Art the Clown returns in Terrifier 2, the sequel to director Damien Leone's smash indie horror movie, Terrifier (2016)—here's everything we know about the upcoming movie so far.
Scary clowns are nothing new in the horror genre; Stephen King's popular 1986 novel, IT, featured an ancient cosmic being who primarily chooses to take the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown to aid in his gaining access to young children in Derry, Maine. There are numerous instances since the release of King's novel, which has been adapted into both a TV miniseries in 1990 and a two-part movie in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Art the Clown—a killer mime—was originally featured in Leone's 2013 anthology, All Hallows' Eve. The first feature-length film premiered at the Telluride Horror Show Film Festival in 2016 and later got a theatrical release from Dread Central Presents in 2018.
Terrifier 2 was backed by an impressive Indiegogo campaign; the goal for the campaign was only $50,000, but the sequel managed to raise over $200,000 from fans. This equates to roughly 430% funded, according to the movie's campaign page. While undoubtedly a crowd-funded endeavor, the indie horror hit—and its iconic killer—have paved the way to an unexpected franchise, and if Terrifier 2 is a success, there could even be more movies featuring Art the Clown on the way.
Filming for Terrifier 2 began in October 2019; as of this writing, the project has been marked as in post-production. However, both independent productions and bigger studio films have been subject to social distancing guidelines and ever-changing industry standards and policies regarding public safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 1, 2020, Damien Leone updated fans on Facebook regarding Terrifier 2. According to Leone's update, he and his team have been using quarantine to finish principal photography. Terrifier 2 was originally slated for an October 2020 release date; while this is still possible, there's a chance the movie could be pushed to early 2021.
As with previous installments, Damien Leone is returning to direct Terrifier 2. Leone also wrote the script for the sequel, and the movie is being produced by Dark Age Cinema and Fuzz on the Lens Productions. David Howard Thorton, who played Art the Clown in the feature-length Terrifier, is returning to reprise his role as the killer clown. Alongside Thornton, Terrifier 2 stars Lauren LaVera (Iron Fist) as the female lead, Elliott Fullam, Casey Hartnett, Kailey Hyman, Tamara Glynn (Halloween 5), Jason Lively, Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), and Samantha Scaffidi as Victoria Heyes, the final girl from Terrifier.
The official synopsis for Terrifier 2 is as follows:
After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County where he must hunt down and destroy a teenage girl and her younger brother on Halloween night. As the body count rises, the siblings fight to stay alive while uncovering the true nature of Art's evil intent.
While this leads into further confirming that Art the Clown is, in fact, supernatural in some capacity, it also points to Terrifier 2 being another bloody, Halloween-themed horror movie and continuing the tradition of the wildly popular slasher sub-genre.
Next: Terrifier: How Art The Clown Updated Killer Clown Movies
