Terrifier 2 is shocking and sadistic, but it's executed at such a playful, cartoonish level that I think it's just asking the audience to let go and have fun. Art the Clown is, to me, the Bugs Bunny of the slasher villains and I'm certain Damien Leone is very aware of that.

I had no idea what "the scene" was going to be but I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out it didn't include SA

These movies are the very definition of Cross the Line Twice. They're so cartoonishly extreme in their depictions of violence and gore that they come off as more darkly hilarious than scary. It helps that David Howard Thornton really sells his role as Art the Clown. He's a genuinely fantastic actor and the main reason I look forward to these movies.

i'm convinced the terrifier series is more of a showcase of practical gore effects than it is a film franchise

Terrifier 2 reminded me a lot of Happy Tree Friends while i was watching it for the first and only time

I liked Terrifier 2 a lot more when I realized it’s not a horror film-it’s demented vaudeville.

"Wow, what do you call it?" "The Aristocrats!" - Damien Leone

I think this movie was massively popular because there's always room for that one gross out experience. It was the human centipede, before it was Saw, and before the grindhouse. While an A24 film is a movie that you want to watch a home, then go discussing online, this is the movie you call your friends to laugh at each other's reaction. There's good pepper then there's "the nuclear hole destructor from hell", there's Mozart and then there's Whiz Khalifa, there's good whisky and there's that gas station special. It's not about quality alone, it's about what the occasion calls for too.

Aren’t you missing that the actor playing Art is the reason for the movies success? He’s tremendous, brings way too much personality than the character is worth even. Leprechaun had like 5 sequels because of Warwick Davis. It didn’t deserve a single one.

I’m like 5 minutes in so I don’t know if you say this May, but I liked the Terrifier movies for basically one reason: It’s the only time an evil clown has actually been good at being a clown. Art is a ton of fun. The rest of the movie is filler, but when art is on screen being a Silly Boy, it’s legitimately entertaining.

Warning us about the runtime of this video is a joke to me given the number of video essays I’ve watched that pass the one hour mark 😂 You’re all good girl, I’m strapped in.

Long have I joked about how much I would enjoy a Mr Bean horror film. The look of manic glee in his eyes as he slit your throat would make for an interesting tone. Watching Art the Clowns face and little jumps for joy he does as he dumps salt and bleach onto a flayed woman pitifully trying to crawl away, I've realised this IS that film...

a new May video is a REAL EVENT

my brother (her uncle not her dad) let our 12 year old niece watch the first one. we learned this when she picked the sequel as the movie she wanted to watch. he's dead now so I can't ask him why the fuck he did that.

How did I watch 30 minutes of this video only to realize that YOU wrote Fluids. That's in my Kindle library as we speak, and I've been saving it for later because I've heard exclusively great things about it.

It’s a shame that In Praise of Shadows torpedoed his own video on conservative horror with ill advised KZfaq beef, because a central part of what he was getting at was really on point. The schism between viewers who will view horror through a social, political lens, and those who are almost uncritically just looking for horror to be “cool”, with “good kills”, and often railing about “woke shit.” I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently, so where you arrived in the later part of this video really resonated. It feels like you’re speaking to an important aspect of this dichotomy.

Weirdly it reads as comedy to me, but that's the dissociation speaking

i fucking love Terrifier 2 showed it to everyone that was up for it, which werent that many

So needed some Nyx Fears. So therapeutic. But, like, I don't get the torture porn and never have. At all. I am totally on board for gore fests as one might find in, say, Dead Alive. Or, From Beyond, which I don't know if I'd call it gory but yes, delightfully f'ed up, which is what we're here for, right? Right?. But I struggle to find the point and entertainment in the unhinged wantonness of the violence in this sort of film. Also, I have raised two children so little girls voiding themselves on the floor really ain't no biggie. Truly, one cannot comprehend the poo-horrors one faces as a parent of a helpless, tiny poo machine. I swear, there's like an inter-dimensional rift in baby bowels that just endlessly generates the most foul feces one can imagine. I am going to stop talking now. I am triggering myself.

