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Terrifier is a 2016 American independent film slasher film written, edited, co-produced, and directed by Damien Leone. The film stars Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi, Catherine Corcoran, and David Howard Thornton. The plot centers on partygoer Tara Heyes (Kanell) and her sister Vicky Heyes (Scaffidi), who become targets of the enigmatic serial killer known only as Art the Clown (Thornton) on Halloween night.
Leone had created the character of Art the Clown for his short film The 9th Circle (2008) and then created another short with Terrifier (2011). These shorts would generate interest for what became the anthology film All Hallows' Eve (2013), which contained both segments. With the film, Leone wrote it specifically as a means of showcasing the character of Art and his work. Leone has since expressed regret for leaving the protagonists underdeveloped.
Leone tried to raise funds for the Terrifier feature film with an Indiegogo campaign, which fell short of its goal. However, producer Phil Falcone helped contribute funds to help make the film in exchange for a producer credit. Mike Giannelli, who portrayed prior incarnations of Art, retired from acting before production began, and David Howard Thornton replaced him as Art.
Terrifier premiered at the Telluride Horror Show on October 15, 2016, and received a limited theatrical release in the United States on March 15, 2018, by Epic Pictures Releasing. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics, with praise directed towards the special effects and the portrayals of Kanell, Scaffidi and Thornton, while the writing was subject to criticism. Despite that, the film became a cult film, and would eventually generate a media franchise, with Terrifier 2, released on October 6, 2022 and Terrifier 3, released on October 11, 2024.
On Halloween night of 2017 in Miles County, New York, two friends, Tara and Dawn, drunkenly leave a party and encounter Art the Clown, who follows them to a pizzeria. Art is kicked out by the restaurant's owner for smearing his feces over the bathroom walls. The girls discover that Dawn's car tire has been slashed, and Tara calls her sister Vicky Heyes to pick them up. Art returns to the pizzeria and kills the owner and an employee.
While waiting, Tara asks a pest exterminator, Mike, to be let into the apartment building he is working in to use the restroom. There, she encounters the Cat Lady, a deluded squatter who believes the doll she carries is her infant child. Art attacks Dawn and subdues Tara with a sedative.
Tara awakens, bound to a chair, to see Dawn suspended upside down. Art forces Tara to watch as he saws Dawn in half. Tara escapes, but Art shoots her to death, then attacks Mike. The Cat Lady discovers Art with her doll, and in a plea for the return of her "child", attempts to show motherly compassion by cradling him.
Victoria arrives and discovers Art, who has mutilated the Cat Lady and is wearing her scalp and breasts. Art chases her and decapitates Mike's co-worker Will. Victoria then finds Tara's corpse as Art attacks her with a makeshift cat o' nine tails. Mike wakes up and knocks Art unconscious. The two flee and call 911, but Art recovers and kills Mike, then hits Victoria with a pick-up truck. As Victoria lies unconscious, Art begins to eat her face. The police finally arrive, but Art shoots himself before he can be apprehended.
After the police discover Victoria is still alive, Art's body and those of his victims are taken to a morgue, where Art reanimates and attacks the medical examiner. One year later, Victoria is released from the hospital after rehabilitation; she is revealed to be the disfigured woman from the talk show.
On his approach to making Terrifier, Leone stated, "I wanted to take familiar elements that we all embraced from American horror movies, combined with the graphic violence and atmosphere of Giallo films. Hopefully creating something fresh and exciting." Leone drew inspiration for the character of Art from several well-known slasher film characters that Leone was a fan of growing up, such as Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger. Leone states that he purposely made Art drastically different from Pennywise from It (1990), where Pennywise is "colorful" while Art is "black and white," as a means of differentiating the characters.
Despite being a feature film, Leone wrote a simple, straightforward narrative, initially focusing on two women, Tara Heyes and Dawn Emerson, whom Art stalks and kills on Halloween night. These characters were left underdeveloped as Leone focused on showcasing Art and his practical effects work. He expressed regret for his handling of the Victoria Heyes character: "My biggest regret is I wish I had fleshed out Samantha Scaffidi's character more, who was the sister, Victoria, the second heroine in the movie who gets deformed in the end."
In The 9th Circle, the short film Terrifier, and All Hallows' Eve, Art was played by Mike Giannelli, who opted not to return to the role for the feature film due to not wanting to pursue any more major acting roles. Instead, the role of Art was recast to then unknown David Howard Thornton. Thornton was already familiar with All Hallows' Eve when he auditioned for the role of Art in Terrifier, and got cast after improvising a kill scene in Mime artist.
On October 27, 2025, actress Catherine Corcoran filed a federal lawsuit against the filmmakers accusing them of shortchanging her on promised residuals and using on-screen nudity without her consent. The lawsuit alleges that producer Phil Falcone and producer/director Damien Leone only paid her $8,341, which is a fraction of what she’s contractually owed. According to the lawsuit, Corcoran reached an agreement to work on the film for a very low per diem rate in exchange for 1% of the profits of the film and any future films in the series, as well as 1% of profits from merchandise related to the film. The lawsuit also accuses the filmmakers of sexual harassment, and of distributing sexually explicit material without her consent. A lawyer for Leone and Falcone said, “Damien and Phil deny the claims in the complaint and will vigorously defend this lawsuit.”
Sol Harris of the magazine Starburst gave the film a score of 6 out of 10, writing: "Presented as something of a throwback to horror B-movies of the '80s, Terrifier has far more style - both visually and audibly - than the average film of this nature. It's a surprisingly nice looking film for a movie about a clown chopping people into pieces." Jeremy Aspinall of Radio Times praised the film, writing "But despite the unsparing gore, there's also plenty of atmosphere and a gnawing tension that's maintained all the way to the sequel-hinting climax." In a thesis by M. Keith Booker, he writes that rather than evolving the slasher film genre in different directions, Terrifier acts as a homage to the 1980s films of the subgenre but with better special effects and higher production values. Booker also observes similarities with Dawn's (Corcoran) hacksaw death scene and Freddy Krueger's pursuit of Nancy Thompson in the bathtub scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Amyana Bartley of FilmInquiry.com felt that the film's script lacked both clear protagonists and depth, writing, "Art the Clown has the potential to be a formidable, gruesome, franchise horror character, he just needs more seasoning and cultivation." Felix Vasquez Jr. of Cinema Crazed called it "fairly mediocre slasher fare", stating that the film lacked any creativity and tension while also criticizing its story line. Vasquez concluded his review by stating "As a film Terrifier aims high, but feels like a very disposable party favor you'll have forgotten once the credits roll."
After the success of Terrifier 2, it was announced that Terrifier 3 was in the works and in May 2023, it was announced that the sequel was expected to begin filming in November or December 2023 although it eventually began in February 2024 and wrapped in April 2024. The film was released on October 11, 2024.
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