Greetings, and welcome back to October Horror Fest! These two days (Day 20 and Day 21), are actually some of my favorites from the ENTIRE challenge, because we have back to back specials! And WOW, today was a good one. I decided to dive back into one of the most popular horror franchises of the last decade, and a sequel to the absolute GOREFEST that we covered last year. This franchise returns in stunning fashion with a higher budget, more character, and of course, more blood. Without further ado, sit back, relax, turn off the lights, grab some Candy and Popcorn, and let’s review…
Terrifier 2
Our terrifying tale begins immediately after the ending of the first movie, as Art the Clown is resurrected by some supernatural force that apparently just wants to see blood (Art is VERY immortal and supernatural and it is very hard to pinpoint his exact powers or origin). Art HORRIFICALLY murders the coroner that was examining his body (by horrific I mean ripping his eyeballs out and ripping open his skull but hey that’s terrified for you), and heads out into the night, his trash bag full of tools for murder still intact. Our Clown heads to the laundromat, hilariously actually paying to wash his blood soaked suit. While sitting there, though, he encounters the Little Pale Girl (also a really weird entity, sometimes she’s real sometimes she isn’t I think?), who looks just like him in similar attire. The two play pattycake, as a bystander at the laundromat looks at Art playing with nothing (she PROBABLY isn’t real). Art then picks up his newly cleaned costume, as we see that the bystander has been impaled through the head (of course).
It’s one year later, and we meet Sienna Shaw (our soon to be final girl AND main character of the Terrifier Franchise, and she is AWESOME). 80s synth music plays (this happens a lot with Sienna), as we see her preparing a Halloween costume based off of a design that her father (who recently passed away) drew for her when she was a child. It is a Valkyrie, as we focus on Sienna’s Valkyrie sword, which was apparently a gift from her father. Let’s meet the family, shall we? Sienna’s younger brother is a boy named Jonathan, who is apparently fixated on Art’s murders the previous year, even secretly having possession over his late father’s textbook, which apparently has drawings of Art in it (very interesting…) The family’s mother is named Barbara, who is a VERY uptight woman but I think she means well most of the time (she’s mostly very irritated throughout the whole film). That night, we see Sienna slowly falling asleep on her bed watching T.V., as she falls asleep to a commercial that has a group of people singing about the “clown cafe”. (once again, GREAT). Sienna’s eyes close, as she wakes up in the actual clown cafe, as she is dressed like a little girl. Everyone around her is cheering and hollering, as a girl sings a song about the clown cafe. We actually see a MURAL of Art and a bunch of children drawn on the wall, as Sienna starts to hyperventilate. Eventually, the singer introduces a special guest, AND ITS ART! He drives around on a unicycle, eventually giving Sienna a “present” which just so happens to be a STILL BEATING human heart, which the entire box eventually fills up with an inky black liquid.
Art then reaches into his bag, AND PULLS OUT A DRUM GUN, shooting every single person at the clown cafe. Blood goes FLYING, as Sienna gets shot in the leg and tries to crawl away. The scene is nightmarish, as Sienna crawls to a box of “Art Crispies”. Sienna reaches into the box, and pulls out her hand which is newly covered in maggots. She reels in disgust, but she reaches in once more, struggling as Art approaches with a mini-flamethrower (which he already used to burn the singer). Sienna eventually pulls out HER SWORD from the box, and uses it to deflect Art’s flames!!! She wakes up the second this happens, and sees that flames are SHOOTING out of a candle that was on her dresser that was very much unlit, as her wings burn. Sienna runs downstairs, and gets BERATED by her mother, but when she returns upstairs, the sword is still there, completely unscathed under a pile of ash.