"40 MIN NYX FEARS TERRIFIER VIDEO YAYAYAYAYAYYYY"

One could argue that Art in this film serves as a metaphor for Sienna coming to terms with the monster her father was and the tragedy of all of her relationships crumbling (aka people dying) before she can cope with the trauma. Which doesn't make it a good film, to be fair. But as someone who's had a lot of ptsd nightmares, the tone and even pacing of the film work for me subjectively when viewed through that lense.

The music change joke at 7:46 was pure genius. Made me spit out my drink. Huge props to you for thinking of that 😂😂😂

I love these movies. they're so confidently unhinged, pure spectacle. not many other movies do you see a death that's basically 10 kills in one

honestly, its extremely comforting to know that Nyx doesnt like that scene despite being so invested in the more fucked up horror scene. im also super into it and that scene was… too much for me. it made me squirm.

Put it on my "watch later" but then couldn't turn away for the full 40 minutes, honestly, this video felt vital and honest and smart. Just so many damn thoughts I've got, but without writing my own essay or trying to have a two way conversation with a (well edited and produced) video, I think I have only one thought worth bringing up in the comments: This review and exploration, the work to situate Terrifier 2 among it's "peers" and in the broader culture, a sort of mapping of its rough edges, is basically the perfect companion piece and like a photo negative of the film itself. I don't think anyone could really enjoy the movie AS a movie either, but as an event it makes PERFECT SENSE, but the event is so much more than the 2 hours in a theater. It's the gofundme, the online debates, it's the horror conventions, the dress up, it's all of that, and criticisms like this here are also part of the event. I comment too much as is, but like, well, hell, if nothing else, you've convinced me to get off my high horse and finally see it (which you no doubt never intended), and also see Pearl (which the way people talk about it I shouldn't need convincing of). Now the question will be, which surprise am I in store for? Will Terrifier 2 be the movie that finally crosses my gore line, or will Pearl finally convince me that no it's ok to let Ti West keep making movies, he does have at least one good movie in him?

This is mostly unrelated but I recently lost my freak card. I was so excited for Kinds of Kindness and I told anybody who would listen that I was going to see some iconic freak cinema. And it was only 60% freaky. Terrifier2 might redeem me, but I don't think it's worth it.

i watched neon demon in the cinema with my very catholic aunt... glad she walked out before the scene u described rly takes me back though

I immensely appreciate the simplified cartoon of the “scene”. I could’ve used a warmup like that for American Guinea Pig BG&G. 😩 or any other NSFL content…

watching this while high and when you said you were also high it gave me a nice assurance of camaraderie

I saw terrifier 2 in theaters and was given a barf bag. It was a Dutch horror night event by the theater chain kinopolis, which was for some reason a monstervenergydrink crossover event. I'd picked up a copy of the first film in a bargain bin the year before and was excited to see the sequel.

When will Damien Leone read fluids

I watched this movie with friends while we were all stoned at the theater and that bedroom scene sure did something to our psyche

You made me remember a scene in The Blair Witch Project where Josh tells Heather "Now I know why you like looking through this camera,......It's not quite reality!"

As someone who isn't a huge fan of gore (thanks for talking about these things to save my eyes and brains the trauma) I feel like there is, in some weird way a point to the "pointlessness" of the gore. Art has been shown before to be almost immune to any sort of fighting back, and just seems to do horrible awful things for the funny. I think that actually spooks a lot of people just because "Thing is so much more powerful than you, can brutalise you, WILL brutalise you, and there isn't anything you can do" is naturally horrifying. But to actually go the extra mile in the over-the top gore and unnecessary pain really hammers it home, because often in more mainstream or even just more story-driven movies they'll go out of the way to show "why" the killer does it or that they at least have "some standards" which helps the viewer sleep at night. This movie just seems to want to put that fear of pain and helplessness straight into the viewer. No holding back because this isn't that kind of horror movie, you have no control over the situation and that's what makes it terrifying. Anyway love your videos and I hope youuuuu are doing well!

Wonderful video! Thanks for all the hard work you do to bring us quality review content like this, love your channel

Holy crap man. I did not expect this. I think this is the greatest video essay I have ever seen. I can't really even articulate what I want to say right now I was so blown away. I would never have thought I could feel this way about a review of Terrifier 2.

