Terrifier 2 [Blu-ray]
Terrifier 2, written and directed again by the masterful Damien Leone, has recently been given a home release in the UK after a very successful cinema run. As part of ‘The Bloody Duo’ Blu-ray that we were kindly sent to review, we couldn’t wait to get stuck in to Art the Clown’s story, but of course - we had to work our way through the story from the very beginning (so be sure to read here and here first).
After a quick introduction to Sienna (Lauren LaVera), our main girl who is hard at work on a costume for a Halloween party - that we later find out is a character her dad designed for her when she was little. She stays up all night toiling away, before ceremoniously blowing out each of the candles on her cabinet. We then go into a dream sequence (or rather, nightmare) about the Clown Cafe, with a super catchy theme song that entirely juxtaposes the horrors going on within.
Sienna’s brother, Jonathan, has a bit of a fixation on serial killers and the macabre, wishing to dress up for Halloween as the Miles County Clown, Art. Not the most tasteful of costume choices, so both his sister and his mother recommend against this - with Sienna confiding in their mum that she feels something is most definitely off with him. Later events lead to even his mum doubting his sanity - with the police bringing him home after a situation at school in which he claims to have seen the Miles County Clown - and a strange little girl who looked just like him.
Visually, the locations chosen throughout Terrifier 2 are a lot more interesting and varied than in the previous movie. Naturally, a larger budget would have afforded the team more choice in the matter, and they definitely put it to good use. A fancy dress store, where Art somehow still manages to stick out like a sore thumb, yet blending in enough to not alert other patrons to the fact that he is the very same killer that terrorised the county a year prior - though in fairness, he was reported to have been killed. But, then the coroner ended up dead and oopsie - Art’s corpse went walkies. As well as looking better, the soundtrack and score are phenomenal and work beautifully with all of the different locations - giving enough of a sense of dread and panic, whilst also being filled with some truly great tracks.
As mentioned before, Sienna and Jonathan’s dad had been into art - actual art, not Art the Clown - though the latter does seem to crop up in his old sketchbooks, which since his death, Jonathan has pored over. Newspaper clippings about the Miles County Massacre - as well as reports of a little girl murdered in a carnival, who looks suspiciously like the one accompanying Art - are stuck in the pages, alongside heavily detailed sketches of some of the victims we saw in the first movie. It’s an interesting angle, and led us to wonder more about their family’s history - but this storyline just gets left hanging a little, which is a shame.
If you thought the gore was extreme before - then Terrifier 2 takes it up to the next level, with extended scenes of blood and guts that leave even us squirming a little - and great use of prosthetics and animatronics to really boost the realism, whilst still erring on the ‘over the top’ side. Grisly death scenes again with plenty of gratuitous blood and gore: victims are torn apart with ease, and to rub - literal - salt in the wound, it all just seems like a simple act of fun for our dear Art. At the Halloween party Sienna was crafting her costume for, her friend doses her with Molly to get her to loosen up and have a little fun - which works temporarily, until she freaks out in the middle of the dance floor and they need to make a swift exit. Unbeknownst to both of them, their other friend - who hasn’t shown up to the party - has fallen prey to Art, and he’s got his eye on Sienna’s family next.
Culminating in a show-off within a carnival ride fittingly known as The Terrifier, Sienna must face Art the Clown in order to rescue her brother - and avenge her friends and family. She puts up one helluva fight, and it all keeps you on your toes as to just how things are going to pan out. She’s the true definition of a final girl - a title I felt was fitting for Tara in the previous movie, until y’know… she wasn’t. Lauren LaVera gave a truly outstanding performance as Sienna, and her drive to keep going - to fulfil the destiny her dad’s sketches alluded to - was a brilliant counterpart to Art’s maniacal plans. Overall, despite running a tad on the long side, coming in at almost 2 hours and 20 minutes long - far longer than its predecessors - it offers a fun time for fans of gory horror - and an end-credits scene lets us in on a little secret as to what Damien Leone might terrify us with next.
In the end, we decided to give Terrifier 2 the Collecting Asylum rating of 8.5/10.
Are you interested in Terrifier 2? What do you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Signature Entertainment for the Terrifier 1 & 2: The Bloody Duo Blu-ray review copy!
