Terrifier

Terrifier
Starring David Howard Thornton, Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi, Catherine Corcoran
Directed by Damien Leone

A grindhouse film is a film that is very exploitative, focusing on over-the-top violence and unsettling strong sexual content, while offering little to no plot and utilizing low-quality filming to achieve its darker effect. While more famous in the 60s, grindhouse features still exist today to a smaller extent, and they're just as messed up as you'd imagine - they stick with you long after it ends due to its realistic depictions of violence set against a typical backdrop. When you add in a terrifying silent clown, you get "Terrifier," a film that fell below the radar of most moviegoers but received resurgence when its sequel managed to wrangle a wider theatrical release.

Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) is out for blood on Halloween night - dressing up as a clown, he stalks the streets in search of his newest victims, and runs across partygoers Tara (Jenna Kanell) and Dawn (Catherine Corcoran). As he stalks the women through a nearly abandoned apartment complex, they have to use all their wits and knowhow to make it out alive.

There's not much story to be had with "Terrifier," and in a sense it makes it all the more terrifying. Like "Halloween" in 1978, this film features a silent killer who stalks and kills without rhyme or reason, akin to the other famous silent killer with a white mask. You don't know why, you don't know who he is, and you don't know anything about Art the Clown or his thought processes, and since there's people like that in the real world, it adds a deeper sense of dread and fear than your typical unstoppable killer. Throw in the fact that he's dressed like the scariest clown imaginable, and you got a new horror icon that's slashing his way to the big leagues.

The man behind the clown is David Howard Thornton, who's also known for his voice-over work and stage productions, but cinema goers will forever know him as Art the Clown, much like Robert Englund will always be Freddy Krueger, and Doug Bradley will always be Pinhead. Thornton uses his theatrical work brilliantly since Art never speaks, and you can sense the insanity and depravity in the man's dead eyes. He doesn't just kill his victims, but he does it with gleeful enjoyment, often taunting them before delivering the final blow. His theatrics only make him more frightening, and oddly darkly humorous if you're into that sort of thing, and oddly endearing in a very dark sense. He has a personality that shines all the darker due to his limited capacity, and even if you're not afraid of clowns, you'll be afraid of this one.

While the concept is bare-bones, everything else surrounding "Terrifier" is truly over-the-top. Director Damien Leone is better known for working on special effects, and he uses his talent exceptionally well here. The camera never relents on the violence being shown on screen, and this is definitely not a film for the squeamish (then again, if you're watching horror films, you should have a strong stomach). Watching people literally get cut in half, their heads bashed like smashing pumpkins, and decapitations on the regular, "Terrifier" has it all - and with a very short runtime of under 90 minutes, there's not a moment of brevity or calm: it's nonstop violence, gore, and terror from start to finish.

The Score: B