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| DATE: 2018-05-24 | WRITER: RICHARD TAYLOR | SCREENSHOTS: |
I seldom go by all the bullshit quotes you see on the front of movie covers making promises that couldn't be farther from the truth. Big lavish claims that a movie has the next horror icon or that it can outdo another more famous horror figure etc. I have heard from social media from opinions I actually trust that Terrifier was a film worth checking out. People are claiming it is filled to the brim with much gruesome gore and carnage. These claims are actually correct and Terrifier is quite the simple, nasty and to the point grue-fest. We get a total gore-fest with a very basic plot and this set up is basically a vehicle or vessel to facilitate the character of Art The Clown. Art is the star in this and rightfully so, everyone else is highly forgettable even with the abundance of attractive looking ladies it all comes out as a grey haze here and not much else. Art The Clown has been around for a few years in some previous films including 'All Hallows Eve' (2013) which I haven't seen. I believe 'All Hallows Eve' is a anthology which featured Art The Clown and was possibly titled Terrifier as well. The director of All Hallows Eve Damien Leone thought Art was something he could build on and decided to fund a film dedicated to the murderous clown. I've also read that the shorts in All Hallows Eve were individually released by the director previously and compiled for 'All Hallows Eve'. Like all psychotic killer films every good one starts with our mime killer clown donning his make up and gathering up his tools to go out for his nights work. Terrifier then cuts to a talk show which features the horribly disfigured girl who survived Art The Clown's earlier vicious attack. The girl is mocked by the host and seeks over the top gory vengeance on her. After this offbeat opening we cut to two women who are finishing up their Halloween party and decide to get some pizza and sober up before making the trek home. They are approached by Art in the pizza shop who acts bizarre, creepy and yet somewhat charming towards them. One of the girls mock him and the other one is visibly shaken by how scary he looks. Art shuffles off to the washroom and the girls make their way home only to find one of the tires on their car is flat. They call one of their sisters to come pick them up but while waiting one of them has to use the bathroom and decides to go in the creepy abandoned building close by. Then things start to go sideways as Art kills a trail leading to them. David Howard Thornton plays Art The Clown and gives a chilling performance. Art is the best thing about this film even though he has no lines his gestures, those sinister black and bloodstained teeth grinning from ear to ear and the carnage he inflicts is jaw dropping. Terrifier is shot in pristine quality and also features a great meancing score. The make-up effects are one of the highest points of Terrifier, they are absolutely perfect in execution and just plain brutal. Over the top stabbings, eyes are gorily gouged, faces are blasted with gunshots in bloody detail, a head is even used as a jack o lantern including sparklers in the orifices. The piece de resistance involves a poor girl who is hung upside down and then literally sawed in half from her groin down through her head. This is sick shit on so many levels and packs quite a punch in its cruel, tasteless and mean spirited nature. Terrifier proves that modern horror/gore films are alive and well and these guys are doing it right. Don't expect a high caliber story or inspired acting but if you are yearning for some splatter and a cool and truly demented bad guy dishing it out Terrifier has your name written all over it. I'd be happy to see a sequel to this just as long as they packed it with the same or even more of the anatomical destruction this one featured.  |
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Produced by: Larry Bilello, Phil Falcone, Damien Leone... read more Cinematography by: George Steuber Editing by: Damien Leone Special Effects by: Michelle Gianchetti, Elisa Vecchio Music by: Paul Wiley Language: English Color: Color Distributor: Signature Entertainment |
| RICHARD TAYLOR: | |
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Owner of and writer for Twisted Minds. Combined his love for underground films, music and comics with writing in the 90's. Started tape trading the good stuff around that time when originals of Italian classics by Fulci, Argento, Deodato, Castellari and Margheriti were hard to find. Then came German gore by Ittenbach and Schnaas, Mondo movies and Japanese gore such as Guinea Pig and Men Behind The Sun. Written for Violent Maniacs Cage, Mortados Pages Of Filth, ZFE Films With Attitude, Severed Cinema, Goregasmic Cinema, Pophorror & Extreme Horror Cinema. |
