Terrifier 2 still has many flaws, but it’s a clear improvement on the first, and its director doesn’t seem ready to ease up on the violence despite an ever-growing audience.

It seems rather odd that we had to wait over four years before seeing the return of the sadistic clown killer with Terrifier 2. Director and screenwriter Damien Leone had clearly hit on something special with his first Terrifier, the bloody violence unleashed and the production’s clear lack of budget evidently not repelling an audience ready to see the worst killings on the big screen. With its meagre budget of $35,000, Terrifier grossed over $400,000 and was guaranteed a sequel, still starring David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown.

Terrifier 2 is set a year after the events of the first, or rather directly after the flashback opening sequence of the first (it’s a bit confusing, yes), as Halloween rolls around and costumes get ready, the killer clown with the vicious smirk on his face returns to the town of Miles County. Leone thinks bigger with this new chapter, bolstered by a budget of $250,000, the film stretches out considerably compared to the first, with a running time of 138min, which, by horror standards, makes it a very long film. But Leone uses this extra time to enrich what was painfully lacking before, proper character development. In this case, it’s Sienna (Lauren LaVera), a rather withdrawn teenager, but one who has built what may be considered the most stylish Halloween costume on the block, a suit of armor worthy of a WonderWoman comic book. However, the mood at home isn’t the happiest between Sienna, her little brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam), who has a passion for killers and Art in particular, and her mother Barbara (Sarah Voigt).

Damien Leone takes advantage of this extra time almost too much, as the introduction between the family’s ties and difficulties and Art’s arrival in their midst takes its time. While we can’t complain about a character whose past and difficulties we’re introduced to, the filmmaker seems to overcompensate for the total lack of exposition given in his first film. Where Terrifier seemed to clear every moment of depth to devote itself to killing, Terrifier 2 takes nearly an hour to really start towards the reasons we came.

But once Art finally sets his killing rampage in motion, there’s no stopping his ruthless, barbaric creativity. Once again, Leone learns from the criticisms levelled at the first film’s mysogynism, by equalizing the sadism inflicted on men and women. Here, everyone gets their due. Terrifier 2 takes malicious pleasure in using its bigger budget to exaggerate the murders even further, with hyperbolic bloodshed and flesh gore. Art the Clown intensifies his imagination to shock us and elevate the grotesque to a paroxysm. That being said, Leone still repeatedly seems to lack imagination in directing these murders, and more particularly in the editing, which is at times redundant between shots. Art takes his time to savor his kills, and this slowness sometimes weighs on our experience.

The same could be said of Leone’s more global filmmaking with Terrifier 2, although the director materially shows improvement over the first with many quite creative set-pieces, his camera remains theatrical, filming what needs to be filmed. Nonetheless, a colossal amount of work is done in all production departments on this film, all on a budget so small it’s mind-boggling.

Terrifier 2 nevertheless maintains what made it charming for some and stupid for others, with dialogue all the more stereotyped and conventional, straight from the mouths of actors flirting with mediocrity (although Lauren LaVera does a pretty decent job for a final girl). Damien Leone obviously leans towards the charm of the 80s, with synth music and a B-movie look that he refuses to be ashamed of. In fact, he’s proud of it, and why hold it against him? Terrifier 2 still has many flaws, but it’s a clear improvement on the first, and its director doesn’t seem ready to ease up on the violence despite an ever-growing audience.

Terrifier 2 – Official Trailer