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Terrifier 2

by special request of @plasmabeam

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/2/4/AAR-tQAAD1Mk.jpg

(5 / 8 / 9.5 = 22.5)

Gore, sadism, and pain are among the most delicate of art forms. They have a certain viscosity, and sometimes its necessary to temper their wickedness with moments of genuine pathos. Here, in Terrifier 2, we have a film that manages to achieve this, a B-movie horror special that channels its early 80s slasher movie roots, New French Extremity influence, surprisingly psychological stylings, and the modern day superhero into a surprisingly delicate, dynamic watch focused on family and surviving post-trauma.

Terrifier 2's barbaric slayings feel simultaneously old hat yet shockingly fresh. It's familiar territory to those familiar with exploitation films, or those have who have waded the trenches of films like Martyrs, Frontier(s), or The Human Centipede, but it's an execution that feels fresher than any of those films. Terrifier 2 builds character through the conflict between Sienna and Art, and doesn't just use violence to cover up cheap characters and a weaker plot. Instead, it grapples with the emotional impact of violence and how it inflicts scars and trauma that linger, even when you've technically survived. What's most impressive to me, is Damien Leone focuses on the little things here - the way the characters feel, their hobbies, their personal relationships, and the nuances that make us feel each individual character has their own voice, even the ones that get offed rather quickly. Terrifier 2 might have some of the best character work I've ever seen in a slasher film actually.

Certainly the mainstay horror staples like Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street tackled similar rivalries in similar capacities, but coupled with Terrifier 2's approach to constantly overbearing blood and guts, its approach to character leads it to have the same timelessness it otherwise wouldn't. The film makes the original seem banal and mundane in its character work by comparison (which is because it kind of was.) Thus, I see Terrifier 2 as that rare sequel to take what people loved and were repulsed by, amping that up, but also making sure the other areas of the film are more fine tuned as well. Sienna is one of my new favorite horror film protagonists. She has just that right mixture of girl-next-door charm, trauma survivor resilience, and deep-seated passion that make her try her best to be a great sister, great daughter, and a good human being. It's genuinely sad to see her go such pain over the course of the film, and Lauren LaVera gives the character a sense of believability that makes her instincts understandable. Sienna is so endearing as a character, and she is put through the emotional ringer and definitely does not leave the same person she was the beginning unscathed.

This film definitely had my heart racing - there's a scene in a girl's bedroom that just keeps going on and on and just when you've think she's seen the last of the torture it just carries on. It's visceral, but also quite breathtaking in its lack of restraint. I gladly welcome films that make me feel sick to my stomach, because they expand my world and my mind, make me stand at attention, make me realize how blessed I am to be at a comfortable, safe distance. Art the Clown is omnipresent here, and lights up every scene with just the best black comedy, and Damien Leone knows exactly how to weave humor with horror perfectly synergizing with Thornton's absolutely immaculate performance as Art. The scene with Art trying on the different sunglasses or giving trick 'r treaters candy out of a severed head is the kind of comedic relief that will both make you howl with laughter and crank up the disgust-o-meter.

What I have a bit more fixed feelings on is the more fantasy, superhero elements. I'm just a bit taken aback by just how weird this movie gets, and I feel very little of it is explained or justified in any meaningful way. I'm all for gelling these disparate genres together especially because I'm a sucker for horror history and seeing superheroes blend with horror in recent times is a fun trend that makes total sense, but turning Sienna into Wonder Woman randomly by suddenly giving her powers doesn't seem all that necessary for the film as a whole - sure it's a bit telegraphed but it doesn't need to be here I feel. It's completely superfluous and I feel like it might tank the rewatch value a little bit. I didn't hate it per se, but it felt disconnected, disjointed and honestly pretty corny in an otherwise wholly entertaining film.

Still, Terrifier 2 is an absolute masterpiece of extreme filmmaking. It is one of the most impressive horror sequels in history and a new favorite. Its characters, its setting, its god damn score (wait I didn't mention the score yet, fuck the score is a definite stand-out to me), its gore, its perfectly built tension, its dark comedic elements, its inventive meditation on family trauma, its all truly the best I've seen in a slasher film in quite some time. My only qualms are with the fantasy stuff but to be honest, the film is such a trip it's hardly even worth criticizing. Terrifier 1 had already made me an Art the Clown fan, but Terrifier 2 pushes him into the upper echelon of horror antagonists, and as whole the film is a feature-length blood bath that justifies its runtime as one of the most memorable slasher nightmares you'll ever sit through.