Movie Review: Terrifier 2 (2022)

[Dave Gray]

Terrifier 2 (2022)

Premise: A serial killer clown stalks a town.

Rating: Too much of a good thing.

It will pretty much never happen that I will purposefully watch a sequel to a movie I've never seen, but here we are.  I heard that Terrifier 2 was specifically gory and since the premises of these types of movies don't really matter, I just jumped right in.  You'll be happy to know that it was no issue -- this clown is gonna kill people in the town.  The characters reference the first movie, in terms of a clown having already gone on a spree, but there's really no connection to any previous plot.

In terms of scares, this movie isn't scary, in my opinion, but it's also not trying to be.  The clown himself is a great character.  He is funny and silly.  He acts like a clown, miming and waving at people in a non-menacing way when they know he's going to kill them.  His personality is more Freddy Krueger than Michael Myers in his tone, but he never speaks like many classic slashers.  There are several jump scares, but when they happen, you're usually not very tense, so they are likelier to produce giggles than terror.

The standout of the film is its gore.  The movie is incredibly bloody and gross, with practical effects of skin tearing and cutting and getting ripped off.  To me, that stuff doesn't play as horrifying and it's more humorous than anything.  I laughed at the gross-out moments.  It's among the goriest things I've ever seen.  It wants to be gory and gross and visually arresting and it certainly is.

The film's imagery is also notable.  The clown himself is a great design and he has an imaginary companion that looks freaky AF. 

In terms of acting and plot, the film is very B-grade.  The script seems to not really know what it is.  Many ideas are introduced that either don't fit the movie's tone, don't matter, or don't get resolved.  The general story is not supernatural-seeming, but there is this subplot about a magic sword that's kind of out of left field.  There are backstories about the deaths of other characters that don't come into play.  There are several "Chekov's guns" that don't fire.  The script doesn't really matter in a movie like this, but even for that low bar, it's not tight and there's a lot that doesn't make sense from a writing perspective.

But the biggest negative of all is how God damned long this movie is.  Slashers are pretty much an hour and a half, full stop.  A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Happy Death Day, Bodies Bodies Bodies, The Cabin in the Woods -- these are all 1:30 films.  It's the standard.  I don't think that you can keep your hackles up for much longer than that, as an audience.  Your ability to be scared and grossed out wanes after a while.  Terrifier 2 is a whopping 2 hours and 18 minutes.  It's...no kidding....40 minutes too long.  And considering the plot is so dumb, it's wild that it's not just excised to get to where it needs to be.

So....mixed bag.  Horror fans should watch it for its place in the gore and for having an iconic character up with the greats.  But as a movie narrative, it's pretty rough going.

[EDGECRUSHER]

I've met the cast a few times at horror conventions and the director said that the movie was so long because "the film was entirely funded by the fans, so they deserve to see everything we shot". While I appreciate the sentiment, it could lose at least 30 minutes to it.

A lot of the stuff that came out of nowhere or didn't seem to get resolved is because he is planning a third one that will address that. Since this movie made about 50 times it's budget, I think it will get a legitimate theater release and make some decent money.

The "best kill" in this film is obvious. It's gory as hell but so over the top you have to laugh, especially when he comes out with the salt.

[Dave Gray]

It's really hard to rate a movie like this.  It's not...."good" by traditional standards, but it's still kinda fun and I enjoyed myself for 2/3rds of it.  I just wish there was a whole lot less of it.

And while I understand the director's statements, that's what directors' cuts are for.  The movie you release has to be judged on its own merits, not your intentions.

[EDGECRUSHER]

It's really hard to rate a movie like this.  It's not...."good" by traditional standards, but it's still kinda fun and I enjoyed myself for 2/3rds of it.  I just wish there was a whole lot less of it.

And while I understand the director's statements, that's what directors' cuts are for.  The movie you release has to be judged on its own merits, not your intentions.

Yeah, the movie is best described as an experience.

The movie was a gigantic success that almost no one predicted, so I think that's why he basically released the Director's Cut into theaters. They may have not been a huge demand for a Theatrical Release Blu Ray as well as a Director's Cut one. Happy to say, everyone was wrong. I'll always support low budget or original horror movies so that we don't only get remakes and horeshit Blumhouse jumpscare nonsense.

[Dave Gray]

I thought the main character is as noteworthy as the all-time greats: Freddy, Jason, Ghostface, Michael Myers, etc.

Based on that alone, you can have a franchise.  He looks and acts in an iconic way.