A maniacal clown terrorises two young women and anyone else in his way on Halloween night.
Terrifier is the sequel and spin-off to 2013's All Hallows' Eve, and when you take into the 2009 short The 9th Circle into consideration, this is the third piece to feature Art the Clown. What really stood out when I looked up the film, was the very low budget of 100,000 USD (the original Saw film had 12x the budget). This knowledge really colours how you see the film.
With such a basic synopsis, Terrifier is a definite grindhouse slasher. There is zero plot, and no development of characters, which makes every introduced character nothing but additional meat for the grinder. This means that we don't care about the fate of the characters at all, and makes the film feel more like a slideshow of creative kill ideas than a feature film. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The lack of story and plot unleashes the creative opportunities in this piece and prevents the antagonist from being watered down by a poorly written backstory.
Because Art the Clown is the best thing in this film. His visual appearance has that perfect combination of a creepy clown, macabre mime, and that disturbing doll from the Saw franchise. The simplicity of his look works really well, with David Howard Thornton managing an amazing range in his expressive performance despite the use of facial prosthetics, and portraying a completely non-verbal character. The brazen confidence of Art's personality also injects a surprising amount of comedy and laughs into this creepy, sadistic, and hyperviolent film.
David Howard Thornton does an exceptional job bring the unpredictable nature of Art the Clown to life in this flick. With no motives, no rules, and the foresight to prepare a bag of custom tools for the oncoming events, there is a lot of really creative and incredibly gory deaths (kerb-stomping, wish-boning, and decapitation for a start) . The level of detail in the gore is what is really surprising and speaks volumes about the amount of work that the production team has put in. There are so many beautifully-done practical effects (though there are also some hammy ones too) and it really makes up for the lack of story or character development.
Even with a very low budget, the set design is brilliantly done. Grimy, and dilapidated, with blown-out lighting, it looks more neglected than the Saw and Hostel sets and creates a really dark and gritty atmosphere that complements the aesthetics of Art the Clown. While the camera quality is not even close to what is considered feature-worthy these days, the cinematography is surprisingly competent as well, with a good variety of perspectives and long shots. Granted the sound quality is a little bit off in the exterior scenes, but in general, everything is mixed well.
Art the Clown is brilliant. With that tinge of unstable mania, the complete lack of conscience makes him a glory to behold in this grindhouse slasher. Unhinged, gory, and beautifully dark, Terrifier works better than it should.