By I first met Art the Clown in October 2022. Overjoyed that movies were finally showing a pulse in the wake of the pandemic, I was up for just about anything. Rumblings were starting to emerge about early access screenings of TERRIFIER 2, a two-and-a-half-hour sequel to an indie slasher movie that I had somehow never heard of. Art, who at first glance had the energy of a day player from a Rob Zombie set, was calling my name from the moment I laid eyes on his mischievous, blood-soaked grin. Letterboxd insisted that his first outing was bad beyond David Howard Thornton’s now iconic performance, but I found myself captivated and morbidly charmed by it upon throwing it on mere hours before 2. I immediately clocked why director Damien Leone’s extreme sensibility was not for everyone. Art’s antics were brutal regardless of gender, but he saved his dirtiest tricks for his female victims. In that film’s centerpiece kill, he saws a woman in half starting from her vagina, an act that was genuinely shocking enough to make my jaded body squirm.
I tend to cut horror filmmakers a lot of slack when it comes to their motivations for pushing boundaries. The genre is, in my and many others’ view, by far the most subversive and political in the entire medium. The ability to portray and realize such vicious acts towards others suggests a degree of empathy. An understanding of causation. In my generous view, Art the Clown is a manifestation of the twisted sense of joy abusers feel when terrorizing their victims. A glee that cannot be justified or understood, only overcome. This framing only became more ingrained by Leone’s vastly superior second installment, the first screening of which will always be one of the greatest moviegoing experiences of my life. Nobody knew how to process the amount of carnage Art inflicted on his dozens of victims, but most notably Lauren LaVera’s Sienna Shaw.
Sienna, stunningly realized by LaVera in both TERRIFIER 2 and 3, is one of the most resilient final girls in the history of the genre. Spoiler: Throughout these films, Art butchers her mother, best friend, aunt, uncle, and brother. Sometimes in front of her eyes. She’s viscerally haunted by this ever-growing trauma, made all the worse by the fact that Art seems to be linked to the loss of her father at a young age (for reasons unknown, soon to be revealed in TERRIFIER 4). Nevertheless, she never stops resisting, Even when Art mortally wounds her, she will always stand up, pick up her sword, and hack away at Art until he one day finally gives her peace. This is a portrayal of a victim that could only be crafted by someone with a deep understanding and empathy for the lived experiences that spawn such terrors… or so I thought.
In the midst of the fascistic presidential administration we find ourselves enduring, LaVera and David Howard Thornton have revealed themselves to be strong voices for the communities who are suffering, with LaVera being queer herself. Frankly, this is expected of horror icons; the queer community has and will always be inextricably linked to the genre. This week, Thornton posted on his Facebook that those who insult the LGBTQ community can “fuck all the way off” and that he “does not cater to those who would mistreat [his] colleagues in such a manner.” Given that the franchise’s extreme violence has also attracted a fervently right-wing crowd, this post caused quite a stir amongst those who are outraged by the idea that anyone who is in a movie would dare to express an opinion about anything. The fury made its way to Damien Leone, who posted the following to his Facebook:
In essence, he’s admitted here that all of the theming I’ve written about here was unintentional. The musings of a fan. The part of this statement that stings me the most is that I share the label of “fan” with these imagined Republican TERRIFIER addicts who somehow tow the line into being decent human beings. Using the typical Trump supporter construct, a 20s-30s sexist white bigot as our base example, the inner monologue while consuming TERRIFIER seems pretty cut and dry: I like watching women get torn to pieces. I like to watch them scream while it’s happening. I like the funny faces the clown makes while he does it. I wish I could be so free. This type of extreme gore jaunt will always attract simple minds, luring them into a fandom circle with the very people they despise so deeply. There were plenty of people who simply watched SAW, the previous clown-fronted torture franchise du jour, to see which ghastly traps the Jigsaw killer would put his victims in next. The difference? SAW is nakedly and unapologetically political. The installments reckon with the failings of a post-9/11 America and how they draw impoverished and desperate people to commit crimes that they are not forgiven for. SAW 6 even took it far enough to make a healthcare company executive Jigsaw’s primary target. Regardless, the Damien Leones of the world will view it all as pure entertainment.
Regardless of if Leone sees it this way or not, true horror fandom reflects the mindset of Sienna: resistance. The most notable recent example is the reaction to Spyglass Studios’ firing of Melissa Barrera from the upcoming SCREAM 7 due to her early and outspoken pleas for a freed Palestine in 2023. Barrera did not contest her ostracization, instead standing firm in her conviction that the conversation around human rights was the only meaningful issue. In doing so, she established herself as a voice for the voiceless, becoming iconic within the fandom who began to lionize her as the non-negotiable face of the series. There has been a massive push not only for the boycott of SCREAM 7, but for other horror films from Spyglass including the recent HEART EYES and the soon-to-come THANKSGIVING 2, the latter directed by the staunchly Zionist Eli Roth (who recently took a chance to defend Elon Musk’s brazen Nazi salute as a ploy to cry about “virtue signaling”). Over Super Bowl weekend, HEART EYES grossed a meager $8.5 million, not completely out of line with early year horror releases. The controversy-free COMPANION opened the previous week with a slightly higher $9.5 million. However, in a world where the decidedly less mainstream original horror flick LONGLEGS can crack $22 million, it is clear that HEART EYES could’ve used all the support it could get. Maybe if it had opened on Valentine’s Day it could’ve been different, but that weekend has been reserved for fellow BDS boycottee, CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. The bar for SCREAM 7 is much higher, as the previous film with the reboot cast hit $44,000,000 opening weekend. It may not sink to HEART EYES numbers, but a 50% drop is doable.
Assuming that Thornton and LaVera can stomach working with Leone one last time to deliver the finale to the TERRIFIER series, will a similar boycott take shape? Hard to say—but I doubt it. The horror community knows who truly has their back, and in this case the people who are actually on screen have proven that they are here to stay. We’ll saddle up for one last round of gore and gimmicks, and hopefully Sienna will finally find peace. However, I won’t be defending the once-promising Leone from his all-too-valid critics any longer. As it turns out, he is in it for blood, guts, cheap tricks, and agony alone. Even if I still find enjoyment, that is still a hack’s mentality. Once the circus closes for good, the only statement more meaningless than his sentiments will be “from the director of TERRIFIER.”
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