Damien Leone’s two-decade film career has been defined by a bizarrely specific yet noble goal: to keep practical gore effects alive in an era of CGI and, more recently, the “invincible heroes” syndrome evidenced by the “Scream” legacy sequels.
In his Art the Clown movies that date back to the 2006 short film “The 9th Circle” – now expanded into the “Terrifier” franchise – the writer/director/special effects artist has consistently used practical gore along with scare tactics and unashamedly low-budget techniques. Most impressively and most different from the genre norm, he eschews fake-outs.
When someone is attacked by the killer clown, they are most likely doomed. Granted, as Art maims and mutilates them, they stay alive longer than would be likely IRL, for the sake of creepiness. And in the case of Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) from “Terrifier” (2016), she survives but has a disfigured face and permanent psychological trauma.
“All Hallows’ Eve” (2013), “Terrifier” (2016) and “Terrifier 2” (2022)
Director: Damien Leone
Writer: Damien Leone
Stars: David Howard Thornton, Katie Maguire, Lauren LaVera
One might think a schlockmeister would crank out installments, but Leone has built the Art the Clown saga slowly and deliberately. “The 9th Circle” (2006) and “Terrifier” (2011) were indie productions. Producer Jesse Baget saw those shorts on YouTube, and wanted to buy them for an anthology project.
Leone agreed so long as he could also devise the new entry, “Something in the Dark,” and the framing story featuring babysitter Sarah (Katie Maguire, who returns as a shock-jock journalist later in the saga). This became “All Hallows’ Eve” (2013).
‘All Hallows’ Eve’
It’s a strong film in its own right. “V/H/S” (2012) beat it to the punch with the format of someone finding and watching horror tapes, but “All Hallow’s Eve” does it better.
The nonverbal nature of Art the Clown (Mike Giannelli here and David Howard Thornton in the later films) follows in the tradition of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, but I also see a healthy dose of the lead Gentleman from “Buffy’s” “Hush” (and the Gentlemen owe a lot to “Dark City”). As he slices and dices, Art smiles and laughs in mime fashion. He seems to favor cutting out hearts like the Gentlemen, although he also likes to use a whip festooned with scissors and knives.
“All Hallows’ Eve” is a little different from what follows, as Leone is interested in mood. If you’re going to cut away from that first short film to show Sarah and two candy-gorged kids watching it with rapt and disturbed attention, it better be good stuff – and it is. A “Saw” (2004) influence must be noted here, as young women are drugged by Art, then wake up into an even worse scenario.
Thankfully, the saga doesn’t linger in torture-porn territory, as creature design and gore effects are the focal points. Viewers are invited to rummage in the dark corners of Leone’s — and their own – mind, so while characters might not have an avenue of escape, this is nonetheless escapist (if extremely dark) fun.
Leone’s emphasis on gore makes Art different from his forebearers from “Buffy” and “Dark City,” which have poetic, fairy-tale bents. This black-and-white (and often red all over) clown is like what Michael and Jason might’ve been if their heydays didn’t coincide with the strictest anti-violence ratings-board in Hollywood history, from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s.
The second segment about an alien invader is relatively weak before we finish strong with a classic tale of a woman (Marie Maser) encountering Art in dark, rural, wooded New York State while facing issues of a low cellphone battery and low gas tank.
3.5 stars
‘Terrifier’
The proof-of-concept “All Hallows’ Eve” then led to the IndieGoGo-funded “Terrifier” (2016, with a wider release in 2018).
While no doubt influenced by Eighties slashers, Leone does not brazenly reference the classics. Rather, he lets the tales dictate the tropes, rather than the other way around. The events feel organic and inspired (if schlocky). True, they may be inspired as set-ups for a gore gag, but rarely do I feel like he’s saying something like “Let’s do this like ‘Halloween 4’ did it,” for example.
(Granted, Art gets resurrected in the morgue in the fashion of “Halloween 4,” but I’ll give Leone a pass. It’s practically inevitable that slasher villains start off as “just a dude” and then have to become superhuman for the story to continue.)
As noted, people targeted by Art don’t often escape. “Terrifier” has the neat structure of featuring multiple young women – partier Tara (Jenna Kanell) and then her studious sister Victoria — who would become Final Girls in other franchises but are doomed here.
While I’m on the fence about the wash-out lighting, I love the urban decay. Less stylized than in the “Saws,” here I suspect the filmmakers simply found ugly abandoned (or condemned but populated by the homeless) buildings in New York City and gloried in them.
4 stars
‘Terrifier 2’
“Terrifier 2” (2022), also an IndieGoGo project, maintains the purposely imperfect video quality but Leone beefs up the story. While the 2-hour, 18-minute runtime is indulgent, his desire to create a victorious Final Girl pays off. It’s not possible to be as iconic as Laurie Strode or Sidney Prescott after one movie, but Sienna (Lauren LaVera) comes as close as possible.
Leone’s films are generally free of social commentary, but he effectively blends cosplay culture into a story as Sienna creates her own Warrior Angel costume – as designed by her late father, whose mysterious death provides backstory intrigue. Sienna is cute and sexy, and comes along just as we’re hoping to see Art the Clown meet his match.
If the introduction of the supernatural into slasher franchises is unavoidable, then the “Terrifier” films deserve credit for building this stuff into the flow as naturally as possible. At the same time, the story is just clunky enough to be recognizable as slasher cheese, and the filmmaking’s DIY vibe is not a put-on, even though technical skill is evident in many corners.
While I could riff on “Terrifier” mythology (Art also has a Harley Quinn to his Joker, for instance) as the saga heads into the recently released Christmas-themed “Terrifier 3,” the truth is that the incredible gore set-ups and execution are the appeal. Leone doesn’t hide Art in the shadows or milk the runtime with fake-out jump scares. He shows Art doing his thing. A personal favorite: his supremely creative candy “bowl” for trick-or-treaters in “Terrifier 2.”
In a period of cynical Hollywood horror product, Leone and his team are not clowning around. And since he is wisely maintaining creative control, the “Terrifier” series could not only reach the sheer length of the old masters like “Halloween” (13 films) and “Friday the 13th” (12 films), but will likely surpass them in consistency of quality.
4 stars