Warning: Spoilers for Terrifier 2 (2022).
While Terrifier 2 is living up to its title by disturbing multiplex audiences the slasher sequel’s killer villain, Art the Clown, is not necessarily as lethal as Pennywise, the legendary antagonist of Stephen King’s IT. Terrifier 2 is doing incredible box office business for an independent splatter movie. The sequel’s staggering $8 million haul proved that Terrifier 2’s Art the Clown has mainstream appeal, despite the slasher villain’s seriously gruesome antics and penchant for depraved crimes.
Art the Clown is one of the most memorably scary villains in recent horror history, a monstrous killer with an array of rusty implements, a taste for torture, and a tendency to simply pull out a gun whenever he is in real trouble. However, the supernatural villain of Terrifier 2 is not the only clown to scare horror movie audiences senseless in recent years. Pennywise, the antagonist of the 2017 blockbuster Stephen King’s IT and its 2019 sequel IT: Chapter Two, is significantly more powerful than Art the Clown. However, paradoxically, Pennywise’s movies are a lot less scary than Art the Clown’s outings since the IT villain can be defeated (albeit not easily) while Art always finds a way to come back.
How Powerful Is Art The Clown Compared To Pennywise?
In each of Art the Clown’s movie appearances, the villain’s powers and abilities have undergone subtle but important changes. In The Ninth Circle, his short movie debut, Art doesn’t even kill anyone, instead drugging a woman and leaving her to a demonic cult. In All Hallow’s Eve, director Damian Leone’s anthology horror, Art displays some of the reality-bending abilities that he later boasts in Terrifier 2. In 2016’s Terrifier, he is incredibly strong and turns out to be immortal, surviving multiple bullet wounds to the head and, in Terrifier 2, he is depicted as an outright supernatural demonic entity, being reborn as a sentient adult head after his decapitation.
However, none of this can compare to Pennywise’s abilities. It is hard to tell from Pennywise’s disappointing IT: Chapter Two death, but the villain is one of the horror genre’s most powerful and oldest monsters. According to his novel backstory, Pennywise is an ageless, ancient entity that predates the birth of the universe itself, making him something closer to a minor god than a mere demonic force like Art. Pennywise can possess people, cause hallucinations, control minds, warp reality to his ends, can invade the dreams of his victims, make himself invisible at will, and read minds. Thus, Pennywise is pretty definitively stronger and more powerful than Art the Clown.
Art vs. Pennywise: Which Horror Movie Clown Is Scarier
While Pennywise is undeniably stronger than Art the Clown, he is not nearly as scary as the Terrifier franchise’s villain. Pennywise’s shape-shifting results in him taking on some terrifying forms, but he also inhabits an equal number of goofy guises (particularly in IT: Chapter 2, which as The Simpsons noted, was more interested in gross-out gags than scary suspense sequences). In contrast, Art the Clown is legitimately chilling. While Terrifier 2 dulls his fear factor somewhat by giving the character more screen time and a sidekick, David Howard Thornton’s grinning, un-speaking antagonist still lives up to the title of his franchise. Even Mike Giannelli’s All Hallow’s Eve version of the character is arguably more chilling than Pennywise.
The main reason that Art the Clown beats Pennywise when it comes to scare factor is the simplicity of his modus operandi. Without a word (and usually without betraying emotions other than sadistic glee, unless he’s seriously hurt), Art the Clown just tortures, maims, and murders for no discernible reason. One of Pennywise’s biggest weaknesses is that, like Freddy Krueger, he needs his victims to believe in him for his powers to work. In contrast, Art the Clown does not run into this issue at all and frequently kills people who were unafraid of confronting what they thought was just an antisocial weirdo in a clown suit, often in horrifically inventive fashion.
Art vs. Pennywise: Which Horror Clown Has Better Movies?
It is tough to decide whether Art the Clown or Pennywise has better movies since the two villains bring very different types of horror to the table. Even though Pennywise almost exclusively kills kids, the IT movie adaptations are accessible teen horror movies that fuse coming-of-age dramedy with horror set-pieces. In contrast, despite every version of Art the Clown (mostly) murdering adults, his movie appearances are a far nastier, harsher sort of horror than leans into bloodshed and carnage but doesn’t care much for characterization, pathos, or humor. There are some hilariously gory gags in Terrifier 2 but, if the premise of a severed, hollowed-out head being used as a candy bowl for unaware trick-or-treaters doesn’t amuse prospective viewers, these may fall flat.
Ultimately, the Terrifier movies and the IT adaptations are offering wholly different types of horror movies to audiences. 2017’s IT is a far stronger movie than 2016’s Terrifier, with a stellar young cast, a masterful grasp of tone, and some authentically moving character drama. However, Terrifier 2 is one of 2022’s most successful original horror movies for a reason and, while the Terrifier sequel improved on its predecessor, IT: Chapter Two was far weaker than IT. Terrifier 2 tones down the intense bleakness and misanthropy of the original Terrifier (no women are graphically scalped or sawn in half in this sequel), while IT: Chapter Two fumbled the original IT’s tone by being too comedic at some points and too dark at others.
Why Pennywise’s Movies Are Better Than Art the Clown’s Movies
However, despite all of IT: Chapter Two’s faults and Terrifier 2’s improvements, there is a clear winner in the showdown between the two horror franchises. The IT movie adaptations offer some scary sequences but also feature compelling characters and an involving narrative, while the Terrifier movies showcase staggering makeup effects and impressive suspense filmmaking, but fail to create engaging characters or any substantial storyline. IT’s story of Pennywise facing off against the Losers Club gives viewers plenty of reasons to revisit Derry, Maine, despite the sequel’s flaws, while the Terrifier movies are memorably scary and shocking but offer little in the way of lasting impressions. As such, while Terrifier 2’s Art the Clown is scarier than Pennywise, his movies can’t beat the blockbuster successes of Stephen King's IT.