I apologize for not putting Terrifier on the list sooner. I certainly knew of it. I had even previously watched it.

At the time, I considered Terrifier as a really effective, unabashed slasher…which it is. I liked it…a lot actually…but the exploits of Art the Clown hardly seemed “thought-provoking” or” technically innovative”- words I wrote three years ago when I set out to define what qualifies for The Midnight Selections.

However, in the years that followed I have had a seismic change of heart regarding this film. Art’s arrival as a cult phenomenon feels especially significant because extreme violence in film has started to become more antiquated. 

By 2010, the brutality found in torture films had mostly run their course before a solid string of slow-burn horrors significantly shifted the horror landscape. Today, movements like #metoo and have called for greater accountability and awareness over the images people put on film and the threat of being on the wrong side of a Twitter or YouTube debate makes creating scenes with extreme brutality against women more risky. To adjust to this new reality, people have begun creating more progressive horrors like Sissy, Fresh and Barbarian. These are all great, successful films that have found audiences; however, I worry that if too many films keep doing this over a short span of time, these more self-aware, progressive-leaning films might find themselves just as much a relic as those torture films of the past. 

Plus, I actually still enjoy watching those slashers films from the 70s and 80s even though I don’t really consider most to be elevated horror. And if I’m being honest, I still like a lot of those films now considered “torture porn”. In fact, I personally think it is alright to enjoy problematic content as long as you are aware and can acknowledge that the content is problematic. 

So no, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have a popular property out there bucking against the trending cultural current and reminding us that we can still revisit the slasher without having to subvert or repurpose its misogynistic troops. The horror canon is big enough that both progressive and 80s-type homage films can coexist. In fact, I would even argue that both benefit from each other. 

Much of the Terrifier franchise’s cult success has come from its ability to fill a void for those who loved the savage violence found in the popular torture films from the previous decades. It exists as an important genre film, there to remind us why films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are still so great.

So when I saw both Terrifier and Terrifier 2 in the Tubi queue, I knew I had a chance to right an old wrong. Time for a double-feature. 

After watching both films back-to-back, I can honestly say that I prefer Art’s first full-length adventure. (This was hardly his first time on film…but more on that later.) It is a true classic. Sure Terrifier 2 has more gore, more of a story and more weirdness, but Art’s first big outing is more focussed and dreadfully nihilistic. This is a film where the fates of everyone that crosses director Damien Leone’s notorious killer clown end so awful that you even feel bad for the survivors.

And speaking of survivors, Terrifier starts with an exploitive attempt by a network to boost ratings by booking a horribly disfigured victim of a murderous clown rampage onto the show during the event’s one year anniversary. 

Meanwhile, Art (David Howard Thorton) watches the interview on an old television from his hideout and he doesn’t seem particularly pleased by the reports of his early demise.

Needless to say, the interviewer’s day won’t end as planned. Miles County is in for one Hell of a ride.

Terrifier starts off with a bang. That beginning might even be the scariest part of either film. The gore effects, music and editing are top notch. The static image of the survivor’s face on the television that unnerves you before the big reveal. It’s hard not to admire Leone’s direction.

Then when the real story starts it never lets up. Almost immediately, Art sets his sights on two young women coming back from a Halloween a little too tipsy. But first, he has to following the girls into a restaurant, defecate in the bathroom and then slaughter the restaurant owner and his employee.

I know. That synopsis doesn’t exactly scream elevated horror…but hear me out. There is a reason Art the Clown has already become a modern horror icon. Thorton, the actor who plays Art, does so to sadistic perfection. Unlike Jason or Michael Myers, Art’s face is very, very visible. But he also stays eerily silent, communicating only in mimes. He doesn’t quip like Freddy, so even when his actions are over-the-top, he remains creepy as hell. 

I mean my God…he’s a clown. How intrinsically scary is that?

But Leone has also tried to retain a certain degree of whimsical impulsiveness to Art’s behaviour. The people he runs into are at the mercy of his fancies. Sometimes he offers a quick death. Other times he stalks and toys with his victims. Occasionally, he won’t kill you at all…but in this film that doesn’t necessarily count as a win.

But Art’s story didn’t start with the feature length Terrifier. The character actually makes his first appearance in Leone’s short film The 9th Circle (2006) before starring in an eleven-minute Terrifier (2011) short. In The 9th Circle, Art only plays a small role, abducting a young woman who will later get raped by Satan. Yep, that is the plot. Actually, the short isn’t terrible, but those few minutes with Art certainly are the highlight. However, Leone, being a gifted make-up and effects artist had other oddities he wanted to put on film, so the second half gives way to his gaggle of Cenobite wannabes before revealing his depiction of ol’ Lucifer. 

Where Art really begins to take shape is in the Terrifier short that laid the foundation for the feature film. It is in this short where we first learn the depth of Art’s depravity and his agency in fates that end in either death or worse-than-death. And that final image is pure Art. If you like this franchise, watch the short film.

Later, Leone would include both shorts in his odd little anthology film All Hallows’ Eve. However, I don’t recommend you make All Hallows’ Eve your introduction to Leone’s work because it has a notoriously bad second segment involving an alien that looks like it was stolen off the set of a 70s Dr. Who episode. The alien design is inexcusably awful and certainly cheapens Art’s arrival in a feature-length movie- especially since the whole anthology loosely revolves around his character, including an interesting wrap-around that gives Art a prominent role and further demonstrates his extreme depravity. Surely he won’t touch the children!

With Art as such an effective centerpiece, it’s easy to forget to credit Leone for his ability to craft really effective cringe-inducing scenes that allow his antagonist to shine. And this is what the first feature-length Terrifier does best…and why it deserves its place on this list.  

Terrifier is crafted around tension-infused situations designed to elevate Art’s eccentricity before hitting you with shocking scenes of excessive, extreme gore. There are just so many well-crafted moments in this film. The saw. The doll. The skin suit. Leone is one sick man.

In retrospect, it’s clear that All Hallows’ Eve was the film where Leone tried a few things before setting out to make a horror masterpiece. Now he has a successful and ever-growing franchise on his hands. Say what you want about excessive gore, but the popularity of a low-budget indie film like Terrifier suggests that there is still an audience out there starved for it. 

Oh, did I mention that the price tag to make Terrifier was just 35 thousand.

And honestly- as the father of a teenager- I know some of the audience for this film includes the under 18 audience too. If you have Netflix and your teen likes horror, there is a very real possibility they put this one on when you weren’t paying attention. For their generation, this is a defining horror experience.

Terrifier might not be particularly thought-provoking, but it is a film that is full of great, occasionally innovative, filmmaking moments. Leone shows an admirable commitment to his killer and considerable artistry as a director, especially when it comes to the gore and practical effects. The whole film feels like one giant labour of love by somebody who has genuine devotion to the slasher. And in an era where everyone else seems to want to subvert the slasher, it is hard not to find the purity of Leone’s intentions refreshing. 

In the credits, Leone gives a final dedication to Wes Craven, George Romero and Tobe Hooper. It seems Leone is on the way to becoming a horror master too. 

Terrifier will go down as one of the greatest and most influential slashers ever made.