- Directed by Damien Leone
- Written by Damien Leone
- Stars David Howard Thornton, Jenna Kanell, Lauren LaVera
- Run Time: 2 Hours, 18 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KkONLf_ZKU
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The gore is impressive, in its quantity and uniqueness. Art is just a clown having a good time doing what he does. And sometimes he’s funny doing it. This one doesn’t have a whole lot of story to spoil. A crazy killer kills. But it’s well made and well worth the watch if you’re into that sort of thing.
Synopsis
We begin in a dark alley. Art the Clown walks out of the fog. We see him killing the coroner at the end of the previous film. He writes “Art” in blood on the mirror. He pulls out the coroner’s eye and replaces the one he shot out in the previous film. He also takes the brain and some surgical supplies. Then he goes to the nearest laundromat and does his laundry– naked. The other laundromat patron doesn’t even look up. There’s a girl clown there that looks just like Art. They… mime at each other for a while. When the other laundry patron wakes up, we see that Art is really there alone. Credits roll.
We watch as Sienna gets her Halloween costume ready. She and her brother Jonathan argue about the appropriateness of his choice; he says he’s going as the Miles County Clown, who killed nine people last year. “You wouldn’t dress up like Jeffry Dahmer, would you?” (Clearly this was made before Halloween costumes went on sale this year). Sienna mentions that Jonathan is looking up serial killers; he’s a weird kid. Sienna is into costume design and cosplay. She has a sharp short sword in her room that totally isn’t obviously going to be used by someone later.
We cut to the “Clown Cafe,” a food truck that advertises on TV. It’s got an unusual jingle. Art the Clown is there, and the crowd loves him. Art gives Sienna a package to open. Inside is a beating heart. Then Art pulls out a machine gun and kills everyone. Then he sets the singer on fire. Of course, this is all just Sienna’s dream that night because she fell asleep watching the commercial. When she wakes up, her art supplies are on fire. Elsewhere, Art and his imaginary sidekick assemble weapons and get ready for the big night.
At school, Jonathan sees Art and the little girl playing with a dead possum; the police get involved and tell his mother. The principal thinks Jonathan was playing with the dead possum. Sienna tells her two friends about her dream and what happened. Sienna has to replace her burnt Halloween costume, so she goes to the costume shop and runs into Art there. She forgot her bag downstairs, but that’s OK, because Art brought it up for her. The costume shop guy is next on Art’s list.
Sienna and Jonathan talk; they’ve both seen that famous clown. They have their father’s notebook, and there are pictures in there of Art, and murder scenes from the first film. They talk about their father, who died one year ago tonight, on Halloween.
Sienna gets dressed for the Halloween party; she’s a warrior angel. Down the street, her friend Allie also gets ready, but then she finds Art the Clown in her kitchen. He cuts her eye out and skins her alive. Then he does some things that shouldn’t be physically possible, but are definitely fun to watch. If that wasn’t bad enough, he comes back with bleach and salt and rubs it in the wounds. Wow!
Art comes to the door and has the kids take candy out of Allie’s mother’s hollowed-out head.
At the Halloween party, there is dancing and more drinking than Sienna was prepared for. At home, Jonathan admires Sienna’s sword. Jonathan’s father was sick, reminds his mother; he didn’t know who he was. Not long after, she finds her car defaced in the garage; she blames Jonathan. Then she finds Art in the front seat, and he blows her head off with a shotgun.
Jonathan comes home to find what’s left of his mother in the kitchen. Art chases him down and injects him, and that never ends well. He also notices the cool sword in Sienna’s bedroom.
At the party, Sienna sees the little girl several times, but no one else does. Her friend Brooke gave her drugs, and she doesn’t react well. Then she gets a call from Jonathan to come and get him at the old carnival. “It’s not like this night could get any worse,” Brooke states jokingly. “Didn’t a little girl get murdered out here a couple of years ago?”
Brooke tells her boyfriend about Sienna’s father, who had a brain tumor, lost his mind, and killed himself. Jonathan texts that he’s stuck in “The Terrifier,” the old carnival’s haunted house attraction.
Jonathan, who hasn’t called or texted anyone, wakes up in Art’s lair and sees the little girl. Sienna comes to the haunted house and looks around. Outside, bad things happen to Brooke’s boyfriend, but Brooke runs for it. Art throws acid in her face and then goes at her with his homemade mace.
Sienna comes in and finds what’s left of Brooke. Jonathan is there too, and then Art comes in. Art beats up Sienna while Jonathan runs away. Jonathan doesn’t get too far before Art catches up and slices him a few times. Sienna gets Art from behind but doesn’t finish the job. Jonathan thinks that from his father’s journal that Sienna’s the only one who can stop Art.
Art catches up and whips them both excessively. Sienna gets angry and lets him have a taste of the same whip. She ends up impaling him in the skull. That’s gotta hurt!
Sienna passes out, and when she wakes up, she finds Art standing over Jonathan’s body. He stabs her with her own sword. Art then leaves to go wake up and torture Jonathan.
Suddenly, the sword glows with a magical light, and Sienna is brought back from the dead and healed. She climbs out of the pit she fell into, takes the sword and goes looking for Art. She soon finds him and stabs him in the back with the special sword. This time, she keeps at it until his head rolls.
Then they spot the little girl, who picks up Art’s head and laughs. Then she carries it away.
Commentary
These actors all look like high school students– Well, at least they were high school students 15 to 20 years ago. That sure was a well-lit abandoned carnival. People in Terrifier films all live way longer than they should considering the damage they take.
The way the kids’ father kept being brought up, I expected it to turn out that they were Art’s children. Then there was the missing girl, who also was mentioned a few times. What was up with the “magic” sword? That was also never properly explained.
The gore in this is really over the top, and there are even some things I’ve never seen done before, which is saying something. There are several laugh-out-loud moments, but not too many. Say what you want about Art, he enjoys his work!
I definitely liked it, although despite the ads and social media, neither of us died, vomited, or passed out. We did giggle maniacally a time or two, however, so that’s a win.