Disapointment

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Blistering performances.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Without giving anything away, all I can say is "Terrifier" is undeniably the most brutal, bloodthirsty, deprived, horrific grind house cinema of all time. Take it from an experienced horror fan. I'm talking Evil Dead, Dario Argento, Exorcist to even the secret life of Geoffrey Dharma and Henry: Portrait of a Serial kill which both are damn right insanely horror fan ecstasy.

"Terrifier" is an American 20-minute short film from four years ago. the writer and director is Damien Leone and he really seems to love to depict clown horror films. Not only has he made slightly famous 2013 film "All Hallows' Eve", but this film here, "Terrifier", will also come out as a full feature movie pretty soon. The cast, however, will not have a lot to do with the one here. This one here is a pretty bloody short film and certainly not for the easily offender. Mutilation is depicted very graphically from start to finish as we see a woman witness a murder and being hunted by an evil clown killer for the entire film. It's a good watch as a whole, especially at the beginning, but it gets a bit repetitive at some point I felt and maybe this film would have been better at 15 minutes max. Still, not a bad film and I recommend it to horror film lovers.

The extremely well executed structure of this short was just like that of any nightmare: Relentless, hopeless and inescapable, and you somehow know that it's only ever ending one way. Clowns really don't creep me out personally, but I can see how they could be frightening to some. I find the type used in this, a Pagliacci-like character, to be far more eerie than the typical rainbow hair and red nosed kind. I've always found that while they can be scary, those kinds of clowns also usually come with a certain campness and silliness-although in my opinion that underrated classic of atmospheric terror Clownhouse is the exception. This was the scariest jester I've ever seen in anything since that movie. Ah, but this vile gibbous fiend didn't have nothing to do with twisted cuddly or theatrics. This *thing*, just plain radiates wrong, bad, pure evil-run!!! He proves once again that clowns are way more unnerving when they are totally mute. And I didn't find him scary because he was a clown, it was because he was so inhuman in his ruthless viciousness, and it didn't even need saying that his designs on the girl were the darkest imaginable. This was the last freaking clown that you ever wanted to get caught by! ::: The fast pace and all-alone-on-the-road-at-night setting reminded me a lot of the best story of Creepshow 2. I love the pretty seldom used "spooky open road" brand of horror. And the pale-faced monstrous villain also brought to mind the character "Moonface" from the-let's face it, best episode of "Masters of Horror". ::: The manner in which she is marked for death is such a classic! She's in the wrong place at the wrong time, she wanders off by herself, to somewhere she is not supposed to be, and sees something she is probably not meant to see. She looks at him, her eyes filled with fear, he leers back, and then the fun begins... There's absolutely no hope of any eventual miracle conquering of the dark figure. This poor gal is completely f****d. This monster is doing her in, and it's only a matter of time. Flight useless, inexorable the pursuit! And you can feel that, too. The entire show has a strong sense of encroaching doom to it. He seems to have only one desire, to butcher her horribly, or ruin her as a human being... Her complete destruction at the end is all the more horrendous because it's such a violation and so dehumanising. She's his canvas, his block of living marble with which to practise his ghastly art. He transforms her into an obscene, helpless wretched thing. It's gotta be one of the ultimate nightmares... And all those nasty words he carves into her flesh feel like some kind of bizarre insult to women everywhere. I thought that strange little unexpected extra detail somehow added enormously to the shock value of the moment. I know the searing final frame might indeed suggest it, but I think the ending would have been that much more effective if, after seeing her mutilation, she would have started giggling and screaming all at once, as if her mind has snapped after all the horror-and then he should have begun merrily hopping up and down clapping his hands, like he's overjoyed that she's finally getting into the spirit of his demented game! ::: I probably didn't give this an even higher rating because its brutality is pretty damn sickening and unpleasant at times. But I don't really find torture and violence as awful when it's being dished out by a demon clown, as opposed to a human monster? Which we must never forget are truly the worst kind of all... Great short. Scary, surreal. intense and uncompromising. There should really be more like it. See ya.

My friend Daniel Rodas let me watch this film recently (He played the 'Man in Car'). And I was very impressed. The film had me engaged from beginning to end, which is not easy to do in a span of only 18 minutes.The acting was strong, the make up was gruesomely realistic, the deaths were highly creative, and the 'Clown' was very creepy. The story is very simple and traditional. A young woman's car runs out of gas, on Halloween night. She stops by a deserted gas station. Witnesses a brutal murder and then what follows is a horrific night of survival as the Killer (dressed in a hideous Clown costume) hunts her down to finish her off. Slaughtering anyone and everyone who gets in his way. The attention to detail for classic B Exploitation was wonderful and quite refreshing. Everything from the grainy camera quality to the credit font to the closing shot. You see Damien Leone's passion for horror in this film quite intensely. This film is far better than 70 percent of those stupid 'Safe' horror movies Hollywood is spitting out these days. Nice to see that Exploitation is still very much alive. I recommend this short film to anyone who LOVES horror. And if you love Exploitation horror... then this film is DEFINITELY for you. Bravo.