When a horror film excites one segment of its audience and disturbs another, it's usually doing something right. In this case, that applies to the low-budget production "Terrifier 2". The particularly gory slasher opened in US theaters on October 6 and drew reports of fainting and vomiting. Hard-nosed genre veterans, on the other hand, are enthusiastic, horror icon Stephen King (75) pays his respects on Twitter.
The predecessor "Terrifier" (2016) already introduced the main character and antagonist Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). In it, he murders his way through a group of young people in Miles County on Halloween, but apparently dies at the end of the film. In the second part, an evil force brings the killer clown (Thornton again) back to life. He returns to Miles County and - again on Halloween - hunts down two young siblings (Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam). Art's motives also become clearer. The indie flick is directed by Damien Leone. Through crowdfunding, Thornton and Leone raised over $200,000 from over 1,200 donors for a more elaborate scene. The effort should be worth it.
"I don't know how we did it, but we brought an uncut, no-compromise, 138-minute ultra-slasher to 900 theaters across the country," said distribution company Bloody Disgusting. For her, the reason for the film's success is obvious: "'Terrifier 2' is special for one reason in particular: It's made by the fans. The film wasn't backed by a studio and we didn't have the money for it "Marketing. Everything was done from the bottom up, for the love of the film and the genre. This is a unique moment in horror history that we are all involved in," the website reads.
"For that reason, we're thrilled that 'Terrifier 2' grossed an amazing $400,000 in its special screening last Thursday night. To put this in perspective, the film averaged $453 per theater, second only to Paramount's wide theatrical release 'Smile.' becomes."
In view of the fact that the first part has only been released on DVD and Blu-Ray in a cut version, "Terrifier 2" shouldn't be released on the German market without major changes. The FSK already had a hard time with "Terrifier". A youth release for the sequel seems impossible if the work is released at all. Finally, director Damien Leone asserted that the extreme reactions to his film were "not a marketing ploy". "I wish we were smart enough to think about that," Leone wrote.
"Terrifier 2" will be available uncut on DVD and Blu-Ray in English from the UK from October 24th. The ripper has not yet had a release date for Germany.