The next day at school, Jonathan discovers the corpse of an opossum outside, and wanders the halls a few hours later, still VERY nervous. Eventually, he finds Art AND the little pale girl (he can see her!) playing with the corpse of the opossum. It’s disgusting. Art then notices Jonathan, and THROWS the corpse at him, staining his shirt in blood. The principal then walks by as Jonathan books it, and she sees the corpse on the floor (Art ran by this point), and blames Jonathan. Over at Sienna’s school, Sienna’s friends Allie and Brooke talk about how Victoria Hayes (from the first movie!) brutally mutilated Monica Brown, the host that was in charge of her interview (also from the first movie). However, in a very rare moment for the calm Sienna, she has a full on panic attack, obviously still being affected by her encounter with the nightmare world the previous night. After this, Sienna and Allie head to a costume shop in town, where Sienna buys a new pair of wings. However, a certain clown walks in. Art stares at Sienna, following her around and doing typical clown things in the most threatening way possible. In a scene which REALLY had my heart beating, Sienna is eventually able to pay for her wings and accessories and book it out of the store. Art walks towards the door, but changes the sign from OPEN to CLOSED. Art then turns around, and BRUTALLY kills the vendor at the store, decapitating him and exposing his brain. Art then PUTS CANDY IN HIS HEAD and poses as a statue in the store, which kids outside find insanely cool.
Later in the day, Art arrives at Allie’s house, asking for candy. Allie refuses to give him any, saying he is too old, before slamming the door in his face. However, he keeps knocking, and knocking, and KNOCKING, and she eventually throws candy at Art after he promises he will go away if she gives him some treats. While throwing the candy, however, Allie sees into his trash bag and notices his blood covered tools. Back with Sienna, she sits with Jonathan as he begs for her to believe that it wasn’t him who was with the opossum, but Art. He then reveals that he has his father’s sketchbook, which Sienna had NO idea about, and was very upset about it. However, he goes into the sketchbook, and finds several news articles that their father collected, ALL on murders that Art has committed over the years. He even reveals an article on a little girl named Emily Crane, who has a STRIKING resemblance to the little pale girl, and who is also Art’s first victim. Jonathan fully believes that their father knew how to defeat Art, and it all revolves around Sienna. Jonathan believes that Sienna was given the sword for a reason. He begs for Sienna not to go to the party tonight, feeling something bad may happen. But, Sienna promises that nothing will happen, and vows to go. Downstairs, she even says to her mother that she believes her brother is telling the truth.
BUT, before we can get into Sienna’s awesome adventures, we have to go over one scene in particular. (sigh). With me not saying as many details as possible, Art breaks into Allie’s house in the night, as Sienna suits up and gets ready to go to the Halloween party. Art (sigh again), Art BRUTALLY maims Allie, doing some of the most horrific things I have ever seen on screen, and once again, this is a Terrifier movie, so I have to be ready for it at this point. Art is able to keep the horrifically destroyed body of Allie alive long enough for Allie’s mother to arrive, and she walks upstairs and sees what has happened to her daughter. Allie uses the rest of her strength to call out to her mother, as the silent clown mimes laughing at her mother’s screams. So, that was that!
Sienna heads to the Halloween Party with Brooke, fully decked out in her costume. At the party, after Sienna promised that she doesn’t drink to her mother earlier in the film, she DRINKS. Back with Jonathan, he and his mother get back into a fight once again, after he tries to show his mother the sketchbook, and his mom keeps saying his father was sick. After Jonothan curses at her, Barbara SLAPS him. He, of course, runs out of the house, running until he can’t anymore. Barbara goes downstairs, sobbing while drinking wine and popping pills, when she finds that her entire car has been graffitied. She calls Sienna to tell her what she THOUGHT her brother did, and Sienna tells her mom that she loves her. Her mom is stressed about her being drunk, but after the heartwarming moment, she hangs up. However, those will be the final words she will say to her daughter. She cleans up the car window, only to find ART in the car, holding a gun to the class. HE SHOOTS, and Barbara’s bloody body falls to the floor. After Jonathan runs into the little pale girl in a van (she has glowing orange eyes and I think this will be important later), he runs back to his house and finds Art there with his mother’s body at the table. Her face is DESTROYED, and Art violently pushes mashed potatoes inside of her skull while Jonathan watches. He then obviously tries to make a break for it, ALMOST being able to grab Sienna’s sword, before Art sedates him with a syringe. Art then stares at the sword, like he somehow knows it (or finds it fascinating), and steals it. YEAH. Let’s see what Sienna is up to!
