Terrifier
Director: Damien Leone
Writer: Damien Leone
Year: 2017
Starring: Jenna Kanell, Catherine Corcoran, David Howard Thornton, Samantha Scaffidi
Synopsis:
A maniacal clown named Art, terrorizes three young women on Halloween night and everyone else who stands in his way.
Review:
Writer/director Damien Leone brings his creation ‘Art the Clown’ back for a dedicated feature (previous related release ALL HALLOWS’ EVE being a portmanteau film) in which he once again terrorises innocent women…and some men.
From the opening 80s sytnth electro beats, here provided by Paul Wiley in place of Noir Deco who had scored Art’s previous exploits, the vibe is infectious, setting the tone for a violent, bizarre but importantly engrossing throwback horror.
As a result TERRIFIER is exactly what it you think it would be from the go and as indicated wastes no time in getting to some terrific gore and Fx even before the main narrative is introduced by way of our killer clown taking a liking to one woman in particular.
These scenes in which Art tries to simultaneously woo and frighten his newfound love are genuinely creepy and what Damien Leone continues to do so well is ground the character reactions in reality despite the clearly surreal situation. Credit also has to be given to David Howard Thornton in his debut feature role, who taking over as Art from Mike Giannelli puts in a near perfect performance that both captivates and repulses thanks to his portrayal.
As TERRIFIER plays out a genuine sense of unease starts to permeate through the film, and while there are similarities to Alexander Aja’s MANIAC (2012) no doubt felt due to the score and a striking resemblance with a parking lot scene, it becomes clear that TERRIFER is also a fun, brutal grind house throwback that is not played for laughs, which is almost ironic considering the lead character.
That said, this is not a po-faced film, far from it in fact. Although it is clear Damien Leone, the cast and crew have taken the genre and this film seriously they do not lack of a sense of humour or perspective and that is what lifts the film up to those levels not ascertained by many.
Like the previous effort ALL HALLOWS’ EVE, this film contains some baffling, even surreal moments, one such example, albeit an extreme one, and without wanting to provide any spoilers occurs about two-thirds of the way through as things take a rather bizarre twist and ends up briefly playing out like a homage to a couple of classics of American horror. This sequence alone is worth the price of admission.
All in all, TERRIFIER works because it is played straight, for the most part, but is not afraid to let loose every now and then become insanely absurd…albeit whilst still remaining within the confines of its tone. I suspect it can do this because the purpose of the movie is to scare and entertain, not to tell a morality tale or a story about fractured psyche.
These objectives help prioritise the feelings of tension, of fear, of abject horror even if it comes at the expense of logic or character development and in that sense is arguably comparable to the ethos of some of the early eighties output of Lucio Fulci, although here visual horror is pushed instead of a feeling.
Over the last decade there have been a fair few clown films put out into the horror market but if STITCHES was played for laughs and IT was played for drama then Art the Clown and TERRIFIER is, as the title suggests played for sheer terror.
Well written, expertly paced and extremely bloody, TERRIFIER is everything that is right with American horror and I would suggest you check it out.
