Clownin' Around- "Terrifier" Review

Director, writer, and special effects makeup artist Damien Leone first popped up on my radar with the release of All Hallows Eve in 2013 and I found myself giggling with glee over his inventive practical gore/creature effects. So when I saw that Netflix had slipped his latest picture, Terrifier, into my "Recommended For You" category (immediately recognizing Art the Clown from his appearance in the aforementioned All Hallows Eve), I was thrilled.

Let me start by saying that I have a lot of respect for Leone. The man is clearly a horror junkie who has spent a lifetime developing his practical blood and guts skills. This guy is right up there with the modern special effects masters and I would not be at all surprised if we were calling him the next Tom Savini is a few years' time. Leone also dedicated this film to the memory of Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and George A. Romero -- and for that I feel obliged to like him and his film before I even hit play. That being said, his first attempt at a feature length film (All Hallows Eve being a series of horror vignettes, and his 2011 short--also titled "Terrifier"-- clocking in at just over twenty minutes) left me wanting in more ways than one.

Damien Leone with Thornton as "Art"

Director, writer, and special effects makeup artist Damien Leone first popped up on my radar with the release of All Hallows Eve in 2013 and I found myself giggling with glee over his inventive practical gore/creature effects. So when I saw that Netflix had slipped his latest picture, Terrifier, into my "Recommended For You" category (immediately recognizing Art the Clown from his appearance in the aforementioned All Hallows Eve), I was thrilled.

Let me start by saying that I have a lot of respect for Leone. The man is clearly a horror junkie who has spent a lifetime developing his practical blood and guts skills. This guy is right up there with the modern special effects masters and I would not be at all surprised if we were calling him the next Tom Savini is a few years' time. Leone also dedicated this film to the memory of Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and George A. Romero -- and for that I feel obliged to like him and his film before I even hit play. That being said, his first attempt at a feature length film (All Hallows Eve being a series of horror vignettes, and his 2011 short--also titled "Terrifier"-- clocking in at just over twenty minutes) left me wanting in more ways than one.

Tara Heyes (played with a hard-edged gusto reminiscent of Neve Campbell in Scream by Jenna Kanell) and her drunkenly outgoing friend, Dawn (Catherine Corcoran), are wrapping up a night of Halloween partying in an all too familiar way--with a greasy slice of pizza. Also at the pizza parlor is a shy man in black and white clown makeup who seems quite fond of young Tara, making eyes at her every chance he gets and flashing a decidedly creepy smile whenever she returns his gaze. That's pretty much the whole set-up. We have met Art the Clown! The only thing resembling an inciting incident is when Art is kicked out of the restaurant for smearing his clown caca all over the walls of the bathroom. What follows is a dizzying series of kill scenes with a thin plot line meandering through it. Even when Leone does offer up a bit of a plot twist, it is undermined by other weak story elements: like a superfluous B-plot about a vagrant woman who talks to her doll.

Overall, the film felt more like a flimsy vehicle for Leone to showcase his incredible skills as a practical effects artist than anything else. Even in a horror niche as forgiving in the way of character motivation and plot as the "slasher," I still need something to add depth to my masked murderer. As far as motivation, Leone fails to serve up even something as cursory as neglectful camp counselors or vengeful parents driven to pyromania. Instead we just have a mute, vagabond clown with a trash bag full of sadistic playthings who enjoys smearing his own shit on the walls of public bathrooms (he does this in both the 2017 feature and the 2011 short.) And with the omission of this simple story element we lose what is probably the most important thing about any horror movie bad guy: mythos.

Okay, clearly I didn't love this picture but it is no way a bad horror movie. Art himself possesses attributes that I would liken to some of the best slasher baddies. In the 2011 short film and All Hallows Eve, Art is played by Mike Gianelli, who does a serviceable job, but whose buff build seems better suited to a killer like Jason Voorhees; an unthinking, unstoppable juggernaut type. In Terrifier the role is handed off to David Howard Thornton, who pulls the character to new heights. Thornton has a background in miming and utilizes that skill set very effectively in his depiction of the poo-smearing, face-stabbing prankster. Art is more expressive, playful, and just overall more creepy than he was in either of his previous appearances. In a later scene in the movie (SPOILER...I guess? Can you really spoil anything in a movie that is just a series of kills?) Art dons the scalp and chest of a freshly-skinned woman a la Buffalo Bill and stalks our final girl, doing feminine twisty turns and dancing about the room. With Mike Gianelli behind the clown paint this scene could have come off like a cheap trick, but Thornton executes it with a convincing abandon that makes me think there must have been a few interpretive dance electives alongside his major in mime, and the effect is positively chilling.

Art possesses that deathless, supernatural quality that we have grown to adore through trailblazers like Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers. You can stab him through the eye, drive a knife through his heart, or put a bullet in his head and in a matter of minutes our lovable lunatic will be back on his clown shoes, ready for more lady-slaying antics.

A few fun facts about Art that set him apart from the rest: Jason has his machete (though he dabbles in all sorts of objects, blunt and bladed), Freddy has his finger-knife-glove things and Michael has his oversized kitchen knife; so what is Art's signature weapon of choice? Well, as I said, he walks around with a bulging trash bag full of things that clink and clank with a menacing, metallic sound. The contents of his murderous Mary Poppins bag include but are not limited to: a shaving razor, a hammer, and a hacksaw (used in probably the most jarring and impressive kill I've seen in years), but if there is one weapon that I would say is unique to Art it would be his tricked out cat o' nine tails made from several lengths of heavy chain, each tipped with a different bladed object. At the end of one, a syringe. Another has a scalpel. On others there are scissors, a meat cleaver, and so on. With this he lashes his fleeing females (sorry ladies, I've never seen him use it on a fella), striking them with a dozen different weapons at once. Love it or not, this isn't your average pointy plaything and it adds a touch of flair and creativity to the action.

"Wow!" you may be saying, "what else could a murderous clown ask for?" Well, that is where I find the biggest difference between Art's arsenal and that of your typical slasher. Ready for this? (Again... SPOILER?) Art has a GUN! That's right, homeboy is packing a 9mm somewhere in his bulging bag of tricks and when push comes to shove he is not above peeling off a few shells. At first I wasn't sure how to feel about this. A gun is a weapon for a disgruntled employee on a psychotic rampage or a bad-ass dad who is about to make his daughter's kidnappers wish they had chosen a different career path. In short-- guns are for mortals, not unstoppable incarnations of evil. But the more I thought about it, the more okay with it I became. Think of it this way-- Art only uses the gun when he absolutely has to. Particularly pugnacious final girl is dangerously close to getting away? Pop a cap in her and see how fast she can run! Some interloping midnight commuter giving your victim a ride out of dodge? Blow a hole in his head! See if his hands stay at 10 and 2 then! For me, it is the fact that he has the gun but chooses not to use it that makes this effective. He does not want to kill people, he wants to watch them suffer, he wants to clown around with their guts, he wants to have fun.

Art gets quite a few yuks out of torturing and mutilating his unlucky victims, and with the way that Thornton plays him, along with the astoundingly good practical effects from writer/director Damien Leone, you just may crack a clownish smile too.

3.7/5.0