INTERVIEW: Director of ‘Terrifier 2’ on being influenced by Romero, Carpenter, Craven, Savini
Photo: Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2 stars Lauren LaVera and David Howard Thornton. Photo courtesy of Cinedigm / Provided by KWPR with permission.
As expected, the latest Halloween installment — called Halloween Ends and purportedly the last one starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode — was the #1 movie of the box office this past weekend, but the talk around the genre water-cooler seems centered on another horror flick in the top 10. This one is called Terrifier 2, written and directed by Damien Leone. The gore-fest, which is apparently leaving some audience members sick in the aisles, has had two strong weekend showings in the month of October, and, much like the pursuit of the villainous clown in the film, there seems to be no stopping the little-slasher-that-could this Halloween season.
Leone, who places his name before the title, as in Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2, is a director heavily influenced by the maestros of the horror genre, namely George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead), John Carpenter (Halloween) and Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street). Each of these directors, Leone included, earns the top billing with singular visions and unforgettable villains.
Terrifier 2 follows the continued mayhem caused by Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). This time the maniac clown has his work cut out for him because there’s a new heroine in the neighborhood: Sienna (Laura LeVera), who teams up with her brother (Elliott Fullam) to take on villainous Art, who is definitively supernatural in this sequel.
Reviews, from audiences and critics, have been stellar, especially for a horror sequel. Fans seem to love the new character of Sienna, a role that Leone describes as a “final girl” in the same spirit as Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street or Laurie in Halloween. They also appreciate the relatively long running time of two-and-a-half hours, and the talk of the town is Leone’s knack for showcasing the gore. Note to readers: Terrifier 2 is truly terrifying; leave the children at home.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox talked with Leone via Zoom about his new movie, which has been years in the making. Since the interview, Terrifier 2 has found success at the box office, and it looks like the clown-fest will be around through the end of the month. Here’s what he had to say …
On his excitement for people to see the sequel …
It’s important to have a protagonist you can get behind this time, and follow their journey as well, whereas the first one was sort of just a showcase for Art as a villain.
On how long the sequel has been in the works (spoiler alert for Terrifer 1) …
At the end of Terrifier 1, I knew I wanted to bring Art back. Even that cliffhanger scene where he’s resurrected in the morgue, that wasn’t originally in the movie, but I knew I was going to bring him back. I didn’t want the audience lost in the dark and wondering, is there going to be more, so I specifically put that in there. Then maybe for the next year or so the ideas were floating around in my head, and then once it was time to put pen to paper, I think I knocked out the script in about four months. And then we hopped into pre-production and shooting, but the shoot itself took a long time. I told my cast and crew it was going to take around three-and-a-half months, and it literally took almost three years from start to finish.
On the pivotal role of Sienna …
Sienna in this movie, who is our female protagonist, our heroine, she’s my favorite character that I ever wrote, and to me this is more her movie than it is Art the Clown’s movie, even though he’s in it quite a bit. But that was so important. It was important to do a more traditional narrative, more classic narrative structure where you do follow the final girl and you follow your heroes.
On embracing the supernatural element of Art the Clown …
Now we’ve really embraced the supernatural element in Terrifier 2. It wasn’t something I wanted to gloss over. It’s something that happens in every horror / slasher franchise: Eventually the killer becomes supernatural, but they don’t really explore it. We’re just supposed to accept it that that’s the rule of the Bogeyman; eventually they come back. But I wanted to really jump in and explore that and see what kind of evil presence is driving Art the Clown now. He’s being guided toward this young girl named Sienna and her younger brother. They live in the same town where the murders took place the year prior, and they’re not sure why, but all these supernatural happenings begin working their way into their reality, especially Sienna. You start learning that her character plays a really pivotal role, and she’s sort of a counterpart to Art the Clown. So exploring that was the most fun I had with this script.
On whether he always planned for Art the Clown to be supernatural …
I created this character a long time ago in a short film back around 2005, and I didn’t really explore whether or not he was supernatural or not. But then when I made my next short film with him, he sort of was supernatural. He was able to morph into different places and transport, things like that. It was very Nightmare-ish, but then when I made Terrifier the feature I wanted him very grounded in reality throughout the entire course of the film until the end when he does come back. And that was sort of shocking to the audience, but like I said, I knew that eventually in these movies — if you’re going to have these really cool conflicts and these battles between your hero and your villain — eventually the hero is going to deliver a death blow to your villain. So I said, let’s just get that over with, and then let’s jump into the supernatural and really explore that. I guess at some level I always knew he was going to be supernatural.
On his early horror influences and placing his name in the title [Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2] …
I grew up loving all those guys: I mean George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, John Carpenter’s Halloween, Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street. Those are my heroes, my idols, so I would love to follow in their footsteps. Not saying I’m anywhere even close to where they are, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Since I have been dealing with this character for almost 20 years and this whole mythology, I do feel an ownership. Plus, I don’t just direct it. I write it, I do the special makeup effects, I do the editing, the sound design, there’s so many other things I do, so it would be nice to get my name out there.
On the excessive gore factor …
It started with my love for special makeup effects and graphic horror gore because the person who inspired me the most was Tom Savini, who was the splatter king. He was known for really graphic gore and starting that whole splatter craze in the early ‘80s, so when I discovered his VHS tape called Scream Greats when I was a little kid, and it showed you the behind the scenes, and it was the first time I saw a makeup effects artist and what they do, a light bulb went off. I was already an artist, but I was only sketching and making little comic books, but when I saw that I really got into sculpting and camera trickery with blood gags and things like that.
I was really fascinated, but when it came time to make Terrifier 1, listen, it was a $35,000 indie slasher film. I said, why is anybody going to watch this over a R-rated horror film made by Hollywood? What are we going to show the audience that they would never see in a movie theater? And I knew that I could do all these special effects now, and I could save a lot of money because I don’t pay myself to do them. So I said, we’ll just make the most insane, gory kill scenes that I’m capable of pulling off. …
So now we’ve sort of started a trend with these movies that we have to deliver the gore. Their expectations are so high, and also I love going back to George Romero and Tom Savini. Dawn of the Dead is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I love how generous that movie is in all of its excess, with its gore, with its length, the running time. And that’s where I was going with Terrifier 2, especially with the gore. Traditional slashers you just see the knife comes up, and it goes down, and the kill scene is done. It’s sort of one blow, but Art’s m.o. has become this relentlessness when it comes to the kill scenes. It’s a nice buildup, but then you deliver the goods. And you get this insane gore. Some people really love it. I know it’s off-putting to some people, but it is what it is.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Damien Leone’s Terrifer 2, written and directed by Damien Leone, is now playing in movie theaters. Click here for more information and tickets.
