Movie Review: Terrifier 2 (2022)
Terrifier 2 is a horror film written and directed by Damien Leone. It’s the follow-up to the original Terrifier film, and, much like the original film, it doesn’t disappoint. The story is about a family who is gearing up for Halloween, with them talking about the “Miles County Clown” which is a name the news has decided to give Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton).
Sienna (Lauren LaVera) is a cosplay artist and is making a Halloween costume based on a character her deceased father had sketched. Her father was an artist who also had taken a vested interest in Art the Clown and his previous crime spree from the original film. Sienna’s brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) is wanting to be Art the Clown for Halloween, and their mom is not having it. Art is doing his usual thing and running amok throughout town, and Sienna and Jonathan are trying to find out why they keep seeing Art out in public. As the story progresses, Art gets progressively more violent.
This film does a good job of continuing from the original film, even showing a mangled Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi) from the original film, who is doing an interview with a local TV show. The rest of the story is pretty solid, too. The original didn’t really stray far from Art’s killing spree, whereas this one has pretty solid character development in addition to the killing spree.
Another thing that Terrifier 2 excels at is gore. The original Terrifier had a lot of gore. Seriously. A lot. Terrifier 2 has an absurd amount of gore. Not only that, but the gore is all practical, and it’s done so well. There were reports of people getting sick in theaters, and this one is definitely not for the squeamish. The acting in it was great, and there was even a guest appearance by Felissa Rose as Ms. Principe. The production quality overall is just fantastic. Leone himself is wearing a lot of hats, but wearing them well. He wrote, directed, and edited the film and was also a sound designer, and worked on special effects.
Overall, aside from just the gore, it’s just a really fun horror film. It has a lot of great attributes that help define it as one of the best horror films of 2022 without taking itself too seriously. We highly recommend that anyone with a pulse check this one out. We are seriously happy that an independent project like this was able to pull in $5M+ in theaters. Indie horror is thriving right now, and we are loving it.
Terrifier 2 released uncut on 10/31/22 on Screambox and will be available on 4K UHD (Best Buy exclusive), Steelbook Blu-ray (Walmart exclusive), Blu-ray, and DVD in December via Cinedigm as part of its Screambox collection. You can get a free 7-day trial of Screambox here on Amazon Prime Video and can watch it right away: https://amzn.to/3Dt3mV4
Check out our review of the original Terrifier film here: https://wp.midnighthorrorshow.com/movie-review-terrifier-2016/
Watch the trailer here:
