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‘Terrifier 2’ – 11 Things We Learned from the Blu-ray Commentary Track

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Terrifier 2 commentary

While the first Terrifier quickly gained a cult following, the chief criticism lobbed at it was the perceived lack of plot. Terrifier writer-director Damien Leone seems to have taken that to heart, as Terrifier 2 packs a lot of story – including several intentionally ambiguous plotlines to be resolved in a future installment – into a whopping 138 minutes.

Despite playing it coy in interviews, those too impatient to wait for the eventual Terrifier 3 will be pleased to know that Leone answers many of fans’ most burning questions in the audio commentary (recorded the day before the film’s US premiere) that accompanies Terrifier 2 on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD – the release is NOW AVAILABLE.

This article contains spoilers for the film, but you also may want to avoid it if you want to go into Terrifier 3 completely blind, as Leone reveals several hints at where the story is going.

Without further ado, here are 11 things I learned from the Terrifier 2 commentary.


1. Lauren LaVera was the first and only choice for Sienna

TERRIFIER 2 blu-ray commentary

Terrifier 2 final girl Sienna Shaw is Leone’s “favorite character that I ever wrote,” based in part by his two older sisters. Since the character’s father is an artist, her name came from Bob Ross’ frequent use of the color burnt sienna.

Lauren LaVera was the first and only choice for the role, as there was never a runner up. Leone notes, “I’ve never had somebody care more for a character that I wrote than Lauren did for Sienna. She was just absolutely in love with this character – we both were – and we worked so hard in fleshing her out and making her a very relatable, interesting hero.”


2. Art’s death is foreshadowed early in the movie

When Sienna confronts her mother about her brother’s fascination with Art the Clown, her mother reminds Sienna that her father caught her cutting the heads off of minnows on a fishing trip when she was younger. “That goes to show that there is a dark side within Sienna,” discloses Leone. “And that’s going to come back when she decapitates Art at the end.”


3. The Clown Safe scene is pivotal to Sienna’s journey

Terrifier 2 commentary track

Between Sienna seeing Art for the first time, Indiegogo backers as extras, gratuitous tommy gun blasts, and fire stunts, The Clown Cafe scene is one of the movie’s biggest – and one Leone’s favorite – set pieces. More than a mere dream sequence that some people have dismissed it as, it’s pivotal to Sienna’s journey.

Leone describes it as “a divine test that manifests itself within Sienna’s subconscious” conducted by the forces of good that want to anoint Sienna to combat Art. “If she’s not courageous at the end and doesn’t decide to fight back against Art, then she will not be the one.” Sienna’s decision to stick her hand into the ominous cereal box to fend off Art solidifies her as the chosen one.

Leone also points out the subtext of showing people in line with luggage accompanied by a pilot and a stewardess. “That’s all a reflection of Sienna’s wings and her going on a metaphysical journey; some transcendence.”


4. Art the Clown Provides the Art Crispies voice-over

Art the Clown may be silent, but the man behind the face paint, David Howard Thornton, is also a voice actor and impressionist. He provides the voice-over for the Art Crispies cereal commercial during the Clown Cafe sequence.

“Since I always take his voice away, I said, ‘Hey, you want to do this little voiceover for the cereal?'” Leone recalls. Thornton previously made a similar vocal cameo in a radio broadcast in the first Terrifier.


5. Sienna’s sword isn’t supernatural until she uses it to fight back

TERRIFIER 2

The Clown Cafe scene culminates with Sienna reaching into a cereal box and pulling out the sword her father gifted to her, which she proceeds to use to fight back against Art and his makeshift flamethrower.

Much has been speculated about the sword, and Damien clarifies that it isn’t supernatural in and of itself; it only gains its power when Sienna uses it to defend herself. “When she decides to fight and the fire hits the sword, that is the moment where the sword officially becomes baptized. It breaks into reality, and the sword is literally on fire.”

The scolding that ensues from Sienna’s mother is inspired by an actual argument between Leone and his own mother. When he was younger, the budding filmmaker inadvertently awakened his mother by melting sulfur-based clay on the stove for a special effect, filling the house with foul smoke.


