Terrifier 2 has made people faint and vomit – but is it really that extreme?
Thttps://www.digitalspy.com/mov...errifier 2 has been making waves in the US with reports of cinemagoers fainting and vomiting due to the movie.
The horror sequel has been a huge word-of-mouth hit, so far grossing more than $5 million from a reported budget of only $250,000. While it's not getting a cinema release in the UK, it has now arrived on these shores for you to watch in your own home – or should that be 'endure'?
If you haven't seen the first movie, the main character at the bloody heart of the Terrifier series is Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), a deranged serial killer who makes Pennywise look like Ronald McDonald. A year after his massacre in the first movie, Art returns to Miles County to go on another gruesome murder spree.
But is Terrifier 2 really that extreme, or are people just overreacting? Since we're dedicated sorts here at Digital Spy, we delved into the horror sequel to find out just how gory it is.
Warning: Graphic descriptions – but no images – follow, so don't read on if you're squeamish.
Look, there's no getting away from it, Terrifier 2 is absolutely soaked in blood, gore and various body parts. For Art, overkill is just the start and pretty much every murder he commits in the sequel is the cinematic equivalent of The Simpsons "he's already dead" meme.
Aside from the impressive practical effects, it's so over-the-top that horror fans can probably take it as obviously fake. There's nothing here that really comes close to, say, the excruciating piano wire scene in Audition.
Don't get us wrong though, it's certainly gruesome. Within the first five minutes, Art smashed a mortician's head in, plucked out one of his eyes and tried to place it in his own head, before ripping his head open. (Art was shot in the face at the end of the first movie, but it didn't kill him.)
If you can handle this, you can handle pretty much the rest of Terrifier 2, including various decapitations, stabbings, the odd bit of cannibalism and, on one occasion, a man being painfully separated from his penis.
The worst, and hardest-to-watch, death comes roughly an hour into the sequel as Art targets a friend of the main character Sienna (Lauren LaVera).
Watch Terrifier 2 on Prime Video
It's both the most graphic and the most protracted kill, as the victim is scalped and flayed, while also having bones broken and salt poured into her wounds. There's no doubt it's the most objectionable and nastiest death in the movie, not least because it carries on the series' trend of saving its worst kills for its female characters.
In the first movie, the most graphic part saw Art cut a woman in half with a hacksaw in excruciating detail as her friend watched on, helpless. We get that it's a horror movie and, for the most part, both movies are equal opportunities offenders, but it's the closest both movies come to feeling needlessly nasty.
Outside of this particular death in the sequel, Terrifier 2 is certainly grim in parts but done with pitch-black humour. Art might be a murderous clown, yet his various mime-esque reactions are often very funny, such as when he's stalking Sienna in a fancy dress shop and trying on various disguises.
It's also not particularly scary, although Art and his imaginary friend (it'll make sense when you see it) can be unsettling. The intensity comes from the gore, rather than any tense set pieces.
If you've got the stomach for it, Terrifier 2 will be more of a treat than a trick for gorehounds this Halloween. You might not faint or vomit, but it's certainly not a case that the horror sequel has been oversold.
How to watch Terrifier 2 in the UK
Want to see what the fuss is about? You can now buy Terrifier 2 in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as digitally on Prime Video, iTunes, Microsoft Store and other digital retailers.
If you haven't seen the first movie, you can also buy a two-movie boxset on Blu-ray, which comes with making-of featurettes for both movies. You can also buy or rent Terrifier on Prime Video, iTunes, Microsoft Store and other digital retailers.
Enjoy them... if you dare.
Terrifier 2 is out now in the UK on DVD, Blu-ray and on digital platforms.
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