Bad Ben fandom rise up

I honestly don’t know how I feel about Terrifier 2. I don’t know what it says about me, but it failed to shock me at any point. My biggest feeling during “the scene” was primarily…tedium I guess? I wasn’t bored, but it felt more like a chore than something that was viscerally challenging. The violence was so over the top that it crossed the line into parody. It was basically a cartoon. I don’t know, I can’t really articulate why these films just don’t hit right for me. The actor who plays Art gives a fine performance, but the character does nothing for me. The plot doesn’t really matter all that much, for all that I can tell, so when the goofy violence shit doesn’t hit I’m not really left with anything to care about.

Lmao this is awesome. Back in 2020, my best friend and I got in a car accident with Scott (that's him at 6:06) the prop master of this movie through sheer chance. He mentioned to us that the accident was unfortunate because he had to get to a movie set the next day and that it was called Terrifier 2. My best friend was shocked because he saw the first one on Netflix and we half jokingly asked if we could come to the set. Well we did and we got to be PAs and even extras in the film. Our names are in the credits and everything. At the time, we fully expected it to just go straight to streaming, so it was surreal when I eventually got to see myself/ my name on the big screen. Coincidentally, my best friend and I have the shared experience of being traumatized by the original adaptation of IT when we were about 5 y/o. Also we only got into that accident that day because we went to go check out a lighthouse after seeing/loving the movie Lighthouse. So our love of horror movies kinda got us into one. Funny how the world works.

I watched the first one before the second was even announced as in production. I had the reaction I bet a lot of people have, "huh, that was so much more gory than I was expecting, but the clown was kind of fun." Saw the second and thought, "Higher highs and lower lows, still shakes out to entertaining in my book, especially the dream sequences." Then I went back to that anthology movie Art first appears in... and "OH BOY do I understand why he was the break out element of that movie which was dragged down by an out of nowhere alien segment."

I never fully bought the idea that horror is anti-woman (the first horror writers were mostly women). Seeing this I was like oh…Watching this movie I felt like what Andrea Dworkin must have felt watching Friday the 13th

Nyx, you articulate complicated feelings about horror (that I share in) with such clarity. So rad, thanks for what you do!

I have to write a comment before watching this because I know any critical look will shatter everything I know about Terrifier. I literally saw both a few days ago (+ All Hollow's Eve (2013) which was the first feature film with Art) and I immediately said "I wonder what May would say about this.." i honestly thought if these movies were for made for nothing but violence, then unfortunately they were not violet enough.. but also I saw way too many things online, including casually referencing real.. Cartel videos of you-know-what-kind to make horror art, so I'm pretty deep into not being able to be disturbed. I feel the best of both movies were seeing how much fun everyone was having from the makeup department and designs (I love the unapologetic Vallejo/Bell like costume of Sienna from the 2nd movie) to the practical effects and acting. If many movies are masterpieces made out of trash and duct tape, then Terrifier movies are trash made out of the best pieces of handmade craft that someone pieced together by DIY superglue that was made by melting a plastic bottle with an Axe spray and a lighter. I'm still thinking what Terrifier 2 would've felt like if they edited it non-linearly where the carnival part is cut apart and inserted into the movie every 20-ish minutes. I'd love to see that edit.

I showed it to my friends in the bhu. Taking some time out from horror movies for awhile. I luv your music channel btw

😂 despite heavy editing, i just caught myself covering my eyes.

When you said "I didn't like Terrifier 2 as a movie, but I liked Terrifier 2 as an experience," I FELT THAT. I watched it once and have mixed emotions about it, but I want more of this. And I will watch Terrifier 3. And I've engaged with all of the behind the scenes info from Terrifier 2 because the SFX are INCREDIBLE!!!!

I saw this movie on opening night with my boyfriend, who had long been a fan of Art the clown. Even after having seen All Hallows Eve and Terrifier 1, I wasn't expecting it to be quite so...that. I assumed it would be a movie only horror fans would watch, our screening had less than ten people. It wasn't until weeks later, a friend of mine had to inform me it was going crazy on social media, and asked me if it was worth the hype. To this day, I'm not sure I ever want to watch it again, but I'm absolutely still planning a movie night around it. Also, the bonk at 11:46 took me OUT.

i dont keep up with most horror happenings myself so i enjoy seeing you review these things. however it does spark me to wonder just how bad stuff like That Scene is... i personally feel near nothing during other gross out watches except one specific squick i have that doesnt seem like its in this movie... if i ever do get around to watching it, i suppose ill come back here and re-write this with my thoughts. thank you for another great video may!!