Sienna is getting DOWN at the party, acting erratic and really feeling it up. However, this is NOT the normal Sienna, and Brooke reveals why. Brooke SPIKED HER DRINK, splitting a drug between the two girls. Sienna, however, is too out of it to be mad, and goes back to partying. This continues UNTIL Sienna spots the little pale girl in the crowd, teleporting around the room. Sienna FREAKS OUT, and falls to the floor in a worse panic attack than the one at school. Brooke has the AUDACITY to be mad at Sienna as Brooke’s boyfriend Jeff drives the girls home. However, in the car, Sienna receives a call from her brother. He says that he needs help, and Sienna promises to come get him at the ABANDONED AMUSEMENT PARK (GREAT), where he says he is. Brooke becomes increasingly agitated, but Jeff changes course to the park. We then cut to Art, as we see him driving down the street with the Little Pale Girl being the real person talking to Sienna, being able to mimic Jonathan’s voice. Jonathan is in the back, still knocked out. The trio eventually make it to the amusement park, and Sienna goes off alone to find her brother while Brooke and Jeff stay in the car.
Of course, though, this is Terrifier. Art appears, BRUTALLY maiming Jeff in one of the worst kills I think I have ever seen. He then breaks the window open, and RIPS Brooke out of the car. Her leg is injured, but the brave girl tries to make a break for it. Brooke is able to make her way into tunnels connecting the attractions, and eventually ends up in what SEEMS to be Art’s torture room. GREAT! Sadly, Brooke is BRUTALLY murdered in the room by Art, with him literally ripping her still beating heart out and eating it. Yup. Sienna hears the cries of her friend, and rushes to the room only to find her dead. Jonathan is told to run by Sienna as she tries to fight, but Art PUMMELS our girl, eventually knocking her out cold. Sienna eventually wakes up to see Jonathan being sliced and diced by a scalpel. Sienna SPRINGS into action, using Art’s own weapons like his whip (which has a knife at the end) against him. (Yes, Sienna takes some BRUTAL damage here). However, after a solid five minutes of fighting with blood flying on both sides, our duo find out the horrifying truth we already knew. You CANNOT beat Art the Clown. Sienna falls down into a lower level, as Art jumps down after her, and STABS HER with her own sword, launching her into a portal to hell that he was able to create.
FINALE TIME! (I know the hell thing was 0 to 100 real quick but I promise all will be revealed). In “hell”, Sienna is BACK at the clown cafe, trapped in a Houdini-like water box. She begins to scream and pound on the glass of the water filled box, as the dead of the cafe all laugh at her. Eventually, however, Sienna goes still, and the wound from the sword on her stomach begins to glow. We flash to the sword in the real world, and it ALSO begins to glow a bright red. Back in the real world, Art is BITING Jonathan’s calves, as SIENNA APPEARS, BROUGHT BACK FROM THE DEAD!!! Sienna slices and stabs at Art, and finally, DECAPITATES HIM. The little pale girl appears, takes Art’s head, and leaves, as her eyes glow orange. Sienna and Jonathan hug in the dusty amusement park ride (ironically named THE TERRIFIER), as we see a beautiful shot of the two siblings. Sienna, like an angel with her wings, comforting her brother, as we cut to black…
WE STILL HAVE MORE! It’s time for the mid-credits scene, where we get a shot of the institutionalized Victoria. WITH HER OWN BLOOD, she writes curses on the wall, even writing “Vicky + Art” in a heart on the wall. She then, sigh, she then gives birth to ART’S HEAD (ALIVE HEAD BTW), as her eyes glow a bright orange.
THERE WE HAVE IT! Guys, when we did Terrifier last year, I honestly wasn’t expecting for any movie to one up its “terrifying” nature. But, the sequel did just that, and was SO amazing. I really really loved this movie (we COULD tone it down on the gore a little), and I’m so happy I got to share it with you all! But, everyone, look around at the falling leaves and the spooky atmosphere. We are TEN DAYS AWAY from the grand finale of October Horror Fest, and I have EVERY SINGLE DAY planned out. Get ready, readers, because I’m sending it out with a bang. I hope you enjoyed it! And, as always, stay away from the Terrifier…
