Terrifier 2

There are also several clues to a greater mystery concerning possible connections between Sienna, Jonathan, and Art. It’s nothing immediately obvious, and it looks like something that will be explored further in the next installment. It also invests a lot of time developing its female character-driven story instead of just setting up body-count bowling pins. You even get to find out what the f**k a terrifier is. This is far from the relentless bloodbath of the first one. By building towers of story on the flat plains of the stripped-down concept of the original, Leone adds layers that will make the first picture seem more nuanced and the third installment more impactful. This puts Terrifier 2 in that rare class of sequels where the second installment improves on the original, like The Road Warrior and Evil Dead 2.

The level of gore here makes Hershel Gordon Lewis movies look like Veggie Tales cartoons. I have gone out of my way to see some of the goriest films imaginable. This is the most extreme blood and guts parade I have ever seen in a regular theater or even an irregular theater. Effects artists Leone and Falcone make the death scenes hit harder by exploring the possibilities of serious mutilation. Forms get ruined. Forever. The effects are all practical, so while obviously not real, they are still intense, maybe even more so. It blows my mind that anything this graphic is being shown in public.

“…superb performance by Thornton…”

Once again, it is the superb performance by Thornton that makes it all gel. Essentially, Art the Clown is a homicidal Pink Panther. The cartoon, not the movies. He is completely silent and operates by a bizarre set of rules that obliterates logic in a logical fashion. Thornton has some of the best facial expressions the horror biz has seen since the heyday of Famous Monsters in Filmland. He constantly looks genuinely scary. He is ready to become the next huge slasher icon, especially with that bad-a*s black-and-white makeup and how it looks covered in blood.

With Terrifier 2, Leone manages a barn-burning finale that delivers everything I was expecting from Wonder Woman 1984 but didn’t get. The mid-credits sequence revisits plotlines established from the first movie and gives the unmade next chapter one of the weirdest lead-ins fathomable. Strictly for hardcore horror fans, though I can see this also becoming a huge “dare you to watch it” event for the uninitiated. We haven’t had a movie this dangerous in the theaters in a long time, and its presence is both important and historical in the history of extreme cinema. This movie will bite your face off. 

Terrifier 2 is a 2023 Award This! Indie Horror nominee.