A huge thank you to Signature for sending this over for me to bring you this Terrifier 2 review.
Resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County to terrorize a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween night.
Damien Leone and Terrifier hit the ground running back in 2016 as a new horror icon was born. Comic con goers across the land would wear Art the Clown costumes with sadistic pride and the popularity of the movie went to insane levels. Levels not seen in the modern age of horror movies.
Being compared to Michael Myers, Leatherface, Chucky, Freddy Krueger and Jason is one hell of an accolade and despite the first film being a little dull (if I’m honest) the gnarly kills and the over-the-top almost cartoon-esque gore took the character to unforeseen heights.
Fast forward to 2022 and Art the Clown is back in Terrifier 2 and absolutely nothing has been toned down, there’s more Art, there’s more gore and as far as runtime goes, there’s a LOT more Terrifier.
Clocking in at 140+ minutes Terrifier 2 is certainly pushing its limits when it comes to putting Art in the spotlight but does it pay off?
For me, it doesn’t.
However, there are many redeeming qualities that the film has but sadly the runtime outstays its welcome.
In the wake of the first movie, Art is back and has targeted Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her brother Jonathan (Elliot Fullman) leaving a path of death and destruction in his wake.
Kill after kill, cheesy dialogue after cheesy dialogue and shot after shot Terrifier 2 intensifies the madness of Art to a whole new level.
It’s hard to write this Terrifier 2 review without comparing it to the original and quite a lot of the first half of the movie is a copy and paste of the first but in a new location, but what Terrifier 2 tries to do is dive deeper into somewhat of a storyline and that’s where the film sadly trails off.
Now the scriptwriters know what they’re doing, they want to flesh out the story a bit more to expand on Art the Clown and the universe he inhabits but with a film like this, you might just end up losing your audience and that’s the worry when watching this long drawn out affair.
Certain scenes could have been trimmed down, unnecessary dialogue and insert shots seem to solely serve the purpose of padding out the movie without any context. It always feels like the movie is extending every scene with no explanation or context as to why that may be.
Subplots kind of veer offroad and into a ditch, dream sequences seem redundant and then we dive into supernatural abilities and backstories for characters that we completely forget about by the time the film ends.
The main audience who were captivated by the original want to see insane kills that push the boundaries. These grotesque, outlandish and insanely creative death scenes were the core of the franchise. This film isn’t Saw, it can’t weave an intricate interconnecting backstory over the course of its movies. It’s a gore-fest and nothing more and the first movie embraced that, this one tries to step out of that typecast and it doesn’t pay off.
Where Terrifier 2 thrives is how you consume it, a movie perfect for sitting in the cinemas with your buddies and cheering as these epic kills play out on the big screen. I can imagine this film was a riot at Frightfest, a horror festival where the audience really gets involved in the kills on screen and it becomes a gathering and a celebration of all things gory.
Watching this at home is great and all, but you’ll get bored. Terrifier 2 needs to be celebrated on the big screen even if the atmosphere around you is solely there to help you get through the bloated scenes.
The first movie was 80 minutes long and had its dull moments so rest assured Terrifier 2 will drag you into the story at a snail’s pace only briefly waking you up to see another victim dismembered.
David Howard Thorton dominates the screen as Art the Clown as a one-man wrecking ball. His intense and captivating portrayal of Art drags us in but sadly there’s not much flesh left on the bones of the script to keep this gore train chugging.
Terrifier 2 is a solid instalment to the die-hard fans but in a sombre way also proves that Art isn’t as iconic as the characters he has been compared to in days gone by.
Movie after movie, sequel after sequel, reboot after reboot Michael, Chucky, Freddy, Jason and Leatherface have graced our screens and time and time again they captivate us in new and wonderful ways.
If Terrifier 2 is anything to go by it further proves that Art will sadly never live up to those heights of horror stardom but one fact remains, he came closer than any other.
Terrifier 2 is bloated yet brilliant but this sequel has certainly set the character and its expectations as the next big horror icon firmly in its lane casually waving on the plethora of icons that can carry a franchise into the future for many years to come whereas Art, sadly, cannot.
Terrifier 2 review by Sean Evans
Our Rating
Summary
Bloated but brilliant in places, Terrifier 2 certainly hits home when it comes to its core demographic targeted audience providing them with insanely imaginative kills and gore but the runtime becomes the film’s downfall as other subplots and storylines drag the film on unnecessarily and in the end, it all becomes a little boring.
