With his monochrome costume, sinister grin, and maniacal tendencies, Art The Clown has become a horror icon among greats such as Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger.
The silent clown has given genre fans some of the most creative and gory kills of the last 10 years, causing people to walk out of cinema screenings, vomit, and even faint thanks to the excessive violence onscreen.
And his latest outing appears to be no different, with early screenings of Terrifier 3 reporting 11 people walked out of its UK premiere, nine of which were in the first 10 minutes alone. An additional person also vomited, as confirmed by Signature Entertainment on X.
Terrifier has become not just a Halloween staple, but a mainstay in horror and beloved by its cult fanbase.
Art The Clown’s grinning face graces numerous merchandise items, and the cast and crew are revered in the genre who praise their creative flair, magnificent practical effects work, and commitment to staying true to Terrifier’s vision.
But the polished yet punk studio films we see today are far from the roots of the franchise, with Art’s inception being created on a shoestring budget.
Art first hit our screens in 2008 in Damien Leone’s short film The 9th Circle, an adaptation of Dante’s Inferno in which a girl is knocked unconscious by a killer clown and awakens to find herself in hell to be sacrificed to Satan.
The film was just over 10 minutes long and made for just $3,000 (£2,291), but it set the wheels in motion for what would become the iconic Terrifier films.
Art only appears in the movie for four minutes, but Leone knew that he had only scratched the surface of the character’s potential and endeavoured to see him in a full-feature film.
‘I designed and created him both on the page and physically. I knew from the start his colour scheme was going to be black and white and that he was never going to mutter a sound,’ the director told Daily Dead, speaking about how he developed the character.
‘For The 9th Circle, I took a life cast of Mike Giannelli and sculpted some gaunt facial features, a pointy nose and chin, and then painted his teeth yellow.’
Following the release of his 2011 short film Terrifier and plenty of grafting, Leone was able to make his dream happen.
After viewing the Terrifier short on YouTube, Jesse Baget approached Leone to create the 2013 anthology horror film All Hallows Eve which included three different segments about Art and his bloody adventures.
The film was originally only supposed to include one short about Art, but Leone managed to convince Baget to create the entire film about the terrifying clown antagonist.
Following the success of All Hallows Eve, Leone launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to finance Terrifier, a feature-length spin-off revolving around Art.
Producer Phil Falcone caught wind of the fundraiser and offered to give Leone the entire budget immediately in exchange for a producer credit and to learn special effects techniques on the set.
‘I did a movie called Joe’s War, and I needed special effects done. My friend John De Meo said: “I know this kid. He just did a short for my friend. Give him a call”,’ he told Filmhounds Magazine.
‘Damien came to my set and we hit it off immediately. He was talking to me about this clown movie that he had. And I said, “I’m about to raise funds for a movie that I want to do, an action movie. I’m really not into horror films, but give me what you’re looking for. I’ll call my friends and see if anybody wants to do horror instead of action.”
‘So he sent me what he was looking for, and I said, “S**t, I’ll give it to you. Just teach me special effects.” So we partnered up. And I’ll be here as long as I can be.’
Released in 2016 on a budget of just $38k (£29k), Terrifier sees Art terrorise Tara Heyes (Jenna Kanell) and her friend Dawn (Catherine Corcoran) after they leave a party and run into him in the streets of Miles County.
Stranded after someone slashes their tyres, Tara calls her sister Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) to pick them up and ventures into an abandoned building to use the bathroom – a decision the three women would come to regret as Art unleashes his unique brand of violence upon them.
Another turning point in the Terrifier franchise came with the recasting of Art after original actor Giannelli decided not to pursue any more major acting roles.
Leone cast David Howard Thornton in the role, who brought a unique theatricality and comedy to the bloodthirsty role which helped to cement his icon status.
Opening up on how he got the role, Thornton told Screen Rant: ‘They needed a tall, skinny guy to play Art [who] had physical comedy experience or clowning experience. Oh my God, that sounds perfect for me! I already knew the character because I had seen All Hallows Eve.
