, same goes for popcorn.
After buying two large popcorn buckets and two drinks, we headed past the ticket checker and through the doors, walking all the way up to the back of the screen to take our seats.
Terrifier: A bloody good time
Image credit: Dread Central
Before the film started I warned my friend about some of the disturbing moments its become known for, particularly the kill involving the blonde woman (yeah, THAT one.)
Made on a budget of just over twenty-six thousand pounds, Terrifier is a low budget shock piece that lacks the polish of your typical horror film, but it makes up for that in its creative presentation and iconic killer, Art The Clown.
Art has arguably become even more famous than either Terrifier film, his black and white mime garb topped off with a tiny top hat. It’s a fairly unassuming Halloween get up, but when worn by Art’s actor, David Howard Thorton, it’s incredibly unsettling.
What separates Terrifier from most other shock based extreme horror films is Art. He’s more than human, seemingly unkillable and weirdly hilarious. At multiple points in the film he’ll go from committing the most awful acts possible, to mime laughing and putting on daft performances. He remains scary even when he’s joking around.
Clowns are an overdone trope horror, that’s just a fact, but Art breathes a bit new life into the trope with every life he takes.
By the time the credits rolled on the first film, I looked over at Luke and asked, “What’d you think of it?” I was half expecting him to say how much he hated it, but to my shock he said, “I liked it, it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be (in terms of the gore).”
Luke seemed to be looking forward to how the sequel would build on the foundations of the first film. My praise for the sequel was part of the reason for this excitment.
Terrifier 2: A never ending gore-fest
Image credit: Cineverse Corp
Terrifier 2 has a reputation that proceeds it, known mostly for its incredibly gory kills, it’s possibly the strangest slasher film I’ve ever seen.
Running for almost 2 and a half hours (that’s a whole extra hour compared to the first films runtime), Terrifier 2 is a non-stop slasher that just keeps getting worse and worse as the film goes on. Art the Clown somehow becomes far more creative with his killings, leading to some hilarious moments, but also to the most violent murder that’s possibly ever been put to screen.
I warned Luke during the brief intermission between films that Terrifier 2 was going to be a lot more violent that the original. He didn’t seem to mind that fact, bringing up his prior exposure to the entire Saw franchise, which was also my doing. He thought he could handle the extreme violence, and to his credit, he almost did! However, the last five minutes of the film caught him out.
The alcohol had long since worn off before the film started, I was feeling more aware of the film and my first experience of watching the film came rushing back. I had to take a break about half way through the first time I watched it, this time around, I wasn’t given that option.
Terrifier 2 follows “Final Girl” Sienna Shaw played by Lauren LaVera as she is forced into a prophesied encounter with Art the Clown, destined to kill the monster, but Art isn’t going to go down that easy.
It’s a long film and by the two hour mark I started to fall asleep. It was half eleven at night by the time Sienna started her final fight with Art. Sadly, my rest had to wait as the film was starting to wrap up. Just as credits started to roll I looked over to Luke to see how he was doing, he seemed completely fine. When I asked what he thought of it, he put it simply when he said, “I liked the first one more”, couldn’t argue with that honestly.
Luke thought it was over, so did I, but just when we both thought it’s over, the film plays one more traumatising scene. I don’t want to spoil what’s shown, all I’ll say is it involves a head being somewhere it shouldn’t be. I was disgusted and felt a bit sick after seeing all that. If I thought I was feeling off, Luke’s ghastly pale colour quickly told me I was completely fine.
Luke looked like he had seen a ghost and was dead silent for a few minutes after. I had accidentally scared the living day lights out of him, which for me, was surprising, as I used to watch tons of horror films with him.
Final Thoughts
Image credit: Cineverse Corp
I’m a fan of Terrifier and was hoping that I’d turn Luke into a fan of the notorious films. He enjoyed the first one and thought Terrifier 2 was a bit of a down grade. For me, both films are just as good as each other, they are great companion pieces and work well as a double-bill, even if I felt a bit sick by the end of it all.
When asked a couple days after how he felt about all that he had experienced Luke said it was, “A bit of a fever dream considering it was literally a case of catch up with Connor over a few drinks, and then bam – we have this insanely tense and atmospheric first one, then a fifteen minute break and we have this character driven second one where people left after some of the brutal scenes… Yeah I kinda get the clown fear thing now.”
Safe to say I’ve scarred Luke for life, but it was worth it for two things. One, having a good night out, and two, for catching up with an old friend.
Featured image credit: Cineverse Corp
Fourth year Film and Journalism student
Deputy editor
Contact - deputyeditor@brignews.com
