As the Terrifier franchise gains traction ahead of its third installment, now is a good time to reflect on the roots of the series that introduced Art the Clown.

As the third installment of the Terrifier saga soon hits theaters with its share of articles and controversy about its violence. It seems a good time to catch up on a film series that has grown in popularity and scale over the years.

It’s been a long road for filmmaker Damien Leone to bring the first Terrifier to the big screen. The character of killer clown Art the Clown appeared first as a secondary character in the director’s first short film The 9th Circle, then in a lead role in another short film Terrifier in 2011. A campaign on Indiegogo to finance the first film of the same name was then launched, and was saved by producer Phil Falcone, who enabled the filmmaker to make his film despite a low budget of $35,000.

There’s not much to say about the story of Terrifier, other than to follow the misadventures of young men and women crossing the path of Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) on a Halloween night. The script is firmly one of the elements that suffers most in this film, not from violence, but from neglect. There’s a clear lack of writing in the various characters running through this dark film, including its antagonist, about which we know nothing except an irrepressible urge to kill anyone in the most violent way possible.

Evidently, Terrifier belongs to a well-defined genre of horror cinema, which is not suitable for all audiences. But despite its affiliation with the gory 80s slasher genre, that doesn’t prevent us from deserving a little in-depth development. The film’s narrative centers mainly on two characters, Tara (Jenna Kanell) and Dawn (Catherine Corcoran), and we follow these women from their first encounter with Art on a street corner to their survival in an abandoned warehouse. Where Terrifier seems to surprise is in killing off its two protagonists (and one of its designated final girl) halfway through the film. An audacious choice, but one that strips the story of its main protagonist, the only one given a decent dose of character building. The second half of the story therefore descends into a monotonous succession of characters being cut up in various ways by Art the Clown, without any added value. These scenes of violence also seem to have a rather disturbing mysoginistic side (and not in a good way), with Art taking a malicious pleasure in making women suffer or be executed in a very brutal way rather than men, who are often killed fairly quickly. This kind of penalizing flaw could have been avoided, however, with a little background on the antagonist, his motivations and his past. Even if Terrifier takes up the codes of 80s slashers, you don’t have to keep them all.

Yet Leone uses the slasher genre to give his killer character some semblance of characterization. Art the Clown takes great pleasure in disguising himself in the clothes of his victims, or dancing around in a dress like Freddy Kruger, and re-emerging after every strike he receives like an invincible Michael Myers.

Where everyone seems to agree on Terrifier is in the effects and make-up work for its gory scenes. Damien Leone packs an enormous amount of substance (in both senses of the word) into such a small budget. The effects of mutilation and violence are so well done that one could almost be frustrated by the rather amateurish cinematography and direction – while correct for the given budget – that doesn’t do enough justice to the work done on the bodies and faces. The quality of the make-up is also reflected in Art the Clown’s costume design, which has the merit of offering a terrifying face in the tradition of monstrous killer clowns such as Pennywise in IT or Twisty in seasons 4 & 7 of American Horror Story.

The Terrifier franchise has the potential to become something really special with a little more narrative depth. All the visual elements are already there, thanks in part to a very strong design for its antagonist, and it will be particularly interesting to see how Damien Leone uses the extra resources at his disposal in the second installment.

You can watch Terrifier for free on Tubi.