Terrifier 2

A sequel to Terrifier (2016), it is the second film centered solely around Art the Clown and third feature-length film to feature the character. It is the fourth installment and sixth overall installment in the Terrifier franchise.

It includes the return of David Howard Thornton and Samantha Scaffidi, who portrayed Art the Clown and Victoria Heyes, respectively, in the first film, and stars Lauren LaVera, Elliott Fullam, Sarah Voigt, Kailey Hyman and Casey Hartnett.

The plot follows Art’s resurrection and pursuit of teenage Sienna Shaw (LaVera) and her younger brother Jonathan (Fullam) on Halloween night—a year after the events of the first film.

The film originated from a feature film concept Leone began developing shortly after filming his directorial debut short film The 9th Circle (2009). The concept of the planned film focused heavily on an angel-dressed heroine and ultimately fell apart.

Following its predecessor’s release, Leone wanted to bring the heroine back—she would evolve into Sienna, someone Leone describes as the “heart and soul” of Terrifier 2.

Leone spent three months writing a character-driven screenplay following criticism of the first film’s perceived lack of narrative.

Funding was exacting as the script was more ambitious than the first film and required a bigger budget. Leone secured finances from private investors prior to filming, and he launched an Indiegogo campaign with a $50,000 goal to produce a practical effects-driven scene.

The campaign was a massive success, reaching over 430% of the initial goal with a donation total of $250,000. It is one of the numerous films impacted by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic with principal photography coming to a halt mid-2020 due to the pandemic lockdowns.

It had its world premiere at the FrightFest on August 29, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 6, 2022, becoming a hit at the box office, grossing $15 million.

It received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for LaVera and Thornton’s performances, though the film’s runtime received some criticism. Many critics considered the film to be an improvement over its predecessor. A sequel, Terrifier 3, will be released in 2024.

Art the Clown brutally murders the coroner investigating his body and goes to the laundromat to clean his blood-soaked garments, where he encounters the Little Pale Girl—a mysterious entity in similar clown attire.

A lone patron sees Art interacting with the girl, who is invisible to him, before being killed by him.

A year later, teenager Sienna Shaw is preparing her Halloween costume: an angel warrior made by her father, who recently died of a brain tumor.

Her younger brother Jonathan has become fixated with Art since discovering sketches of him in their father’s sketchbook. That night, Sienna has a nightmare of Art and awakens to a fire on her dresser; a sword that was a gift from her father remains unscathed.

On Halloween, Jonathan sees Art and the Little Pale Girl at school playing with a dead opossum. Sienna has a panic attack when her friends Allie and Brooke discuss Victoria Heyes’s mutilation of talk show host Monica Brown. Sienna and Allie go to the costume shop, where they encounter Art.

Art kills the shop vendor and breaks into Allie’s home, where he brutally maims her. Allie’s mother is killed when she discovers her daughter’s still alive body.

Jonathan shows Sienna and their mother, Barbara, his father’s sketchbook, filled with newspaper clippings revealing that the Little Pale Girl bears resemblance to Art’s first victim Emily Crane, the daughter of a circus performer.

He believes their father knew how to stop Art. After Barbara hits Jonathan, he runs away. Art kills Barbara, kidnaps Jonathan, and steals Sienna’s sword.

At a Halloween party, Brooke spikes Sienna’s drink with MDMA in an attempt to calm her, but she has a panic attack.

Brooke and her boyfriend, Jeff, drive her home, but the Little Pale Girl lures Sienna to the Terrifier haunted attraction at the now-defunct carnival where Art killed her years before. Art kills Jeff and Brooke.

Sienna is knocked unconscious by Art. She awakens to find him using a scalpel on her brother and begins attacking him with his own weapons. Though Art is killed several times by the siblings, he continuously manages to resurrect.

He kills Sienna with her father’s sword and throws her into a water torture cell. As he attempts to eat Jonathan, she is mysteriously resurrected by the sword. She decapitates Art; The Little Pale Girl takes his head and leaves without hurting Sienna and Jonathan.

In a mid-credits scene, an institutionalized Victoria writes “Vicky + Art” and obscenities on the wall with her blood. She gives birth to Art’s living head, leaving a horrified nurse screaming.