ArkaEvren

FILM · 2016 · USA

Terrifier

25 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026

25 Interesting Facts About Terrifier

Interesting Facts (20)

  1. #001

    David Howard Thornton, who plays Art the Clown, has prior mime experience and uses it in his performance.

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  2. #002

    The ambulance that passes Dawn while she listens to the radio in the car was unplanned. It was a real ambulance driving by.

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  3. #003

    Director Damien Leone created Art The Clown because he felt the 2010s lacked an iconic horror clown. He deliberately made Art as different as possible from IT's Pennywise. For example, Art has no hair, dresses in black and white, uses weapons and does not speak.

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  4. #004

    While the full body mold for Dawn's hacksaw scene was being made, actress Catherine Corcoran was trapped in the mold for more than an hour. It was because she had removed too much release agent, and it nearly sent her to the emergency room.

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  5. #005

    The underground tunnels used in the film were part of the abandoned Seaview Hospital. These tunnels were used to transport the dead out of sight of the other patients, where they were to be cremated.

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  6. #006

    Director and special effects creator Damien Leone read books about medieval torture methods for inspiration while searching for original horror scenes that had not been done before. This ultimately led to the death scene in which Dawn is literally split in two.

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  7. #007

    David Howard Thornton describes Art as an "Evil Mr. Bean." He also drew inspiration from other silent and physical performers such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Lon Chaney, Doug Jones and Jim Carrey.

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  8. #008

    Jenna Kanell (Tara) insisted on staying tied up between takes so that she could feel psychologically as if she were bound during the shoot.

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  9. #009

    Mike Giannelli, the original Art The Clown in The 9. Circle (2008), Terrifier (2011) and All Hallows' Eve (2013), decided not to reprise the role because of how long it took to apply the heavy prosthetics and makeup. He was replaced by David Howard Thornton. Director Damien Leone said of the change: "Mike can be a man dressed like a clown, whereas David *is a clown*. [.] He's a walking cartoon, a real-life Roger Rabbit, and you would never believe he's Art the Clown, but he knows how to turn that dial and take him to a dark place."

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  10. #010

    While filming the hacksaw death scene, Catherine Corcoran had no rig to perform her stunts, so she was actually strapped into BDSM equipment and hung upside down. For safety, to reduce the risk of brain trauma, she was held upside down for only 42 seconds at a time. The scene took all night to shoot, and she stood at below zero degrees Celsius while nearly naked. By the end of the night she could no longer endure being hung upside down and rested on the table for the final shots, which were all filmed in close-up so that the table would not be visible.

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  11. #011

    Art The Clown's latex face mold was the same one Mike Giannelli had used in All Hallows' Eve (2013), in order to keep the character's appearance consistent across the films. The mold had to be modified to fit David Howard Thornton's face.

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  12. #012

    At the start of the film, there is a sign in Monica's dressing room that reads "The End Is Only A New Beginning." This foreshadows the ending; it reveals that this opening scene actually takes place after all the other events told in the film, and that the unnamed deformed girl being interviewed is Victoria, the final girl.

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  13. #013

    Art the Clown's flail is made from his victims' hair and sharp metal tools.

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  14. #014

    In All Hallows' Eve (2013), it was made clear that Art the Clown is not merely a human in a clown costume but is supernatural. In this film, it is not clear until the end that Art has a supernatural nature.

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  15. #015

    The Craven Halloween Store advertised on the radio is named after horror director Wes Craven.

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  16. #016

    In the tunnel scene where The Cat Lady (Pooya Mohseni) holds Art The Clown's doll Emily, David Howard Thornton found Mohseni's performance so emotionally affecting that it made him cry.

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  17. #017

    In an interview conducted in April 2023, when asked whether any criticism of this film had surprised him, director Damien Leone said: "I'm constantly accused of being a misogynist. Of course, today that's inevitable. What really shocked me was being called transphobic based on the scene where [Art] skins a woman and wears her. It makes me laugh because I couldn't be further from that, having been raised by all women and everything. I find it very funny. I think I'm very comfortable [dealing with sexual violence] because I was raised by all women and I don't think about these things while doing it, I don't think I'm offending anyone, I'm not trying to offend anyone, so there's nothing I'm afraid to show."

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  18. #018

    The pizza parlor scene was shot at Andy's Deer Hills Pizzeria in Deer Park, New York, which closed its doors in October 2017.

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  19. #019

    The scene in the pizza restaurant was originally meant to take place in a burger restaurant, but Damien Leone changed this when he realized that both Jenna Kanell and Catherine Corcoran are vegetarian.

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  20. #020

    Will the Exterminator is played by Michael Leavy, who is also the Staten Island Clown. Apparently this character started the viral creepy clown craze in 2014, two years before the Great Clown Panic of 2016, the year this film was released.

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Production Story (1)

  1. #021

    The jack-o-lantern shown in the pizza parlor is CGI. Director Damien Leone said he wanted the scene to have more of a Halloween feel to it, so he added it in post production.

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Behind the Scenes (2)

  1. #022

    David Howard Thornton improvised a moment in which Art The Clown, after driving a railroad spike into Victoria's foot, flips it around. It made the crew laugh so much that director Damien Leone decided to keep it in the film. It happened in raw footage that was technically not part of the film, so actress Samantha Scaffidi (Victoria) had to be digitally removed from the shot.

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  2. #023

    During a break in filming, David Howard Thornton spotted two women arguing in the street. He decided to wave at them in full Art the Clown makeup and costume in order to scare them.

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Characters & Cast (1)

  1. #024

    David Howard Thornton was the sixth person to audition for Art The Clown after Mike Giannelli retired from the role to focus entirely on acting. During his audition he began miming tasting the blood of a decapitated victim, then added salt to improve the flavor. That was what won him the role.

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Easter Eggs & References (1)

  1. #025

    There are many references to the crimes and behavior exhibited by Ed Gein, from seeing a woman hung upside down by her middle to wearing another woman's body/breasts as a skin suit.

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Related pages

  • Terrifier 2 — Terrifier comes up in the facts on that page

Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

  • IMDb IMDb title page (trivia)

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