*Kisses your ring like da mob boss* Oh it’s been a long time since a movie review made me feel anything… or think… at all. I took nearly 1k words of notes while watching this, and now I’m going to try and gather them together for this comment no one will read or care about, but I will! I will care so much!!!! “Terrifier 2 is a movie that you can watch… if you want to.” My experience with Terrifiers 1 and 2 was simple and uninspired. I knew the reputation they had, I knew they were considered cinematic gauntlets of filth and gore, and as I’ve expanded my film appetite, thoroughly enjoying such titles as Salo and Aftermath, and turning my nose up at Tumbling Doll of Flesh because, frankly, it’s just fucking boring, in my mind, the Terrifiers were the holy grail. Surely, these would be my saving grace, the films to finally make me flinch. I never, ever intended to be a shockhound, but I guess stumbling on a beheading video as so many 15 year olds did way back when, that set me up for something I’m still chasing. Because, much to my disappointment, the Terrifiers weren’t it. I didn’t flinch, at all. I did enjoy them, and after watching all the BTS footage, I can say with certainty they are masterclasses of practical effects, but they are disappointing because they left me out. I wanted to throw up in my proverbial theatre seat. I wanted that so badly! For me, personally, I was left lacking whereas it seems the majority not only got the correct response out of it, but were tested beyond that, too. And I wanna get into the conventions of slashers and gore, here, a bit, to try and examine what that means. In my opinion, the movie does cross the correct line, certainly not the one culture wanted or expected, but the one it needed. Regarding the bedroom scene, specifically, it’s not about the characters, and it’s almost not even about the gore, at least the minutiae of it. It’s about us. This scene exists because everyone wanted it to. Maybe not to these exact specifications, but anyone who saw Terrifier 1 wanted the hacksaw scene put to shame. I think it’s silly for people to lose their minds over the bedroom scene when they specifically went to the theatre on the recommendation of people throwing up, and then when *they* throw up it’s like, let’s shit on the movie because it did the thing I knew it would do, but it did it *to me.* Finally, a slasher managed to viscerally affect the audience, and that’s a grave, grave cinematic sin. You watch slashers (and horror, in general) to appreciate what *isn’t* happening to you, but to someone else. So when you are suddenly made a victim because the movie decided “yeah, I’m going to victimize you, too, bitch, dance for me, monkey” that’s unacceptable. We’re supposed to be able to examine the film, but the film should never be able to examine us, back, but that’s what Terrifier does with these scenes, completely inverting audience/film relations. People want these movies only to hurt those contained in its own story, but Terrifier couldn’t give two shits what you want, because it wants to hurt you, too. And it did! It hurt you so fucking bad, you weenies! You want to see shock and gore? Okay, then, here you go, here’s one of the worst things you could never imagine on your own, and it sucks right? It sucks sooooo fucking bad? Yup! Contend with that, you sick, sick voyeurs. Am I really sad that wasn’t my experience? Yes, I am. Am I really grateful I get to instead enjoy the shockwaves of everyone else’s disdain and vomit? Yes, I am. Am I going to be first in line for Terrifier 3, salivating to see how Damien tops the bedroom scene and hoping, *praying* it metaphorically degloves me? Yes, yes I fucking am.

100 Things about all hallows eve list part 1 - 1 - The film is set in modern britain 2 - It has a sequel, All Hallows' Eve 2 (unironically I remember liking one of the stories in this) 3 - Kelsey Grammar 4 - You learn about the values america has on chrismas eve 4 - the clown dies but another clwon gets a remote and rewinds the film so that clown was never shot, allowing them to continue terrorising the Schober family 6 - kindly miquella would abandon everything. his golden flesh, his blinding strength. even his fate. 7 - the hit game is coming out in 8 years (it's gonna be like dead by daylight but infinitely worse. It will make a billion dollars.) 8 - Art is generated via LLM and the hero of the movie simply turns off the server farm which hosts the AI making him, killing the clown instantly