‘I was like, “Oh my God, I would love to have a chance to do something interesting with this character.” I just went in and auditioned for it, and the rest is history.’
He continued: ‘I wanted to basically establish a new horror icon. We’ve been recycling the same guys for the past 30 or 40 years, and I think we need some new blood. I think we need another Freddy Krueger-ish type of character, especially in the slasher world. I [think] Art is that guy.
‘And we’ve been having fun with it. We wanted to basically get things back to where they used to be with slasher films where you weren’t afraid to take risks and go to crazy places. See how far you could push things, and just have a lot of fun.’
Garnering generally positive reviews and three Fangoria Chainsaw Award nominations, Leone began work on Terrifier 2 in 2019 and secured funding from private investors as well as a second crowdfunding campaign which amassed a whopping $250k (£191k) with a $50,000 (£38k) target – 430% more than expected.
Leone once envisioned an angel warrior heroine fighting against Art, and Terrifier 2 tells the story of Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) facing the clown and his new creepy sidekick as he once again wreaks havoc in Miles County on Halloween.
After numerous setbacks during the Covid pandemic, Terrifier 2 was released in 2022 and achieved success like no other film in the franchise, with word-of-mouth spreading news of the intense gore within that led to it earning $400k (£306k) on its opening day in the US.
Terrifier 2 earned more than $15million (£11.4million) at the global box office and went from an indie darling to a global darling in a matter of weeks, a level of success Leone never expected.
‘It’s affecting people’s lives, and that’s a very common situation; we see that more than you’d imagine, so that’s been one of the most surprising and cool things to happen,’ he told Yahoo! Entertainment in 2023.
Speaking about the coolest things that have happened to the cast and crew after the release of Terrifier 2, he recalled: ‘David (Howard Thornton) and I go to conventions all the time; I think we have one every week in October.
‘We recently went to one in Kentucky, and I had a woman come up to me dressed as Sienna, Lauren LaVera’s character from Terrifier 2; made her own costume, and she was literally crying because of how much the character meant to her and how much she relates to her, how she’s not just a strong final girl, that she’s very vulnerable, and has relatable afflictions.
‘It meant so much to her, and my God, that transcends it just being this killer clown movie, right?’
The runaway success of the second film led to a third Terrifier movie being announced shortly after with Art returning to Miles County five years after the events of Terrifier 2 to hack and slash across the Christmas period.
Where to watch the Terrifier films in the UK
The 9th Circle – YouTube
Terrifier (short film) – YouTube
All Hallows Eve – Prime Video and Apple TV
Terrifier – Shudder via Prime Video, Apple TV, Paramount Plus, and Tubi
Terrifier 2 – Prime Video, Shudder, Apple TV, Paramount Plus, the Sky Store, and Tubi
The success of Terrifier 2 meant that Terrifier 3 had a $2m (£1.5m) budget to work from – a far cry from its humble four-figure beginnings on The 9th Circle.
And it won’t be the last time we see Art on the big screen, with Leone sharing that a fourth Terrifier film is in the works – with a possible fifth on the horizon.
‘I know a lot of where I’m going to take Terrifier 4, and I knew a lot of where I was going to end the franchise when I was writing part two,’ he told The Hollywood Reporter.
‘It’s a great safety net to have because figuring out the end of your franchise is usually the hardest part, especially if it’s, hopefully, a satisfying ending.
‘So I have a lot of it blueprinted now, and depending on how Terrifier 3 does and if it continues to get a good reception and people really want the next one, then that could be something I dive into right away.’
He additionally told Filmhounds Magazine: ‘I have all these great scenes, but if I want to put those scenes in and continue doing it the way I’ve been doing it, it could be two more movies as opposed to one more movie.
‘I mean, who knows, we’ll see. It just has to feel natural. I don’t force anything. I’m just concerned about telling the best story.’
Terrifier 3 is in cinemas now.
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