Terrifier

The film stars Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi, David Howard Thornton, and Catherine Corcoran. The plot centers on partygoer Tara Heyes (Kanell) and her sister Victoria (Scaffidi), who become targets of the enigmatic serial killer only known as Art the Clown (Thornton) on Halloween night.

It is the first film centered on Art the Clown, second-feature-length film to include the character (after the anthology film All Hallows’ Eve), fourth film and fifth installment overall (following two short films and anthology installments) in the Terrifier franchise.

Leone wrote the film specifically as a means of showcasing the character of Art and his practical effects work—such as the controversial hacksaw death scene. Leone has expressed regret for leaving the protagonists underdeveloped.

Leone filmed Terrifier on a low budget of $35k. It had an Indiegogo campaign, although it ultimately did not reach its goal.

Mike Giannelli, who portrayed all prior incarnations of Art, retired from acting before production began, and Thornton replaced him as Art.

It premiered at the Telluride Horror Show Film Festival in October 2016 before being picked up by Dread Central Presents and Epic Pictures for a limited theatrical release in March 2018.

The film received mixed reviews, with praise directed towards the special effects and the portrayals of Kanell and Thornton, while the writing was subject to criticism. The movie quickly became a cult film. A sequel, Terrifier 2, was released on October 6, 2022.

Brown mentions that the body of the mysterious killer, known only as “Art the Clown”, disappeared from the morgue, suggesting he is still alive. When the disfigured woman insists she saw him die, Art, watching the program, destroys his TV, changes into costume, and fills a garbage bag with weapons.

Later in her dressing room, Monica makes disparaging remarks about the interviewee’s appearance to her partner. The disfigured woman, who’d been eavesdropping, attacks Monica and gouges out her eyes, laughing maniacally.

On Halloween night, two friends, Tara and Dawn, drunkenly leave a party and encounter Art, who follows them to a pizzeria.

Art is kicked out by the restaurant owner for smearing his feces over the bathroom walls. The girls discover that Dawn’s car tire has been slashed, and Tara calls her sister Vicky to pick them up. Art returns to the pizzeria, killing two workers.

While waiting, Tara asks a pest control worker, Mike, to be let into the apartment building he’s working in to use the restroom.

There, she encounters the Cat Lady, a deluded squatter who believes the doll she carries is her infant child. Art attacks Dawn and subdues Tara with a sedative.

Tara awakens, bound to a chair, to see Dawn suspended upside-down. Art forces her to watch as he saws Dawn in half. Tara escapes but he shoots her to death, then attacks Mike.

The Cat Lady discovers Art with her doll, and in a plea for the return of her “child”, attempts to show motherly compassion by cradling him.

Vicky arrives and discovers Art, who has mutilated the Cat Lady and is wearing her scalp and breasts. Art chases her and decapitates Mike’s co-worker Will. Vicky finds her sister’s corpse as Art attacks her with a makeshift cat o’ nine tails.

Mike knocks Art unconscious. The two flee and call 9-1-1. Art recovers and kills Mike, then hits Vicky with a pickup truck. As she lies unconscious, Art begins to eat her face. The police finally arrive, but Art shoots himself before he can be apprehended.

After the police discover Vicky is still alive, Art’s body and those of his victims are taken to a morgue, where Art reanimates and attacks the medical examiner.

One year later, Vicky is released from the hospital after rehabilitation; she is revealed to be the disfigured woman from the film’s opening; thus the events of the movie showed the massacre that took place the previous year.