Terrifier 2 Was Supposed To Take Three Months To Film, But It Took Three Years [Exclusive]

Like it or not, the newest latest slasher icon Art the Clown is back in "Terrifier 2" for even more sadistic shenanigans. If you aren't still suffering from an overdose of graphic violence after director Damien Leone's original film, this over-the-top sequel should definitely fulfill your gore quota for the entire month of October. "Terrifier 2" is gorier and much, much longer than its predecessor. The much-anticipated horror film also took a lot longer to shoot. Filming originally began way back in 2019 and was only supposed to last three months. 

It took three years. 

Catching up with Leone this year at Fantastic Fest, /Film's Ryan Scott spoke with the director and master special effects artist about the struggle to get his follow-up made. "There are some really big, intricate sets," explained Leone. 

"We built them all ourselves. It was me, my two producers, and we would call friends who were welders who would come in and just help us. But there was no crew, especially with the makeup effects. There are so many effects." 

Leone only has two hands to work with, and the burden of the FX work was seemingly insurmountable. It certainly didn't help matters when the Covid pandemic hit and delayed shooting into 2020 and beyond. 

Back when "Terrifer" was just a short film that was later added to Leone's homemade horror anthology "All Hallow's Eve," the young director did all the practical effects work himself. The elaborate kill scenes in the sequel proved to be much more than he could take on alone. 

"I was going to hire another makeup company to come in and take 40% of the burden off my shoulders because it was just so overwhelming. Then maybe a month and a half or so before we started shooting, they bailed out because we couldn't come to an agreement with the budget that they wanted because we just didn't have it."

Leone and his small crew of effects and makeup artists were forced to finish all of the insanely graphic kill scenes on their own. Leone explained: 

"Once you see the movie and you see just how many kills are in this movie, and it's not just a knife going up in the air, coming down, and that's your kill scene. These kill scenes go on and on and on. They're set pieces."  

The character Art the Clown played by David Howard Horton has become infamous largely because of the unimaginable pain he inflicts. See the damage he does and the truly next level effects work when "Terrifier 2" hits theaters on October 6, 2022.