Movie Review: Terrifier (2016) **SPOILERS**

Hello fellow spooks and creeps!

I had seen quite a few people talking about this movie on social media apps. So, I figured, I might as well watch the movie and see what all the fuss was about. I can honestly say that I was quite surprised with the movie. The movie I am talking about is Terrifier; a movie which showed at the Telluride Film Festival in 2016 but was released in 2018 by Dread Central Presents and Epic Pictures. The movie is about a serial killer clown who hunts down 3 girls and any others who choose to get in his way. One of the reviews on the poster compares it to 80s slashers, and I can kind of see the connection, but this one actually scared me. I don’t scream at movies very often and I screamed 3 times. I went into this movie expecting nothing. Sure, I heard it was scary, but I don’t trust when people say that. I mean, The VVitch was supposed to be so scary, and I just got bored. I can say I was generally surprised.

“A maniacal clown named Art terrorizes three young women on Halloween night and everyone else who stands in his way.” – IMDB. This movies plot is very simple, there isn’t even a twist or motive. It’s just a killer clown (not from outer space) deciding to prey on the innocent.

My favorite scene is when Tara seems like she might just get away. She gets Art the Clown on the ground and all I could think was ‘Do it, come on, bash his face in, get out of there, survive!’ Sadly, my favorite scene is also my least favorite scene. Not only does Tara decide to stand there yelling at him to get up, but he pulls out a gun – can we say cheater – and shoots her. Like she had her on the ground, it wouldn’t have been hard to get out of that situation, but of course she pulls a stupid and ends up dying. That was also the only time we ever really get to see anyone knock him down. There is one other time towards the end, but once again, stupidity hits again and they leave him to come back. The ending was very simple, we found out that the girl from the interview in the beginning is the lone survivor, but I could have told you that. While the movie was a fun creepy watch, it wasn’t anything particularly new.

"David Howard Thornton who portrays Art the Clown has previous mime experience, which he utilizes in his performance." - IMDB

The acting was great on all accounts. David Howard Thornton did fabulous as Art the Clown. He definitely had me on edge and terrified. My favorite actor was Jenna Kanell

(Tara). She was amazing and honestly her character was also my favorite. I was rooting so hard for her until she died. The movie mostly take place in this old decrepit building. It gross and infested with rats, which is why the exterminators are there.

Overall, the movie wasn’t half bad, it felt like every other slash film from the last few decades. I was another killer, killing innocent people and standbys. I was hoping that with watching this it would be something a little more new besides another new serial killer. I did enjoy the fear it gave me, but that had already passed. I wish the characters had been smarter, but slashers don’t do so well with super smart victims. I mean Sidney Prescott survived four movies, while everyone around her died. Even her new friends in each movie. Thank you so much for reading; and remember…

Stay Spooky!

References:

“Terrifier Trivia.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt4281724/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv.

“Terrifier.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Sept. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrifier.