Terrifier (2016) Review
Terrifier is a 2016 indie horror film written and directed by Damien Leone that has really begun to pick up steam as a franchise over the last few years. The film was crowd-sourced in 2015 and had a budget of around $35,000, which ended up having a great return.
The movie begins with a disfigured woman being interviewed about her attack and killer, and the interviewer asks her, “When you first saw your face…” and there is no way this bitch is seeing shit out of that face. She literally has no eyes. Eventually, you discover she’s also the strongest woman of all time because she crushes someone’s face with her bare hands like the Mountain. I still don’t understand why she did this, even after watching the whole movie.
I love that even though this is a modern-day slasher B-movie, Art the Clown (played by David Howard Thornton)has arguably become a major horror icon of the late 2010s and 2020s. His character is so well designed because it is so simple. I also love that everything is done with practical effects, that’s always a plus.
Hot girls dressing like sluts for Halloween is America’s greatest contribution to culture of all time. The part when they are in the restaurant and Art walks in is crazy. If I’m at an empty restaurant and this guy comes acting creepy and weird as fuck, I’m leaving. Either that’s a serial killer or some weird person I don’t want to be near. However, the blonde bimbo, Dawn (Catherine Corcoran), starts shit with the creepy clown for no reason.
The Steve-O-Lantern is great, but the employee (played by Gino Cafareli) does not sell getting his fucking hand chopped off and getting stabbed in the face until he dies.
It’s crazy that Tara (Jenna Kanell) is feeling creeped out after seeing Art and having the car’s tires slashed but still decides to try to use the restroom by talking to nearby strangers. This is a classic level dumbass horror character move. Then, this creepy ass cat lady (Pooya Mohseni) comes out of nowhere, and it feels like a fever dream.
There is a part where Art finally appears to Tara and is standing there like, “Surprise!” and it is the funniest shit ever. The little cat and mouse chase they have after is pretty decent and does a good job of being suspenseful.
Many people say that the most scary and disturbing part of the movie is the part where Dawn is upside down and sawed in half through the vagina. While I can see why people think that, gore isn’t all that scary to me, and there’s another part that’s much more jarring where the imagery is just a bit more disturbing.
Having Art bring out a gun is fantastic, and it’s a good way to play with the expectations of a horror villain. It also does a great job of giving Art some character and personality. The whole thing was so unexpected the first time I saw this movie it made me laugh.
The creepy cat lady eventually runs into Art after watching him murder and telling him, “I have nothing else in the world,” is a pants-on-head retarded strategy of trying to stay alive. He’s a serial killer demon, and that’s like his perfect victim. The “mommy-play” that happens is weird as shit, but I find it more campy and comedic than disturbing.
The part with disturbing imagery is when Art scalped and de-breasted the crazy cat lady, wearing her skin, and walking towards Tara, and it is unsettling. The beheading death is a solid kill and takes some inspiration from fucked-up cartel videos.
Trying to kill someone with a plastic bag is always so stupid anytime I see it in a movie, and it goes exactly how you think it does. Another stupid thing is when the exterminator hits Art once and then puts his weapon down like, c’mon man, bash his brains in they never die with one hit. His clown shoes through his head death was fucking great, though.
The end of the movie, when Art wakes up from death, feels like the moment they decided that Art is going to be the next big slasher villain.
I think this movie is fine. It has its problems, but for being a super low-budget grindhouse B-movie, it has some good kills and some creepy moments. There’s basically no real plot; all of the story seems like an afterthought, and they probably came up with the kills first and tried to string them together afterward.