I loved these movies. They were a silly goose time, made me laugh heaps, and I absolutely love practical effects so it was just a blast. As always, love hearing your perspective. Also my spouse tried to make me get rid of your book Fluids after we read it aloud together when it first came out and we hit your own ‘the scene’ 😂🙌🏽

Pleeeease do audiobook versions of Girl Flesh and Rosaline(hopefully that's the correct spelling). I love the audiobook version of Fluids which I still listen to all the way through all the time. So I would very much love to have audiobook versions of your other books. Love all your content and stuff so keep doing the good things!

great video as always May!! also who woulda guessed, extremely violent movie in which the main attraction is a woman being tortured, what a surprise, how transgressive of the director /s

i was not expecting random shots of kings cross station in a nyx fears video but here we are

I can’t wait for the third but apparently there’s gonna be child death and idk if I can handle that like “the scene” of two was crazy but manageable but child death from this series might just turn me off of horror for awhile

Haha something actually freaked out May, I didn't think it was possible 😂😂

Coming into this video baked asf and with zero expectations I hope the first ten minutes won’t be the most moment of my life

I mean, horrific shlock still is an artform, just one that isn't trying to convey some deeper meaning. In horror, sometimes people just want a gorefest. It's absolutely shock value and knows it. I think to acknowledge that it crossed a line, that you didn't really enjoy it, but appreciate what it is.

my only complaint is that i wish the most sadistic kills werent ONLY saved for female characters bc i know some loser is jorking it to that shit and it makes me really sad

I have such a love hate relationship with both these movies. I remember there were no seats except for the first row and it was past my bedtime and before I understood my ADHD, so somehow, I fell asleep towards the end. I don't know how my brain made such an overstimulating experience somehow under stimulating, maybe it was because I got tired trying to pick which section of the screen to look at because we were right underneath it and it was in one of the biggest theaters.

love sitting thru you desperately trying to explain why i watched Terrifier 2 in theaters when i did in fact watch All Hallow's Eve the anthology film containing the first short film featuring Art the Clown and enjoyed Terrifier

Nyx i always love your music choices.. do you have a spotify or anything i can follow!?

pov: you're sitting outside at a picnic table in the garden/outside area of a pub and an intensely stoned lady is explaining the fucked up gore clown film to you (she's holding a glass in her hand and gesticulating with it but hasn't taken a sip since she sat down)

Totally agree about the lack of shitty horror movies. I'm nostalgic for times when me and my friends would watch the latest horror flick - just because it looked scary and fun, not because the reviews were great.

I saw All Hallow's Eve when it came out, and the Terrifier short gave me nightmares for the 2 nights after. That lingering shot of the woman at the end is too much. Recently I am curious to try T1 & T2, but I might not have the stomach for it. I love other gorey movies, but it just felt so disgustingly harsh.

I feel like people sometimes are talking about two different things when discussing "shitty" horror movies. I love campy horror that is original or over the top/not super deep, and horror that makes you think. When i talk about shitty horror movies, im thinking of movies that feel unoriginal, have no passion behind it, and feel designed by a studio to cash in on whatever is popular. Movies that are filled with tropes and a generic plot. A lot of the 2000s remakes and reboots feel like this for example (i liked some of them, but overall). Or movies that take something from another popular horror film and try to copy it without any creativity. Basically just wanna throw my 2 cents in that sometimes a person isnt necessarily talking about movies like this when criticizing "shitty" horror

i’d agree with your take about not liking terrifier 2 as a film, but liking the experience. i don’t think it’s a good movie by any means but it’s so crazy that watching it felt pretty special. i feel the same way about a lot of gory shocking movies

Love the new video! I really felt that at the end when you said you miss shitty horror movies

I had forgotten that scene happened.

i love these movies because it never felt like 'gore for the sake of gore'. i think they know how far they need to push it for it to be INTENTIONAL. like for it to work it HAS to be too much and it's., SO much, and it works somehow. it reads like the world's most fucked up mime performance, they knew EXACTLY what they were doing. yeah i mean i'll NEVER watch it by myself at night again but i still love it

WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT BOOK STAND ART THE CLOWN OMG

I just hope that the actors had fun making this movie; i feel that horror would be a fun genre to act in for the most part

Im starting to miss covid when i watched all ur recommendations and had a blast not working for a month LOL

Wow I had no clue you wrote Fluids! I loved that book, and yeah that one scene in it was putrid but so well written.

