How Terrifier's Art The Clown Affects Actor David Howard Thornton Between Films
Modern slasher antihero Art the Clown first appeared in director Damien Leone's 2008 horror short "The 9th Circle," where he was played by Mike Gianelli. In that short, he was just a background monster, but his myth would soon expand. Briefly, Art the Clown is a mute, seemingly immortal demonic harlequin who appears out of the ether on Halloween to torture and murder to his heart's content. Once the day is over, he vanishes. Gianelli reprised the role of Art in the original 2011 short film "Terrifier" and the 2013 feature "All Hallows Eve." In the feature-length version of "Terrifier" from 2016 and its recent 2022 follow-up, "Terrifier 2," Art was played by actor David Howard Thornton. Even if you haven't seen the "Terrifier" movies, it's likely that you still know Art's face and penchant for maiming. His face begins appearing in the popular gestalt every Halloween.
Notable about Art is how creatively he slays his victims. He is, after all, a clown, and must add an element of novelty and whimsy to his murders. One of his victims' heads was reduced to pulp by a hammer. Another had a bottleneck shoved into his eye socket. One man lost his manhood thanks to Art, and a young woman has her ribcage spread open so that Art can eat her heart. Art kills kids, too! Please don't ask what he did with the hacksaw.
Thornton, meanwhile, has viewed playing Art the Clown as a dark opportunity for his own bleak creativity. In a 2022 video interview with Dread Central, Thornton admitted that when he gets angry in public, he begins brainstorming new "Terrifier" kills. Don't worry, though. He's a gentleman in real life.
It's just a role
As any actor who plays a monster realizes, one doesn't have to like them to play them. A good actor merely has to understand their reasoning, their motivation, or their madness. Thornton understands that Art the Clown is merely a part to be played, and had no problems compartmentalizing the "Terrifier" films' violent subject matter away from his real life. It's fake blood, pantomimed pain, and all done for a little bit of gruesome fun. As such, the actor was pretty pragmatic, saying:
"As soon as I understand the character I can become the character, so it really doesn't do anything to me mentally, except it's made me a little bit more creative in life. When people upset me and stuff like that I'm like, 'I wonder how I could turn this into a kill.'"
As the movie "Scream" once pointed out, movies don't create killers, but movies can make killers creative. Indeed, Thornton revealed that he and his director would call each other in between movies to pitch really horrendous murders to one another. In talking, both the actor and director hoped to gross out/inspire the other, and perhaps write said kill into an upcoming flick. Thornton said:
"[W]e message each other back and forth too when we think of something funny, or like a crazy kill or something like that. We're like, 'Hey, how about this for something maybe in a possible film,' and you know, who knows what becomes of it?"
Sadly, it seems, Thornton's ideas are mostly shot down.
Arthouse cinema
Thornton was asked which of the kills in "Terrifier" and "Terrifier 2" were his ideas, and he admitted that it was still mostly Leone's show by a substantial margin. The actor may be thinking about creative gore a lot, but he has yet to overwhelm the director with anything that might be gruesome enough to be filmed. Thornton admitted that he eventually offers input on his directors' ideas more than he inspires new ideas. In his words:
"Um, like, kill-wise I can't really remember because there's just been so much back and forth between the two of us. But I would say it's primarily his ideas. I might have, like, a little, 'Hey, why don't we tweak this here or there,' but, you know, I would say 90 percent of the kill ideas are his ideas. Even 95 percent."
"Terrifier 2" only made about $12 million at the box office, but that is a massive amount compared to the film's $250,000 budget. "Terrifier 2" also got a lot of press for its extreme gore, and there were some reports of audience members vomiting or fainting in the theater. For a horror movie, that is one of the finest compliments. Naturally, Art has now become a favorite of horror fans, and Leone is currently working on a "Terrifier 3." If all goes according to plan, the gore will be even more over-the-top and the violence even more brutal.
Needless to say, audiences will love it.