Day 276 of the challenge! I recommend Terrifier if you like your horror extra meaningless and trashy.
I really don’t understand the hype surrounding this movie, or it’s mascot, Art the Clown. In a horror zeitgeist filled with so many more colorful and iconic slashers like Freddy, Chucky, or Michael Myers (each with their own unique lore and motivations), Art is a generic and meaningless hodgepodge of all their best traits.
He’s obviously supernatural, but carries around a trash bag of blades and guns. Why? He’s an admittedly creepy looking clown, but rarely plays up the gimmick to it’s potential. Why? And the biggest one of them all: WHY is his calling card smearing his own shit all over public bathrooms? What is the point of any of this? Fast and cheap shock value? WHY!?! What am I supposed to invest with here?
Freddy gets you in the one place no one else can, and when you’re at your most vulnerable. Chucky is a corruption of childhood innocence (among other things). Easy. Jason started off as cautionary tale about promiscuity and unhealthy maternal bonds (To be fair, Michael did the promiscuity too, but I prefer the whole “he’s pure evil personified” aspect of him to focus on… and Psycho did the maternal bonds thing too, but better. There’s a reason I’m not big on the Friday the 13th franchise! Anyway… ). So after all that, Art is a…shit smearing clown that uses guns and hacks basic teens apart for…reasons? Hell, even more modern day slashers like The Strangers or Ghostface have their lore and purpose figured out!
I’d be willing to be more forgiving to Terrifier had the plot been more interesting, but it’s as predictable as they come, and then some. Even the retro, Carpenter-esque 80s vibe the film tries to convey (the violence feels like it would be more at home in a 70s horror films, but that’s a whole other argument) seems out of place. There’s no point to anything in Terrifier, which makes all the visceral carnage ineffective. It’s all meaningless shock. Like a cake that’s literally all frosting, which if that’s your thing, more power to you. Just not for me.
Ending with something nice: David Howard Thornton is great as Art. His performance is the only semblance of something memorable in this movie. Dude deserves a better story for his character.