As someone who's read both Girl Parts and Fluids, I'm now having my own crisis watching that author having a crisis over this movie.

I do remember thinking "my God, was that mean-spirited" during THE scene. I agree that the movie was too long (I saw a late showing and struggled the last third or so of the movie to fall asleep), but it gets major points for being the only movie (past childhood) that ever gave me nightmares, and I watch a LOT of horror, including extreme horror. I feel like it was the first really mainstream extreme horror movie, and as much psychic damage as it caused me (doubly so later when I found out my ex took our tween daughter to see it during visitation), I also loved it. I felt gross and dirty after, like when I read an extreme horror novel, but it was more satisfying. (Also, sorry I still haven't finished Fluids, despite buying a signed copy ages ago)

How can you be so consistently witty and entertaining??

"this your fault, somehow. let me explain-" I DONT THINK I WANT TO

GLAD YOUR BACK!!! missed you and your videos!!!!

Yo you are wonderful, thank you for putting out this content and thank you for being who you are. It's really cool to see someone who seems to be a highly empathetic and loving person putting out this kinda morbid content. You're doing good shit 🙏

I saw Terrifier 2 in the theater; I was by myself... It felt more special that I was alone enjoying it.

Clownsploitation peaked with Killer Klowns from Outer Space and there hasn't been a good one since then

I discovered Terrifier on Netflix one night many years ago, it’s been one of my favorite horror movies ever since. Watched All Hallow’s Eve after that & then watched 2 the day it came out in theatres & had the opposite experience. I was a bit afraid to watch this because I’m one of those people who dislikes seeing criticism against my favorite movies, but your reviews are so funny & insightful & the video editing is right up my alley :-)

Did I summon you by watching both the Terrifiers yeaterday after procrastinating for years?

I had a great time in the theater with this one. It was a proper communal experience.

I had to rewatch an entire section of this video because I zoned in on the background music fucking rickrolling me

TY! I now know I TRULY am surrounded by idiots. How do I get out of here?! (2:30)

the intro, where you're talking about the cinema attendance decline, is so true. I went to see Baghead and the first omen in theatres and they were so empty. It was very bizarre being in this wide open lobby meant to accommodate dozens of people, felt like I shouldnt be there. I mean, i'm not necessarily complaining as someone who doesnt like crowds 😂 but it was still kinda sad. Edit: hang on I dont think that's exactly what you were talking about lmao. Oh well, my point still stands.

got high before i watched this and now i feel like i have to watch the movie

I'm just a dumb old man, but you make me laugh. You have a great sense of humor. Thank you.

....... Okay, after watching this video. I can confidently say.... You're my new crush. Take my subscription.

3:20 into this video and suddenly everything makes sense.... Also, you could've waited 1 more minute for that reveal and it would've been utter perfection.

YOUR COVER IS BY TREVOR HENDERSON?!?!?!!

Excellent vide, and I’m so fucking excited for your new book! Finished Girl Flesh recently and it.

May, you are really good at doing this!

I have yet to watch Terrifier 2, a film by Damien Leone and the sequel to Terrifier a film by Damien Leone, nore have I watched Terrifier, a film by Damien Leone, but I have seen images of Art the Clown, main antagonist of the Terrifier series by Damien Leone plastered everywhere. Now I know that this clown comes from the films Terrifier by Damien Leone and Terrifier 2 by Damien Leone. Thanks for clearing that up Nyx!

It looked to cross the line and I'd say back flipped over that line. It jumped over the jumping shark. I like a lot of movies even some of the "bad" ones that got mentioned. And I'd say Terrifier 2 isn't great, but great at improving. It fumbles but surpassed Terrifier in all it's good elements and improved where it needed. And it took the gross moment of the first and transformed it into bombastic horror. It went from unsettling to traumatic/comedic

Honestly, I'm probably the ONLY person who Found THAT scene to be absolutely hilarious because of how over the top it was.

Fluids was amazing and I loved it, ergo you may be a monster but you're one of my favorite ones :)

0:04 - WAIT, are we really getting a sexy Billy the Puppet in Saw XI? Like, Billy the Daddy?