Terrifier 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Terrifier 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 31, 2022

Note: Cinedigm is spreading around the retailer exclusives with this release. There is a 4K UHD release available at Best Buy, a 1080 release available at Amazon, and a 1080 SteelBook release available at Walmart.

A certain film kind of ironically being released on Blu-ray (1080 and 4K UHD) the very same week as this film is also coming out in both formats proclaims that Halloween Ends, which may come as a surprise to two young 'uns in this film, which obviously wants to take some elements of the vaunted "Michael Myers" franchise, throw in a soupçon of It, along with some of the horrifying gore and mayhem that have been (dismembered?) part and parcel of any number of films (the Saw series comes to mind) and proceed to let the "festivities" continue unabated. There's a great meme that says "there are two kinds of people: avoid them both", but if you subscribe to that general maxim while particularizing it to differentiate between those who like splatter filled horror films and those who don't, you most definitely need to be in the former category to "enjoy" Terrifier 2, though speaking of It, the cover of this release touts a short quote from one Stephen King which may not exactly be a "rave" so to speak, but which quite accurately states that the film goes about "grossin' you out old school".

Writer, director and special make up effects artist Damien Leone is obviously out to craft a "new, improved" horror franchise, and this series began more or less with All Hallows' Eve in 2013, which was then followed by the first "official" Terrifier in 2016. I admittedly have not seen either of these films, which may put me at somewhat of a loss in terms of context, though the story in Terrifier 2 is not exactly hard to follow and simply relies on the good, old fashioned trope of a grotesque monster attacking and killing various innocent people. Evidently the first film was afforded some critical umbrage for not providing much of a narrative, and while there is a story here, it's frankly more of a skeleton (no pun intended) upon which Leone has hung all sorts of violence and over the top depictions of various characters getting dispatched by Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton).

Art the Clown is in fact kind of like Michael Myers in a couple of salient ways, including his penchant for "acting out" on Halloween, but also his seeming ability to defy physics and remain alive despite evidently having died in some previous installment. In that regard, it's kind of funny to read about the first Terrifier, which evidently played with its timeline and some ambiguity as to whether or not Art was or was not deceased. Something a bit similar is at hand here, and the commentary by Leone makes a few things clear, or at least clearer, for those who may have not seen the previous film. Art the Clown is definitely akin to being alive and kicking (and/or slashing), and after some preliminary gore involving a mortician and hapless guy at a laundromat, the film moves on to its focal "victims", siblings Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and Jonathan Shaw (Elliott Fullam).

One salient difference between the Halloween movies and Terrifier 2 is that the Halloween series at least attempted to provide some background and motivation for Michael's murderous spree(s), whereas here Art the Clown is in a way definitely more like Pennywise, a kind of supernatural force that doesn't need motivation and is simply a killing machine. This film also introduces an undeniably supernatural aspect in the form of a demonic character known as the Little Pale Girl (Amelie McLain), who seems to have something to do with Art the Clown's miraculous (?) resurrection at the beginning of the film and who is a spectral entity whom only Art can see. The fact that these two characters are mute gives the film an interesting edge that is kind of like watching a "bad trip" version of someone like Marcel Marceau.

Terrifier 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Terrifier 2 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The extended candid footage shows both Arri and Red cameras, and the IMDb further discloses a Blackmagic model as well, though I haven't been able to track down authoritative information on the resolution of the DI (as always with my reviews, anyone with verifiable information is encouraged to private message me and I can update things here). Despite being digitally captured, even a brief perusal of the screenshots in both this review and the 4K UHD should pretty easily reveal that this has been fairly aggressively tweaked in post, giving the presentation a somewhat desaturated and gritty look that is at least subliminally reminiscent of 16mm. The palette is often skewed toward blue, and so a lot of the film looks rather cool. Perhaps surprisingly this is not a horror film with huge pops of color and even bloody scenes of mayhem tend to be somewhat reserved in terms of the saturation of colors, if not the horrifying results of the carnage. Fine detail understandably fares best in brightly lit scenes, which are frankly not very frequent. This is an interestingly, highly stylized presentation that may not offer razor sharp imagery and huge levels of fine detail (especially in the darkest moments), but which I assume is an accurate recreation of the look Leone was going for.

Terrifier 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Terrifier 2 offers a nicely robust DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that tends to have some of its most noticeable surround activity in the area of sound effects, where everything from effluent (I'm attempting to use euphemisms for a family site) to the sound of blood and guts splattering all over can provide some horrifyingly goofy moments. A number of quasi-chase scenes also offer some good directionality, and a few bursts of LFE are obviously meant to provoke startle responses. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Terrifier 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes of Terrifier 2 (HD; 9:13) offers a snippet from a Bloody Disgusting podcast after a screening of the film, and features Damien Leone and David Howard Thornton.


• Extended Boo Crew Interview (HD; 35:13) is actually more of a behind the scenes piece than the Behind the Scenes featurette above, with this one offering a glut of candid footage.


• Director's Commentary was evidently recorded the night before Leone left for the film's premiere at Frightfest.


• Trailer (HD; 1:59)


• Fan ART (HD)

Terrifier 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Judging by the successful crowdfunding that Leone has undertaken for his films, there obviously is a large and appreciative audience for this kind of fare. Terrifier 2 has a memorable if unavoidably derivative feeling boogie man, but Leone's self confessed attempts to give this sequel more narrative momentum may not have actually panned out as he had planned and may have in fact done little more than add some padded feeling running time to this opus. There are any number of questions even fans of this still nascent series may have, but of course that's what subsequent sequels are for, even if they will probably generate even more questions (for the next batch of sequels). Technical merits are generally solid, though this film's highly stylized presentation may not be everyone's idea of what "high definition" supposedly "should" look like. Supplements are also enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.