6. The Little Pale Girl’s look was inspired by Art the Clown cosplayers

The Little Pale Girl – who Leone refers to as “the embodiment of evil that has resurrected Art the Clown” – was initially envisioned as a “little girl from the ’60s in a yellow sundress with flowers on it and maybe a flower behind her ear.” That changed on Halloween 2017 – the year before filming started – when Leone was tagged by various fans in homemade Art costumes on Instagram.

Noting how many females dressed as Art, he was inspired to radically change the design of the Little Pale Girl. Not wanting her to wear the exact same outfit as Art, he created a mirror image (“where he’s black, she’s white”). Leone also points out that the character’s teeth are switched – the upper teeth are on the bottom and vice versa – to add to the unease.


7. Sienna’s father was a vessel for both good and evil

There has been some debate among fans as to whether Art the Clown is Sienna’s father. While he maintains a bit of mystique regarding the character, Leone seems to confirm that he is not Art. The filmmaker offers additional insight into the father:

“The father was sort of a vessel for that supernatural good that needs to get to Sienna, and he was the one who started getting the visions; not understanding why necessarily or what’s happening, but he knew he had to get the sword for Sienna. He knew that she was meant for something important. And because of that, he was also channeling the bad force that was coming in; the evil entity that was gonna be the counterpart to that good.”

He continues, “It was all starting to come through, and that’s why he was becoming abusive. And all of this going on inside of him manifested itself into a physical tumor that eventually made him go crazy and kill himself. He was the vessel. It was channeling through him, and he was supplying Sienna with what she needed to go forward on her journey. It was an essential sacrifice on his part, which is another classic, Biblical, mythic theme.”


8. The costume shop scene is Leone’s homage to his favorite scene in Terrifier

Filmed on location at Abracadabra in New York City, the costume shop scene was immediately embraced by fans after a brief clip of Art wearing gaudy sunglasses was featured in the trailer. Leone looks at the scene as the sequel’s version of Terrifier‘s pizza shop sequence, which is his favorite scene in the first film.

“I love when Art is able to interact with people in public. That’s one of the cool things about Art that separates him from the other slashers, is that he’s not immediately threatening,” he explains. “I love to get as much tension and suspense out of that situation as possible.”


9. The club scene features a call-back to Leone’s first short film

During the club scene, two background actors are dressed as cloaked demons from The 9th Circle, Leone’s first short film from 2008. This was an unplanned call-back, as a pair of Indiegogo backers showed up in the costumes as a surprise to the director.

For those unfamiliar, The 9th Circle marked the first appearance of Art the Clown (then played by Mike Giannelli). It was later reworked to be incorporated into Leone’s 2013 horror anthology, All Hallows’ Eve.


10. Leone hid references to his favorite films throughout the movie

- TERRIFIER 2 | Screambox and Bloody Disgusting

Leone peppered the film with loving homages and references to several of his favorite films, some more overt than others. They include…

  • The Exorcist (the Little Pale Girl secretes goo on the floor similar to Regan urinating on the rug)
  • Halloween (Jeff first approaches Brooke disguised under a ghost sheet with glasses)
  • Maniac (Art blasting Barbara’s head off with a shotgun is a tribute to Tom Savini’s mind-blowing special effects)
  • Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (Art messing around with the sunglasses is based on Pee-Wee in the coffee shop)
  • Class of 1984 (Art smashes Sienna’s face into the bathroom mirror)
  • The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Art mocks his victims similar to the Hitchhiker)
  • Salem’s Lot (the Little Pale Girl’s eyes glow yellow at the end)

11. Malignant forced the mid-credit sequence to be reshot

Victoria’s portion of the mid-credit sequence had to be reshot due to its unforeseen similarities to James Wan’s Malignant. In the original version, “Victoria’s not pregnant. She’s in the room, singing the song, and scratching the back of her head and she notices there’s blood all over her fingers.” The nurses hear her screaming and run to the room to find her writhing on the floor holding her head.

“Leah [Voysey] inspects her head and all of a sudden her fingers get bit off. You don’t know what the hell’s going on, and there’s mayhem, and Chris Jericho tackles her. Victoria reaches up, grabs the back of her scalp, rips her scalp open, and it’s Art the Clown growing on the back of her head like a tumor.”

