Art The Clown’s 10 Most Unspeakable Acts From The Terrifier Movies, Ranked by Extreme Gore

On November 1, 2024By Littum

As a longtime horror fan, I can’t think of a villain that has unsettled me as much as Terrify films’ Art the Clown, and can’t think of any upcoming horror films that will change that. Not because I generally get scared of scary clown movies – At least I didn’t before – but because actor David Howard Thorton’s horrifying harlequin has immortalized some of the most shockingly brutal and relentlessly grotesque kill scenes I’ve ever seen in a slasher film or otherwise.

With some calling franchise creator Damien Leone’s latest horror sequel Terrify 3 the creepiest installment yet – read our review here – it begs the question of whether the 2024 Christmas Eve horror film really offers the modern horror villain’s best (or rather worst) work to date. After revisiting these new horror movie classics, I think I’ve come up with the ultimate ranked list of the most intense and violently bloody crimes committed by Art the Clown, in ascending order.

Steve's carved head from Terrifier — (Image credit: Dread Central)

10. Art turns Steve’s head into a Jack-O-Lantern (Terrifier)

Sometimes seeing the aftermath of Art the Clown’s bidding is just as effective as witnessing the carnage itself, such as the killer’s first kill in the original Terrify from 2016. Although we never actually see him decapitate pizza shop owner Steve (Gino Cafarelli), carve the grim grinning face into his head, or place lit candles in his gutless openings, the result is nonetheless memorably grotesque.

David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown shoving a broken bottle in the eye of Johnath Davis as Ricky in Terrifier 2

(Image credit: Cinedigm)

9. Art Hangman Ricky (Terrifier 2)

Terrify 2 from 2022, however, doesn’t hold back from showing Clown Art removing someone’s head in particularly messy fashion, which is precisely how a cute costume shop employee named Ricky (Johnath Davis) meets a bitter end. Art starts by smashing a glass bottle over his head before sticking the bottle’s jagged remains into his eye socket, hacking through his skull and finishing him off by removing his head entirely. By the sight of his mouth moving and the audible grunt, it’s clear he can feel the full spank.

David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown stabs Michael Leavy as Will in the head in Terrifier

(Image credit: Dread Central)

8. Art beheading will (Scares)

I actually think the franchise’s most intense beheading to date takes place in the first one Terrify when Art the Clown sneaks up on Exterminator Will (Michael Leavy) and without warning stabs the guy through the top of his skull, rendering him catatonic. With his other hand, Art works his way through the neck, but stops halfway to bend Will’s head back and let the blood pour out before he bare-handedly rips off the rest of his shoulders.

Screenshot of Art the Clown lifting the Santa mask off his face in Terrifier 3

(Image credit: BloodyDisgusting)

7. Art sprays Santa Claus with liquid nitrogen (Terrifier 3)

Box office smash Terrify 3 proved that Art the Clown’s murderous operandi isn’t limited to traditional weapons, based on his use of liquid nitrogen to freeze a fake Santa (frequent Rob Zombie movie star Daniel Roebuck) from the neck down after tying him to a chair. If that wasn’t painful enough, he then hurls the not-so-happy St. Nick’s wrists and kneecaps down to the bone, probably earning himself the top spot on genuine Santa’s Naughty List.

David Howard Thornton in Terrifier 3

(Image credit: Bloody-Disgusting)

6. Art Hacks Jennifer Limb By Limb (Terrifier 3)

Early reports of crowd walking out Terrify 3 during the opening scene is no surprise after seeing what Art the Clown does to Krsy Fox’s Jennifer. The sickening aftermath of her son’s off-screen death and her husband losing his head are hard enough to stomach, but having the camera locked on Art essentially turns this innocent mother into Monty Python and the Holy Grailis the black knight? It’s cold blooded.

