He may not be the most famous killer clown out there, but Art from "Terrifier" is certainly one of the freakiest. So how does the man behind the white makeup keep from scaring himself whenever he looks in the mirror?
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00:00 He may not be the most famous killer clown out there, but Art from Terrifier is certainly
00:05 one of the freakiest.
00:06 So how does the man behind the white makeup keep from scaring himself whenever he looks
00:11 in the mirror?
00:12 Art the Clown first appeared in director Damian Leone's 2008 horror short The Ninth Circle,
00:17 played by actor Mike Giannulli.
00:19 He started out as a mere background monster, but it wouldn't take long for his story
00:23 to expand.
00:24 Art isn't just an ordinary man in face paint.
00:26 He's a mute, seemingly immortal demonic harlequin who appears out of the ether on Halloween
00:31 to torture and murder to his heart's content.
00:34 It's only once the day is over that he vanishes.
00:45 Mike Giannulli reprised the role of Art in the original 2011 short film Terrifier and
00:50 the 2013 feature All Hallows Eve.
00:53 However, in the feature-length version of Terrifier from 2016 and its follow-up Terrifier
00:58 2, Art was instead played by actor David Howard Thornton.
01:03 Even if you haven't seen the Terrifier movies, you probably still recognize his black-and-white
01:08 aesthetic and horrifying grin.
01:10 Like Freddy Krueger and Jigsaw before him, Art is known for his rather creative methods
01:15 of execution.
01:16 He adds an element of novelty and whimsy to his murders, although you probably won't
01:20 be laughing if you're on the receiving end of his knife.
01:23 Hammer, hacksaw, or syringe, he's eaten hearts, killed kids, and spilled so much blood that
01:29 it would make Jason Voorhees blush.
01:32 Thornton has viewed taking on the role of Art the Clown as a dark opportunity for his
01:36 own bleak creativity.
01:37 In a 2022 video interview with Dread Central, Thornton admitted that when he gets angry
01:42 in public, he begins brainstorming new Terrifier kills.
01:46 Don't worry, though.
01:47 He's a gentleman in real life.
01:48 As any actor who's played a monster knows, you don't have to like someone to play them.
01:52 A good actor merely has to understand their character's reasoning, their motivation, or
01:56 their madness.
01:57 Thornton knows full well that Art the Clown is merely a part to be played, and he's had
02:01 no problems compartmentalizing the violent subject matter of his movies away from his
02:06 real life.
02:07 It's fake blood, no one's actually hurt, and it's all done for a little bit of gruesome
02:11 fun.
02:12 As Thornton puts it, "As soon as I understand the character, I can become the character,
02:17 so it really doesn't do anything to me mentally.
02:19 Except it's made me a little bit more creative in life.
02:22 When people upset me and stuff like that, I'm like, 'I wonder how I could turn this
02:26 into a kill.'"
02:27 The actor revealed that he and his director would call each other in between movies to
02:31 pitch particularly horrendous murders to one another.
02:34 In their conversations, both the actor and director hoped to gross out and inspire the
02:38 other, and to keep ideas flowing for the next flick.
02:41 Thornton said, "We message each other back and forth, too, when we think of something
02:45 funny or like a crazy kill or something like that.
02:47 We're like, 'Hey, how about this for something maybe in a possible film?'
02:51 And you know, who knows what becomes of it."
02:53 Sadly, it seems like Thornton's ideas are mostly shot down.
02:56 When asked which of the kills in Terrifier and Terrifier 2 were his ideas, he admitted
03:00 that it was still mostly Leone's show by a substantial margin.
03:04 The actor may be thinking about creative gore a lot, but he has yet to overwhelm the director
03:08 with anything that might be gruesome enough to be filmed.
03:11 Thornton admitted that he eventually offers input on his director's ideas more than he
03:15 inspires new ones.
03:16 In his words, "I would say it's primarily his ideas.
03:19 I might have, like, a little, 'Hey, why don't we tweak this here or there?'
03:23 But you know, I would say 90 percent of the kill ideas are his ideas.
03:27 Even 95 percent."
03:29 Terrifier 2 made about $12 million at the box office.
03:32 That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a solid number for a movie with a $250,000 budget.
03:37 The sequel also got a lot of press for its extreme gore, and there were reports of audience
03:41 members vomiting or fainting in the theater during screenings.
03:44 Naturally, Damian Leone is working on Terrifier 3.
03:47 If all goes according to plan, the gore will be even further over the top and the violence
03:52 even more brutal.
03:53 Needless to say, audiences will love it.
03:56 "I'm excited to see what happens."
04:00 (whooshing)