Terrifier (2016) Dir: Damien Leone
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The Terrifier franchise seems to have grown exponentially in popularity in the last few years, especially since the second film came out in 2022. Despite this, I knew only the basics of what thes Damien Leone written and directed film's were about. I figured it was worth finally seeing what the fuss was about.
I didn't realise until I was watching the film just how low-budget it was. After a quick Internet search, I found out that it only had a $35,000 budget, which explained a lot. It has a definite indie horror aesthetic, for better and worse. The cinematography wasn't great, and made some of the scenes look a little tacky.
However, the practical effects all looked really good, in my opinion. That was by far the greatest strength of this film. Sure, some of it bordered on silly, but that was kind of the whole vibe of the film anyway, so I didn't mind it. The rest of the film's features weren't so good though.
The story was virtually non-existent, and wholly reliant on its various, and extremely graphic, violent set pieces. It was pretty disappointing, in truth. I was kind of hoping for more than just the gore. That said, I do understand that this is supposed to be a blood and guts type of film, and, in that sense, it succeeded greatly.
The acting was all pretty poor, with the only genuinely decent performance coming from the man in the clown costume; David Howard Thornton. His performance was undeniably creepy, if a little repetitive and predictable, much like the film in general, in fairness.
The likes of Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi and Catherine Corcoran all turned in pretty mediocre performances in their respective roles. However, Pooya Mohseni, Matt McAllister and Katie Maguire delivered the worst of the lot, with some very subpar acting.
Overall, this was not as good as I was hoping, and, if I'm being totally honest, I'm yet to see why the franchise has become so talked about. Sure, the clown is scary, but he didn't feel unique or imaginative. I did like a few aspects of the film, but not enough to make this a particularly worthwhile watch. It's a film intended to shock, and little else, and that just doesn't do it for me.
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