After shocking America, “Terrifier 2” lands in France. An ultra gory and bloody horror film that is worth first and foremost for the delirious and burlesque madness of the killer Art the Clown.
America sickened by Terrify 2
Before Terrify 2there have been Terrify, a gory B series directed by Damien Leone. Inside, a killer named Art the Clown massacre of young women on Halloween night. No need to have seen this first opus to understand the sequel. A year after his vile murders, Art is back from the dead (with a young sidekick appearing here and there). Always more sadistic, this time he has in his sights Sienna (Lauren LaVera), a high school student, and her younger brother fascinated by the killer. But before reaching them, he will make a lot of victims in a debauchery of blood.
If we started to take an interest in Terrify 2, that’s because when it hit US theaters, the returns were pretty surprising. In effect, the horror film is said to have caused viewers to vomit and pass out. Just that ! It was enough to see a hype grow around the feature film. A nice buzz that helped the film since despite a tiny budget of around 250,000 dollars, it brought in some more than 10 million in the United States.
An impressive score for such a production. Because this is it niche horrorwhich relies on gore as graphic as possible (called splatter movie in English). In the same genre, we were able to discover last summer in France the ultra violent The Sadness (our opinion), also distributed here by ESC Films. However, if the shock was indeed present with the Taiwanese film, it is a little less the case in front of Terrify 2.
A great bloody delirium
Generally, Terrify 2 correspond to what could be expected. Damien Leone proposes a fun horror movie thanks to his character of Art the Clown, well worn by David Howard Thornton. The character not expressing himself, everything goes through the voluntarily outrageous acting of the actor whose each appearance is as disturbing as it is fun. Like this sequence in a costume shop where the killer starts trying on different accessories while posing in front of the young Sienna paralyzed with fear.
The character’s burlesque is as enjoyable as his outbursts of violence during which he always displays his big smile. Add to that his clown costume, in black and white but quickly stained with blood, and you have a very sordid character imagined by Damien Leone, closer to Freddy Krueger than to Michael Myers.
The director also shows imagination for the various murders of the antagonist, all more disgusting than each other. Perhaps the pinnacle is reached when Art goes after a poor victim. Breaking her limbs, splitting her skull open and tearing her apart. For others, it will be guts torn out or a shattered head.
However, if some spectators said they had vomited in front of Terrify 2, for us, the laughs outweigh the gagging. Because unlike The Sadnesswhich aims to be, to a certain extent, more “realistic”, Damien Leone plays the card of excess at bottom and irony prevails.
The film is truly to be taken as a series B. Not very serious, moderately interpreted (exception of Art) and limited both cinematographically and script-wise. Too bad that Damien Leone stretches his madness to more than two hours, causing a certain weariness in the long run.
Terrify 2 hits theaters January 11, 2023.
