Terrifier 2 Review – Terrifier 2 is an interesting sequel in that it tries to build off the popularity of the first film – the extreme gore – and add a story. The gore succeeds, but the story falls flat.
Immediately after the events of the first Terrifier, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) is busy killing the coroner in the morgue. He then goes to a laundromat to wash his clown costume. While waiting, he sees a little girl dressed similarly to himself. The two starts playing together. When another patron woke up and saw them, it is suggested that this little girl was all in Art’s mind as he continued to kill everyone in sight.
It’s been a year since Art the Clown was last seen, and he has quickly become nothing more than a local legend. Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) are discussing their Halloween plans with their mother when Jonathan says he wants to dress up as Art the Clown. Both siblings are horrified at the idea, but their mom brushed it off as Jonathan going through a “weird phase.” Their dad killed himself some time ago, and they’re still struggling to cope with his death.
At this point in the movie, there are a lot of story elements that are mixed in with the gore and murder sequences. I have no idea what is going on. Sienna has an extended nightmare about Art the Clown where he lights a group of people on fire. In her room, a set of feather wings she made for her Halloween costume catches on fire, nearly setting the entire house ablaze. However, a sword that her father gave her was untouched by the fire. This sword will become important later on for an incomprehensible supernatural story element.
The next day at school, Jonathan is out of class on a hall pass when he sees Art and the little girl playing with a dead possum in the middle of the school hallway. They throw it at him, and Jonathan runs away and gets suspended for vandalizing the school. Later on, he finds a news clipping in his father’s sketchbook about a young girl who was mutilated outside the carnival (the carnival in which Sienna is lured later). This was the young girl playing with Art. As far as I can tell, only Art, Sienna, and Jonathan can see and interact with this little girl .
Besides an extremely confusing post-credits scene, there is nothing else I can take away from the “story” of this film to share without spoiling the plot. director Damien Leone should have just stuck with what works. The first Terrifier was under 90 minutes and had no plot: it was simply Art the Clown terrorizing whomever he came across on Halloween night.
At almost 2.5 hours, Terrifier 2 crams in a lot of plot to make up for the extended length–unfortunately, none of it makes much sense. There are plenty of potential subplots and intriguing elements that go absolutely nowhere. We get hints that Sienna and Jonathan’s dad is far more unstable than just depressed but other than one line referring to a tumor making him act abusively, we learn nothing else about him.
Throughout the film, there are little suggestions that both Sienna and Jonathan have some sort of mental disorder – possibly inherited from their father. This is most evident when they can see the clown girl who others cannot. However, this plot point was never fully developed or explored.
Lastly, the story took a turn for the bizarre and supernatural, which I won’t spoil if you’re actually interested in finding out what happens. However, it made no sense within the context of this otherwise non-supernatural story.
Although Terrifier 2 tries to tell a story, its main strong suit lies in the big and bloody murders. We didn’t come here to see anything different from the first movie–we wanted more of the same.
Tralier:
Movie Name: Terrifier 2
Watch free: Cinemahdv2
Cast Leads: David Howard Thornton, Jenna Kanell, Lauren LaVera, Catherine Corcoran, Samantha Scaffidi
Director: Damien Leone
Producer: Steven Della Salla, Phil Falcone, Jason Leavy, Michael Leavy
Written by: Damien Leone
Music: Paul Wiley
Director Of Photography: George Steuber
Movie Rating: 3.3/5
