Art the Clown

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Art the Clown
Terrifier character
Art (David Howard Thornton) and Tara (Jenna Kanell)
First appearance	"The 9th Circle" 2008
Created by	Damien Leone
Portrayed by	Mike Giannelli David Howard Thornton
In-universe information
Classification	Mass murderer
Primary location	Miles County
Signature weapon	Cat o' nine tails

Art the Clown is a fictional character from the Terrifier franchise and related media. Created by Damien Leone, he first appears in low budget short films before making his feature film debut in the anthology film All Hallows' Eve (2013). In these early appearances, retired actor Mike Giannelli portrays him. In the standalone Terrifier franchise, David Howard Thornton portrays the character—starring in Terrifier (2016) and Terrifier 2 (2022). Thornton's portrayal of the character was well-received, although slight criticism exists towards certain aspects of Art's characterization. Besides film, the character has been adapted into other media and is a part of merchandise.

Appearances[]

Film[]

The character made his debut appearance in the 2008 short film The 9th Circle which follows his pursuit of a young woman named Casey (Kayla Lian) in an empty train station on Halloween night. Merely a supporting character in this film, Art abducts Casey and brings her to a satanic cult to be sacrificed.^[1] Art made his next appearance in the 2011 short film Terrifier, where he stalks and torments a young woman who witnesses one of his previous murders.^[2] The character made his feature-film debut in All Hallows' Eve (2013)^[3] which incorporates the prior two short films as segments on VHS tapes that Sarah (Katie Maguire) watches with the children she's babysitting on Halloween night. Art enters the real world and murders the children for a terrified Sarah to find.^[4]

In Terrifier (2016), on Halloween night, Art fills a garbage bag with a variety of weapons and begins wandering the streets of Miles County. He stumbles across the drunken Tara Heyes (Jenna Kanell) and Dawn (), the latter who provokes him. He slashes Dawn's tires and follows them into a nearby pizzeria and finds himself fixated on the distraught Tara. He murders the two girls and anyone in his path. He later begins a hunt for Tara's older sister Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi). After running her over with a car, he mutilates her face and commits suicide upon police confrontation, leaving her severely mutilated.

In Terrifier 2 (2022), following the mutilation of Victoria and his suicide, Art has become an urban legend in Miles County due to his body disappearing from the morgue. A year later, he is resurrected by a sinister entity and must hunt down the teenager Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) and her younger brother Jonathan (Elliot Fullam) on Halloween night.

Literature[]

Art is set to return in the comic book retelling of the 2016 film.^[5][6][7]

Merchandising[]

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In 2018, Trick or Treat Studios released an officially licensed Art the Clown costume.^[8] The same year, Art was the main part of the design in the officially licensed Terror Threads "Man of the Hour" collection, which included a mug and turntable slipcover.^[9] In 2019, Art and Tara were featured in another Terror Threads collection, "Til Death Do Us Part".^[10] In 2020, it was announced that Trick or Treat Studios would release an action figure of Art.^[11]

Concept and creation[]

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Creating a horror villain[]

Leone wanted to create a clown character based on iconic slasher film villains, but wanted him to be the complete opposite of Pennywise from It (1990), being devoid of color and speech.^[13] Art first appeared in Leone's short film The Ninth Circle (2008). Although he was only a minor character, viewers found him particularly memorable, prompting Leone to make the short film Terrifier (2011), centered on Art. He wanted to create a feature film about the character, but put the idea on hold when producers approached him to feature his short films as segments in the anthology All Hallows' Eve (2013), with Art as the thread connecting all the segments.

Men under the makeup[]

In the short films featuring him, and in All Hallow's Eve, Art was played by Mike Giannelli. When Leone began developing a feature film based on Art, Giannelli decided to retire from acting. When David Howard Thornton submitted an audition tape, he was cast as the murderous villain and is set to portray him in future installments.^[14] Thornton says his performance was inspired by classic physical comedians like Charlie Chaplin and famous horror villains like Robert Englund's Freddy Krueger and Tim Curry's Pennywise, but that his main inspiration came from the various portrayals of the iconic supervillain the Joker.^[15]

Personality and Basis[]

He is a demonic killer clown with mime-like qualities who appears on Halloween nights to wreak havoc. The character appears in many of director Damien Leone's works, originating in the short film The 9th Circle before taking on a more prominent role in feature horror films. Art's behavior is very much like that of a silent clown, in obvious reference to his appearance, and he is never shown speaking or making any other audible noises. Even when badly injured, he mimes screams of pain instead of actually screaming. He always (silently) laughs when his targets are in peril, and is very theatrical when hunting down and killing them, oftentimes performing his kills in an animated, comedic manner.

Unlike other silent slasher villains, Art is very expressive and emotional, using gestures and facial expressions to communicate. It is unclear if Art cannot speak or if he simply chooses not to.^[16] At one point in the film Terrifier, Art uses a victim's phone to pretend to be that person and send a text message to another potential victim.

Reception[]

In a positive review for the magazine Starburst, Sol Harris wrote "Art is a truly enigmatic and memorable villain. He frequently veers into the territory of being genuinely unpleasant to watch, which makes him feel somewhat separate from the stable of horror icons such as Freddy Krueger and Chucky. Special acknowledgement should be given to David Howard Thornton for a truly wonderful performance and one that easily stands toe-to-toe with the likes of Curry and Skarsgård."^[17] In a more middling review, the blog Film School Rejects praised Thornton's portrayal and use of body language but panned Terrifier and deemed the character a misogynist with a deep hatred for women.^[18]

References[]

Further reading[]

• [Interview] David Howard Thornton Teases 'Terrifier 2' and Says Script for 'Terrifier 3' is Already Underway - Bloody Disgusting
• Interview: Director Damien Leone Discusses the Guts Behind Terrifier - Dread Central
• Interview with David Thornton (Art the Clown) - Morbidly Beautiful
• “TERRIFIER”: Meet The Man Inside The Clown