Terrifier (2016)

Alright, so after covering 2013’s All Hallow’s Eve, it was obvious what I needed to watch next. Thing is, as disappointing and comparatively silly as Damien Leone’s first outings with Art the Clown could be at the best of times, I still found myself quite… well, terrified to pop in Terrifier, Leone’s remake/reimagining of All Hallow’s Eve’s best segment. It has a reputation as one of the grisliest slashers around, and that’s to say nothing of the effectiveness of one Art the Clown, who was pretty well iconic from his first appearance in short films that next to no one ever watched. Needless to say, I was a little sheepish about committing myself to watching something that goes out of its way to push the boundaries of cruelty, and which also dares to tap into such primal childhood fears as “Mommy, don't let that spooky clown touch me.” But, after a few internal pep talks, I gritted my teeth, opened a beer, and gave it a whirl, determined I wasn’t going to let any low-budget indie horror defeat me.

To Terrifier’s credit, it actually mostly lives up to its reputation. The first third of this film I could easily describe as unbearable, and I’m talking about tension here, not just uneven dialogue or bad acting, which is unfortunately present as well. The story follows the classic slasher formula (and the formula of the original short) where we’re introduced to a few braindead teenage morons who, thanks to a series of poor decisions and plain bad luck, end up stranded in a spooky location with a monstrous silent clown picking them off one-by-one. It helps that Art is so effective, then, because this is a genre exercise, pure and simple, and one that isn’t so much concerned with filmmaking technique as it is with unsettling and haunting its audience. Well, that and the fact that when people get horrifically mutilated in Terrifier, the camera doesn’t tend to obscure much. As a result, many will likely begin to watch this film through their hands as things really kick into gear.

What's more is that the film also seems to harbor an Eli Roth-esque obsession with shocking twists and the upending traditional horror tropes. At least, I’m sure that’s what Damien Leone called himself doing every time the film takes a sharp turn. In practical terms, this really just means that those watching shouldn’t get too attached to characters that are built up as protagonists or the concept of there being any kind of happy ending. So, really nothing all that new for horror films. Kind of played out actually, but is it at least effective?

Well, yes and no. I say no because I’ve heard many complaints about this film’s big twist halfway through, and I say yes because I can see how, on paper, the second half of the film should work despite it. However, things aren't quite so simple. The film loses a great deal of its tension once this big moment has passed (at least some of that is down to all the in-your-face gore that comes prior to this, which desensitizes the viewer to the more subtle aspects of the film that have been carrying it up until that point) and the viewer may find themselves suddenly not particularly worried about the characters that are left. 

This is made all the worse by the film’s decision to write all its characters as either bland or completely unlikeable and moronic. I’m trying hard not to spoil things here, but I don’t think Leone has a very solid grasp on humanity, writing entirely in cliches, and that’s when he’s not just writing like some kind of basement-dwelling psychopath. First off, homeless people don’t really talk like gypsy healers or mystical seers, as much as pop culture would like us to believe it. Secondly, I know we all want to write news anchors off as inhuman scum thanks to their unnatural beauty, but come on: why would someone so successful and beautiful waste her time bad-mouthing someone who was the victim of an accident moments after finishing an interview with her? But most importantly, if an innocent young girl is knocked out and has her face mutilated, she probably won't wake up and start mutilating other people a few weeks or months later, as we see in the film’s opening scene (and the worst part of the film as a whole.) And that’s to say nothing of our introduction to our protagonists: you see, one of them is the obvious Final Girl, only distinguished by contrasting her more conservative nature against that of her best friend, a cliched buxom slut who talks about nothing but hooking up and goes out of her way to flirt with and tease Art the Clown simply because she was either making a point or was jealous that he was showing so much attention to her friend and not her. So not exactly a feminist manifesto then, especially once Art repays the favor by taking a hacksaw to her genitals. And then there’s the final scene where Leone tries to write in the voice of a bunch of older morticians, and all he can think to fill time with is meaningless filler talk of food and microwaved infants, ala David Gordon Green’s awful new-age Halloween films. It just feels so forced, if admittedly inoffensive, and likely expected with a great deal of indie horror. I guess I was just hoping for a bit more.

None of this is helped by the cast’s indifference to the material. They’re not atrocious or anything, but they certainly don’t help sell the already-wonky dialogue. Jenna Kanell, despite also appearing in the infamously atrocious The Bye-Bye Man, does a solid job with some tough and frankly thankless material, as do a few others, but Catherine Corcoran was distinctly unimpressive from the first moment she appears. Bad actors acting out being drunk is always a mess, and this is no exception. But speaking of exceptions, David Howard Thornton turns in a wonderful performance as Art the Clown, which seems equally informed by  Mike Gianelli’s original performance in All Hallow’s Eve, the Joker, and the silent film antics of Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin, and the result is something to behold. He’s giving it everything he’s got, and the film appropriately lights up whenever he’s around. If it wasn’t for his transcendent work here, Terrifier would easily be another cheap throwback horror film to throw on the pile, but thanks to a combination of his and Damien Leone’s passion for the character and classic horror films, it manages to just eke out a place for itself in the busy world of horror filmmaking. 

The whole thing has a sort of throwback feel out of the gate, with a title sequence and score that seem to reference the films of John Carpenter, and which becomes even more prominent once it becomes clear that the film is a classic example of the one-location horror flick. Unfortunately, that one location isn’t a neon-laced nightclub or even the diner featured in the film’s most effective scene: it’s a dirty warehouse. The film’s introduction to it is so transparent it made me laugh as well: Tara needs to pee, so she asks an exterminator smoking a cigarette outside what is clearly someone’s upscale home if she can go in and relieve herself. He lets her in, and wouldn’t you know it? It may look like a house on the outside (with narrow concrete steps and a cute little iron railing that traces them) but in reality, it’s a giant warehouse. As a result, the film isn’t exactly the most distinct film visually. I suppose it fits the grindhouse aesthetic that the original short adhered to, but not the 80s’ style Carpenter stuff seen in the opening credits and heard on the score. Oh, and speaking of the score: it sounds far too ‘dubstep-y’ for my tastes, coming across as comically overwrought in a (mostly) serious horror film. It actually spoils a few of the spookier moments of the film, and causes me to wonder: what happened to the carnivalesque sounds that followed Art around in the original short? Why has it been replaced with generic synth score and horror stings that feel more like cues for a multiplayer shooter?

So with all that being said, Terrifier isn’t a perfect film. In fact, it’s not even particularly good, but as a horror film? As something that challenges the audience to get up the nerve to even put the thing in? As something that will haunt the viewer long after the credits have rolled? As something that you can’t help but watch through your fingers? It’s practically unparalleled, thanks to its terrifying villain and lack of concern for storytelling traditions. It’s a film that wouldn’t be as interesting were it not for the impending release of its bigger-and-better sequel film, but in light of which makes it essential viewing for horror fans who haven’t confined themselves entirely to watching vintage horror and A24 films. It doesn't leave you with a great feeling afterward, but damn if it doesn't feel good going down all the same.