Kailey Hyman as Brooke fearfully holding a plank in front of David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown in Terrifier 2

(Image credit: Cinedigm)

5. Art melts Brooke’s face… and more (Terrifier 2)

IN Terrify 2Lauren LaVera’s Sienna Shaw (one of the most resourceful horror movie characters in recent memory) loses her friends to Art the Clown in deeply disturbing ways, including Brooke (Kailey Hyman). He turns her into a theme park toilet, throws acid in her face and beats her on the back with a table leg armed with various sharp objects, which he then uses to smash her kneecap into a pulp before pulling her still-beating heart from her split breast and take a huge bite out of it. And that’s not even the worst kill in the sequel that we’ll get to.

Catherine Corcoran as Dawn held upside down with duct tape over her mouth in Terrifier

(Image credit: Dread Central)

4. Art Hacksaws Dawn In Half (Terrifier)

Easy cementation Terrify as an all-time shock fest, and giving Art the Clown a place among the best horror movie villains was the original film’s creepiest sequence: Dawn’s bisection. Tied to a chair, Tara (Jenna Kanell) is forced to watch as the killer rips away a sheet to reveal her best friend (Catherine Corcoran) hanging by her feet, nearly naked. As the harsh reality of the vision sets in, Art brandishes a dirty hacksaw and slices through Dawn from between her legs and through most of her head. Corcoran, later told Halloween Daily News that somehow she never expected the provocative scene to have the effect it did.

David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown in Terrifier 3.

(Image credit: Cineverse)

3. Art Feeds Jess Rats (Terrifier 3)

ONE Terrify 3 Moment that would haunt CinemaBlend’s Nick Venable long after witnessing it involves Sienna’s aunt, Jess (Margaret Anne Florence), a litter of rats and a blowtorch. Only Clown Art would know how to combine these elements into such gut-wrenching cruelty and does so by hammering a plastic tube down her throat, placing the rodents in the tube, forcing them to the bottom by lighting the blowtorch inside, and cutting her neck up to let the rats crawl out. Jess was skeptical of her niece’s warning about Art’s return, but there was certainly no doubt in her mind at the time.

Screenshot of Art the Clown in a Santa suit holding a chainsaw in Terrifier 3

(Image credit: Signature Entertainment)

2. Art Chainsaw Cole In Half (Terrifier 3)

If Damien Leone appeased studio requests to tone it down Terrify 3is dead, we would never have gotten a moment that blows not only Dawn’s death out of the water, but Rivals Psycho to cinema’s most intense shower scene. Then again, Cole (Mason Mecartea) is already out of the shower and crawling away on the porcelain floor with half of one leg missing as Art the Clown takes a chainsaw to his crotch and works his way through the rest of his body until he is completely split in two. Art finishes it off by happily making a “snow angel” in college student blood. That guy is not right.

David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown who pours salt into his hand in Terrifier 2

(Image credit: Cinedigm)

1. Art Tortures Allie (Terrifier 2)

To really get the readers to understand my choice of the most incredibly barbaric and shamelessly vulgar murder in all of Terrify franchise so far, I think it’s best to take things one step at a time. IN Terrify 2Art the Clown breaks into Sienna’s friend Allie’s (Casey Hartnett) home and chases her into her bedroom, where he cuts open her left eye, cuts off her scalp with scissors, cuts out part of her back, breaks her left arm, pulling the broken part off with his hand and tearing her other hand in half.

He then scalps her several times and douses her in bleach and salt (which he also takes time to rub vigorously into her back) before ripping off half of her face. When her mother (Amy Russ) comes home to find Art slicing the skin off her leg, she faintly yells at her, indicating that SHE’S STILL ALIVE after all that carnage! At the time, you’d be begging for death, but this moment assures us that this clown doesn’t have a compassionate bone in his body.

If for some ungodly reason you still don’t find any of these scenes gory enough, there are other films such as Terrify that might deliver the gory goods for you, such as Damien Leone’s 2013 anthology horror flick favourite, Christmas Evewhich is the first feature film featuring Art the Clown. Now that Terrify 4 has been confirmed, according to BlackI can only imagine how this sadistic killer intends to go up.