Art the Clown is alive and well in Terrifier 2 and, if things go according to plan, Terrifier 3.
In a recent interview, actor David Howard Thornton (Art the Clown) revealed that there are currently plans to franchise Terrifier. He detailed the blueprint of a trilogy and a possibility of further installments.
“Terrifier, the first one, establishes Art,” Thornton told The Barnshow Podcast. “Now that we’ve established what Art is about, basically, we can start fleshing out the world around him and how he affects the world around him, and how that affects him as well. So that’s what we’re going to explore more in the second one.”
In February, director Damien Leone shared a picture of a first draft script for Terrifier 2 on his Instagram account. Thornton confirmed that the script is now complete.
“The script is already finished, [we’re] just looking for backers,” Thornton said. “Still waiting for people like Blumhouse to come calling.”
Thornton says that despite the current lack of financing, the Terrifier sequel is tentatively set to begin principal photography in September. He stated that he could not give too much away regarding the film’s plot but did offer a few details on Art the Clown’s character arc.
“We’ll delve in a little bit into who he is, like his background, but not too much yet,” Thornton stated. “We want that to be a slow build-up.”
According to Thornton, the scope of the sequel will be considerably larger than the first film. The team has a lot of fresh material and plans to focus on “much bigger ideas this time.”
“We definitely want to bring in a true protagonist to go against him into this one,” Thornton said, definitively stating that there will be a central hero character in the sequel. He alluded to the fact that the protagonist would possibly come back for the third film in the trilogy.
“We definitely wrote this with a third film in mind,” Thornton offered. He added that Leone is already working on the script for the third installment.
Thornton says that the plan is for a trilogy, but they are open to more sequels in the future; as long as the series ends prior to the “Art X” type installment and avoids the pitfalls of an “Art in Space.”
While it did not get a lot of publicity initially, Terrifier has garnered a cult following since its release in 2016. Droves of fans cosplay as the, now iconic, Art the Clown at conventions across the country. More and more tattoos of Art the Clown are showing up on die-hard fans who anxiously await the coming sequel.
Great news for horror fans. Bad news for coulrophobes.
Terrifier is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play, and Netflix.