You can probably see where this is going. “Of course, a couple of months after we shot it, Malignant came out, and we said, ‘Oh, my god. We both did the exact same thing, and we can’t possibly do that.’ So we had to go and reconfigure this.” Production designer Olga Turka suggested Victoria give birth to Art instead, and Leone ran with the idea.

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Editorials

‘Phantasm’ – Why the Horror Classic’s Exploration of Death Still Resonates 45 Years Later

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As Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

The horror genre offers a controlled environment in which viewers can reflect on their own morality, whether it be via catharsis or escapism, but a personal loss can complicate one’s relationship with horror. Even the most hardened of fans may struggle to find comfort in the genre after experiencing the death of a loved one.

45 years ago today, Phantasm helped viewers confront death head-on while subtly exploring the grief that accompanies it. In the film, 13-year-old Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) convinces his older brother-turned-guardian Jody (Bill Thornbury) and their affable neighborhood ice cream man, Reggie (Reggie Bannister), to investigate a mysterious mortician dubbed The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm).

Phantasm was the third feature from writer-director Don Coscarelli (The Beastmaster, Bubba Ho-Tep). The seed was planted upon witnessing the audience react to a small jump scare at a preview screening for his previous effort, the 1976 coming-of-age tale Kenny and Company. Chasing that jolt of adrenaline, he challenged himself to make a movie that delivers scares regularly throughout.

The independent production was shot in 1977 on weekends over the course of nearly a year in and around southern California’s San Fernando Valley. The 23-year-old Coscarelli shrewdly rented the film gear on Fridays and returned it Monday morning, getting three days of work out of a single day’s rental fee. When all was said and done, the film cost an estimated $300,000.

Unable to afford a full crew, Coscarelli also took on director of photography and editing duties. His father, Dac Coscarelli, receives a producer credit for providing a large chunk of the film’s funding. Additional financing was invested by doctors and lawyers, accruing a total estimated budget of $300,000. His mother, Kate Coscarelli, served as production designer, wardrobe stylist, and makeup artist under different pseudonyms, and she later wrote the novelization.

Hot off the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween, AVCO Embassy Pictures purchased Phantasm for distribution. It was released on March 28, 1979 in California and Texas before expanding to other territories and becoming a box office success. It spawned four sequels, with Coscarelli and the core cast on board throughout, along with a cult following that counts Quentin Tarantino, Rob Zombie, Snoop Dogg, and JJ Abrams (who named Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ Captain Phasma in its honor) among its ranks.

PHANTASM Remastered

The film embraces nightmare logic – in part by design, as Coscarelli drew influence from Suspiria; partly the result of extensively editing down an overlong first cut to a tight 89 minutes. The it-was-all-a-dream ending is a rare one that doesn’t undermine the entire movie that preceded it. Not every plot point is spelled out for the viewer, and some dots may not completely connect, but the narrative is conveyed in such an engrossing manner that it hardly matters.

A particularly striking pair of back-to-back sequences occur at the conclusion of the first act. Following a late-night graveyard excursion, the camera pulls out on a shot of a sleeping Mike to reveal his bed in the cemetery with The Tall Man poised over him while ghouls attack from their graves. The next day, Mike witnesses The Tall Man affected by the chill of Reggie’s ice cream truck via a spine-tingling slow-motion zoom.

The special effects also shine, from flying metallic spheres that suck the blood out of victims’ heads to lifelike severed fingers that bleed viscous yellow gore. The visuals are supplemented by progressive music composed by Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave, to whom Coscarelli recommended electronica maestro Vangelis and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Despite its repetition throughout the film, the power of their haunting musical theme is never diluted.

The cast was populated by amateurs, but occasionally hammy performances are far outweighed by naturalistic character moments, best exemplified by the scene in which Jody and Reggie jam on their guitars together. In addition to serving the plot by introducing the tuning fork that plays an integral role in the finale, it allows the viewer to better connect with the characters, thereby making their peril all the more frightening.

It’s character building like this that makes Phantasm‘s exploration of death so effective. The film is ultimately about Mike coming to terms with the passing of Jody, portrayed as the cool older sibling every adolescent wishes they had. Mike confronts his fear by dreaming up a final adventure with his dearly departed brother in which they manage to defeat death itself, represented by The Tall Man. Upon doing so, he’s awakened to the harsh reality that Jody died in a car accident, allowing Mike to reach the final stage of grief: acceptance.

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