Articles for Horror: “Terrifier 2”

Plot summary and review of the second movie in the “Terrifier” franchise. This article contains spoilers!

Photo of Art the Clown towering over Sienna with one of his favorite murder weapons.

IMDb

Photo of Art the Clown towering over Sienna with one of his favorite murder weapons.

Autumn Castle, Staff Writer

Who was Art the Clown?

Art the Clown was the main antagonist of the 2013 horror film “All Hallows’ Eve,” and its 2016 movie “Terrifier.” He was an extremely sadistic and demonic killer clown mime who appeared on Halloween nights to brutally murder anyone who crosses his path.

The character made his debut in “All Hallows’ Eve” (2013) which incorporated two prior short films as segments on VHS tapes that the main character watched with the children she was babysitting on Halloween night. 

What was “Terrifier 2?”

After being resurrected from an unknown entity that followed the Miles County Massacre, Art the Clown brutally murdered the man investigating his body with a hammer. Since Art had shot himself prior to having his body in the morgue, he was missing an eye. He removed the eye of the man he had just brutally executed in an attempt to shove the eye into his eye socket. 

Covered in blood after his first heinous murder, Art went to the laundromat to clean his blood-soaked clown suit, where he encountered The Little Pale Girl who was a mysterious sinister entity in similar clown attire. The girl laughed maniacally with him while she disgustingly pooped herself. 

A man in the laundromat saw Art talking with the girl, who was invisible to him, before being killed with an ax to the head.

One year later, Sienna Shaw, a teenager, put the finishing touches on her Halloween costume: an angel warrior that was designed for her by her late father, who recently passed away due to a brain tumor. 

Sienna’s brother, Jonathan, wanted to dress as Art for Halloween, and had become entranced by him after he discovered the sketches of him and his victims from the Miles County Massacre in their father’s sketchbook. That night, Sienna had a nightmare where she encountered Art, brutally murdering other teenagers while a nursery rhyme played in the background. She then awoke to her dresser being on fire, while a sword that was a gift to her from her father remained without any damage to it.

On Halloween, Jonathan saw Art and The Little Pale Girl at school playing with a dead possum, while Sienna had a panic attack after her friends Allie and Brooke discussed Victoria Heyes’ mutilation of the talk show host Monica Brown. 

Sienna and Allie went to the costume shop to buy another pair of wings, as her old pair was destroyed in the fire – and they encountered Art. Tauntingly, Art watched her purchase her wings while he played with the shop knickknacks, causing her panic to increase.

Art later killed the shop employee after he had yelled at him for his behavior toward Sienna. Art then saw a mother and his young son walk towards the shop, and used the shopkeeper’s head to act like a creepy mannequin so they would leave.

He later broke into Allie’s home, where he mutilated her to death — slicing her eye, scalping her, flaying her back, breaking off one of her arms while tearing apart the other, and pouring bleach and salt on her wounds before ripping off half of her face. Her mother entered the home not long after he did this, and walked into her room, finding the horrific scene of her daughter mutilated and still alive, clinging to life. In shock, she ran out before Art chased her,eventually brutally murdering her as well.

Jonathan showed Sienna and their mother, Barbara, his father’s sketchbook of Art, which was filled with newspaper clippings of killings connected to him. This revealed that The Little Pale Girl was his first victim named Emily Crane, the daughter of circus performers whose body was discovered in a makeup trailer. Jonathan believed their father knew how to stop Art, but Sienna and Barbara didn’t believe him. After Barbara tore up the sketchbook and hit Jonathan, he ran away. 

Barbara then found her car vandalized, and thinking it was Jonathan, she called Sienna while she was out at a Halloween party. They ended up having one last heartfelt conversation before Barbara cleaned her car and got shotgunned in the face by Art. 

When Jonathan returned home, he found his mother’s corpse. Art chased after him before drugging and kidnapping him, stealing Sienna’s sword in the process.

At the Halloween party, Brooke spiked Sienna’s drink with MDMA in an attempt to calm her, but she had a panic attack when she saw The Little Pale Girl. Brooke and her boyfriend, Jeff, left to drive Sienna home, but The Little Pale Girl impersonated Jonathan over the phone and lured Sienna to The Terrifier haunted attraction at an abandoned carnival, where Art killed the little girl years before. 

Art castrated and killed Jeff as he stepped out to use the bathroom at the back of his car. Art then chased Brooke into the haunted attraction before throwing acid on her face, bludgeoning her to death, and eating her heart. 

Sienna discovered Brooke’s corpse and fought Art until he knocked her unconscious. She awakened to find Art using a cat o’ nine tails on her brother. She overpowered Art and began to attack him with the weapons he was using to try and kill them. 

After Art was killed several times by Sienna and Jonathan, he continuously managed to resurrect. He killed Sienna with her father’s sword and threw her into a water torture cell. As Art attempted to eat Jonathan, Sienna was also resurrected by the sword before she decapitated Art and rescued Jonathan. The Little Pale Girl took Art’s head and left without attacking Sienna and Jonathan.

During a mid-credits scene, Victoria, who was the only survivor from his last massacre, now lived in an asylum after having a psychotic break. While there, she sat on her floor while giggling to herself then proceeded to throw up before writing “Vicky + Art” on the wall with her blood. She gave birth to Art’s living head, and as he was born, he smiled at the nurse who had walked into her room.

How successful was “Terrifier 2?”

“Terrifier 2” was released in 886 theaters in the United States, grossing $400,000 on its opening day. It went on to debut at $805,000, and the film made $1 million the following weekend which was an increase of 28%. Variety called the film’s success a “shock” to the industry due to its low budget and limited mainstream marketing.

My Review

The film was amazing. As someone who loves horror films, Art the Clown was a character who would be put in the “classics” category of horror characters. I’m already counting down the days until they announce the third film’s release date.

The thing I loved most about the film was how sick it made me. When Allie was finally killed off, it was gruesome – and getting to watch this in the theater made it even better. Although, the people a few rows behind me had to leave after that scene because the gore made them sick.

While the film was incredible, the resurrecting over and over got a little repetitive towards the end. Jonathan should’ve been killed off as soon as he said he wanted to be Art the Clown for Halloween and he made horrible choices throughout the film. If I was in his position, I’d have done many things differently, but he is sadly still alive and well.