As a kid I spent a lot of time perusing the shelves of the local Ritz/Blockbuster. VHS covers always intrigued me, especially the horror films. They all looked so interesting and scary! I was nowhere near watching them yet; a brief clip of Freddy Krueger left me hiding under my blanket at night for weeks as a youngster.
As I got older I’d get more into the genre, but mainly through the big names. Halloween has always been my favourite series, followed by Scream. Proper slasher films, and those that looked to peel back the layers on them.
Saw had it’s time, watching them every Halloween on release with my mate Jake. Found footage came and went. Then more supernatural entries like Sinister or Conjuring. But I’ve always really been a slasher fan, which led to me finally watching most of the Friday films recently. A lot of them were poor, which along it being October, left me with an itch to try something else.
Terrifier would have been one of the creepier VHS covers back in the day, and with the third entry coming out this year, it seemed reasonable to give it a try.
It ticks all the boxes of what you want from such a film. Art the Clown is a memorable and distinctive antagonist, silent like Myers and Vorhees, but far more violent than either. His miming and facial expressions give him an additional edge over most. Is it all calculated? Does he feel anything? His actions suggest to me that he’s fully aware and gleeful. He’s a sick fuck. If there’s a Rushmore of horror icons he’s not there yet, but I can see him getting up there.
Next thing is that this film is gross. It is unapologetically explicit. One scene in particular was noteworthy as being something I hadn’t seen quite so graphically before. Art is vicious. If you’re at all squeamish this film is not for you. There are a lot of practical effects, which considering the budget is very impressive.
The acting is pretty good for a horror film. The story verges on being non-existent and includes scenes and characters seemingly at random. It’s a vehicle for Art to be terrifying. The one thing that consistently stood out as odd to me was the lighting, as though it kept changing the angle per character. It didn’t feel natural. Perhaps I’m expecting too much.
Terrifier is not a great film. But it’s a decent horror movie. I’m reticent to watch the second as it’s over two hours long. If a bigger budget goes into even more gore, I’m not sure I could deal with it! But that I’m considering it means the first one did an alright job.
Be the first to comment