Scariest Horror Film Of The Decade Kickstarted New Slasher Icon, Stream Now

What is Terrifier about? In short, it’s about a seemingly unstoppable killer clown that (ahem) terrifies two friends on a fateful Halloween night. His violent antics start out depraved and only get sicker as the night goes on, leading to scenes of graphic horror that you’d be tempted to flinch away from if the effects weren’t so captivatingly nasty.

Compared to very star-studded horror films, Terrifier has a modest cast. Standout performances include Jenna Kanell (also known for her role in Bye Bye Man) as a wide-eyed protagonist hoping she can become the final girl. Samantha Scaffidi (known also for her role in Demon Hole) plays Kanell’s sister and another potential victim of this vicious killer. Speaking of which, David Howard Thornton plays Art the Clown, and trust me when I say that horror hasn’t had such a charismatically evil character since the first Nightmare On Elm Street film.

While the movie is great on its own, part of what makes Terrifier so awesome is the story of its creation. Art the Clown had already memorably appeared in the anthology film All Hallow’s Eve, and director Damien Leone leveraged the popularity of that movie to launch a failed crowdfunding campaign for Terrifier on Indiegogo. While the funding was ultimately provided by producer Phil Falcone, the success of that first film helped the crowdfunded sequel to easily earn over four times the amount of money Leone was asking for.

Speaking of money, the first Terrifier film earned quite a bit of cash relative to its production cost. The movie had a budget of somewhere between $35,000–$55,000, but it went on to earn a comparatively respectable $416,322. More importantly for Leone, the success of this film created a successful Freddy Krueger-style franchise for Art the Clown, and a third Terrifier film is coming out on October 11.

Terrifier might be the scariest horror film of the decade, but its critical reception should feel familiar to any horror fan who has watched professional movie reviewers dismiss this genre over the years. For example, the movie has a 57 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the grumpy critical consensus being that this film is “all about the splashy kills.” As a lifelong horror fan, I can’t help but ask…just what the heck is so bad about investing the time and effort into creating some memorable onscreen splatter?

When Terrifier first came out, I will admit that I underestimated it…I feared the movie would be nothing but over-the-top torture porn, and it was tough to take a killer clown seriously after so many horror movies tried and failed to make a compelling clown villain. But both Terrifier and Art the Clown are the real deal: this movie perfectly combines great makeup and effects into something far better than the sum of its parts. This isn’t torture porn so much as postmodern gonzo art, and as the resident blood-splattered “Art” critic, I’m happy to recommend this film.

GFR SCORE

Fair warning: Terrifier isn’t for everyone, especially if you have a weak stomach or a fear of clowns. For most horror buffs, though, this will feel like the best of both worlds…a throwback to the heyday of ‘80s slashers that manages to find some new depths to the genre hidden deep within its many mutilated corpses. The modern-day horror icon has been here for a long time, and you can finally meet him by streaming this horror hit for free on Tubi today.