Terrifier 2's director explains one scene that was too disturbing for the movie. Horror villain Art the Clown first appeared in the 2013 horror anthology film directed by Damien Leone, titled All Hallow's Eve. The director went on to make 2016's Terrifier, making use of the horrifying character played by David Howard Thornton. The recently released sequel to that film, also directed by Leone, has been making headlines due to a grassroots Indiegogo campaign that helped fund it and the disturbing, fittingly terrifying nature of the movie.
Terrifier 2 has earned exceptional word-of-mouth publicity due to reports of viewers fainting and vomiting at screenings because of its gory nature. Art the Clown became infamous in the original Terrifier for the shocking ways that the slasher interacts with his victim's bodies, and Terrifier 2 amps that up even further. After Terrifier's nauseating hacksaw scene, Terrifier 2 takes things a step further and includes dismemberment, cannibalism, and scalpings galore. The film even got a shout-out from renowned horror writer Stephen King for its impressively gory style, reminiscent of old-school slasher flicks. However, one scene idea took things too far and was eventually vetoed by the director.
During a conversation with Variety, Leone described a gory scene that took things over the line. Though he acknowledged that Art having no limits is a necessity for the franchise and that keeping the film unrated was essential for its success, this scene, suggested by Art actor Thornton, was too far even for Leone. See what he had to say about the idea below:
"Art the Clown likes to play with people’s entrails. There’s the scene where he cuts off a man’s penis. He could have taken it further. We had conversations of things he could do once he took the guy’s penis off. We explored those and joked about it, but then we said, 'No, that’s way too far. That’s too distasteful.' [Ideas included] Possibly making a balloon animal out of it, or something like that. But we absolutely can’t do that. It was actually [Art the Clown actor] Dave’s suggestion. We’re always trying to one-up each other and come up with sick things, but that was too far for me."
Terrifier 2 Is Still Gross Without The Cut Scene
Even without the truly horrifying prospect of Art making a balloon animal with a severed penis, Terrifier 2 did manage to one-up the original plenty in terms of gross-out factor. Offering up tried and true slasher content, the killer clown film absolutely delivers on extreme violence, with Art's bone-chilling indifference to regular human anatomy adding another layer to the movie's disturbing nature. The longer-than-expected run time only adds to the unsettling experience, proving that the micro-budgeted film offers some variety to 2022's impressive horror roster simply by being a truly uncomfortable and gory experience.
Adding even more shocking and bloody kills proved to be an effective strategy for Terrifier 2, which has become a box office hit since its release. This is especially impressive considering that 2022, a renaissance year for the horror genre, featured plenty of competition for the indie movie such as Halloween Ends, Smile, Barbarian, and Prey for the Devil. Critics have also praised the second outing for the Terrifier franchise, proving that Leone's efforts have paid off. Though horror sequels rarely surpass the original, Terrifier 2 is a gruesome exception, making Leone's recent tease about a potential Terrifier 3 even more exciting.
Source: Variety