Main cast: Jenna Kanell (Tara Heyes), Samantha Scaffidi (Victoria Heyes), Catherine Corcoran (Dawn). Pooya Mohseni (Cat Lady), Matt McAllister (Mike), Katie Maguire (Monica Brown), and David Howard Thornton (Art the Clown)
Director: Damien Leone
Terrifier has little plot, depths, or artistic value – at least, the latter in the pretentious sense. You will be watching this for one thing and one thing only.
In the opening scene, Monica Brown interviews a woman wearing a mask, er, a heavily disfigured woman for her show. Later, she mocks her guest to someone on the phone as she rests in her dressing room… only to be ambushed by the disfigured woman and have her eyes gouged out in the most awesome bloody manner possible.
Yes, that’s why you will watching this show. The gore is unabashed, unapologetic, and even honest and enthusiastic, a refreshing tall glass of water these days when everything tends to sanitized. Even better, while such a movie will normally be made on a shoestring budget and looks like crap, this one actually looks pretty good despite clearly not having a million-dollar budget. Instead of incorporating cheap CGI, this one has some semi-realistic, still awesome gory practical effects.
Oh yes, the plot, or should I say, “plot”. Art the Clown is a mysterious killer who does his thing without rhyme or reason, has what seems like inhuman strength, can show up anywhere and everywhere to go boo on everyone, and can’t be defeated whatsoever. Despite this, the movie admirably shies away from jump scares, instead giving me lovely scenes of disembowelment, dismemberment, decapitation, and more. You can argue that the human body isn’t so easily torn apart like something made from Play-Doh, but hello, this movie isn’t high art, so let’s just go with the blood flow and try to have fun.
It’s pointless to dissect this movie for depths and what not, because its artistry is in its gore, and its choreography lies in the creation of such gore. If you want a no-holds barred gore festival without being hindered by political correctness, Terrifier has you name on it. Everyone else should approach this one with extreme caution.
