Terrifier 2 (2022) is Damien Leone‘s independent supernatural slasher and the sequel to Terrifier (2016). Leone wrote, directed, edited and co-produced it. Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) rises from the morgue and spends Halloween night stalking teenager Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera). She discovers she may be destined to defeat him, armed with a sword and a winged warrior costume designed by her late father. Partly crowdfunded and made for about $250,000, it opened in 886 theaters with no MPA rating and little marketing. Reports of viewers fainting and vomiting kept it in cinemas for weeks, and Variety called its success a “shock” to the industry. Many critics considered it an improvement on the first film.
At a glance
| Release date | August 29, 2022 (FrightFest); October 6, 2022 (US) |
| Director | Damien Leone |
| Writer | Damien Leone |
| Based on | Characters created by Damien Leone |
| Starring | Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Sarah Voigt, Kailey Hyman, Casey Hartnett, David Howard Thornton |
| Runtime | 138 minutes |
| Rating | Unrated in the US; released without an MPA rating |
| Budget | About $250,000 |
| Box office | $15.8 million (including later re-releases) |
| Franchise | Terrifier: sequel to Terrifier (2016); followed by Terrifier 3 (2024) |
Plot summary
In a morgue, Art the Clown comes back to life and butchers the coroner, then visits a laundromat to wash his bloody suit. There he meets the Little Pale Girl, a mysterious entity dressed in clown attire like his own. A year later, in Miles County, Sienna Shaw is finishing her Halloween costume, a winged Valkyrie-style warrior her recently deceased father designed. Her younger brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) has become obsessed with Art after finding drawings of him in their father’s sketchbook.
Sienna dreams of a garish commercial for “The Clown Cafe,” where Art slaughters the customers and she pulls a sword from a cereal box. She wakes to find her dresser on fire, but her father’s sword is untouched. Through Halloween day and night, Art carves his way through Miles County. His victims include Sienna’s friend Allie (Casey Hartnett) in a notoriously extended bedroom attack. Jonathan becomes convinced their father knew how to stop the clown.
Spoiler section: the ending
Art murders Sienna’s mother (Sarah Voigt), kidnaps Jonathan and steals the sword. The Little Pale Girl, mimicking Jonathan’s voice, lures Sienna, her friend Brooke (Kailey Hyman) and Brooke’s boyfriend to an abandoned carnival. There Art kills Brooke and her boyfriend in the Terrifier funhouse. He stabs Sienna with her own sword. She dies, returns from a vision of the Clown Cafe resurrected, and beheads Art as he bites into Jonathan. The Little Pale Girl takes his head. In a post-credits scene, Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi), the survivor of the first film, now in a mental institution, gives birth to Art’s living head.
Production and behind the scenes
Sienna grew out of an idea Leone had in 2008, after his short The 9th Circle: a heroine in angelic armor fighting Art. After criticism that the first film had little story, he spent three straight months on a more character-driven script. He finished the first draft in February 2019 and called Sienna his favorite character he had ever written. The bigger script needed more money. Private investors and Scotty Gelt Productions funded the film, and an Indiegogo campaign meant to pay for one practical-effects scene raised $250,000 against a $50,000 goal. Thornton and Scaffidi returned, LaVera was cast as Sienna in September 2019, and the cameos included Felissa Rose, Chris Jericho and Tamara Glynn.
Filming began in October 2019, was interrupted by the COVID-19 lockdowns, and wrapped on July 10, 2021. LaVera came to dislike her celebrated costume because it was so uncomfortable, and it gave her blisters. The three-minute bedroom scene was the hardest to film. He built a life-size animatronic puppet of Hartnett, operated with rods by people hidden under the bed and behind the wall, and used tubing inside rubber gloves so its chest appeared to breathe. Paul Wiley composed the score.
Release and reception
After an August 29 festival premiere, Cinedigm’s Bloody Disgusting label released the film unrated on October 6, 2022, in 886 theaters. It was planned as a one-week run. It opened to $805,000, then rose 28% in its second weekend. Audience demand kept it in theaters, and by its fourth weekend it had expanded to 1,550 screens and passed $10 million. Viewers reported vomiting and fainting, and emergency services were allegedly called to one screening. Leone said he’d have welcomed “a couple of walk-outs” as a “badge of honor,” but didn’t want anyone hurt. It holds 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, whose consensus says it “outdoes the original in every way,” and 59 on Metacritic. IGN found it overlong but said LaVera “rules as Sienna,” and Paste praised her “pure star power.”
Legacy and influence
Terrifier 2 made the series a theatrical success. Leone said he never expected it to play beyond “a few arthouse theaters,” let alone make millions. It also gave the series its heroine, Sienna, a counterpart Leone hoped could rival Art’s popularity. The film’s mythology, including the Little Pale Girl, Sienna’s sword and Victoria’s grotesque “birth,” set up Terrifier 3 (2024). That film opened at No. 1 and became the highest-grossing unrated film ever. Leone said in 2022 that his plans for the follow-up were becoming so large that they might be split into a fourth film. Its first trailer debuted exclusively at a theatrical re-release of Terrifier 2.
Trivia
- Michael Leavy, who played Will the Exterminator in the first film, provides voices, and Corey Duval returns as the coroner.
- Leah Voysey auditioned for Sienna, Allie and Brooke before being cast as the singing host of the Clown Cafe dream. Leone then added her as a nurse in the credits scene.
- Leone digitally added Hartnett’s real eye to the animatronic puppet for the moment Allie wakes to her mother.
- A three-issue comic book series was released ahead of the film.
- In 2024, a Terrifier and Terrifier 2 double bill was released in UK cinemas.
Related links
- Art the Clown (character)
- Terrifier franchise
- Terrifier (2016) and Terrifier 3 (2024)
- Damien Leone (writer and director)
- David Howard Thornton (Art) and Lauren LaVera (Sienna)