Parents' Guide to

Terrifier

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Disturbing violence against women in clown horror movie.

Movie NR 2018 82 minutes
Terrifier Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 17+

Based on 21 parent reviews

age 18+

Insensitive and Disturbing

This movie has too much violence and gore. This is definitely not for kids and especially when their brain is still developing. This is also not a movie for people who are sensitive to slasher films. There’s one big main scene that was disturbing and petrified me. “Art the clown” sliced a woman in half upside down completely naked and he started by her sensitive areas to her head. This had me have anxiety for a week and traumatized me. I’m 21 and I thought I would be old enough to handle this but I couldn’t. It really disturbed me and I don’t understand how some people like this kind of films were it involves torture porn and traumatizing side effects. I also don’t understand how some people think the clown is funny, especially when he is laughing and smiling while brutally murdering people. Meanwhile, the film is good quality but second movie is better. The movie kept dragging it self. There was no story behind the clown about where he came from, what’s his legal name, or why he turned out to be the way he is or if he was always like that while growing up. The only story behind the movie is only about the event that occurred at the abandoned building and the symbol of “Art the Clown” The second movie is a much better Quality but the gore is still the same and the violence, maybe even more. The second film he goes all out and even try’s torturing and murdering a kid. There is one scene in this film that was really bad, there was too much blood and gore everywhere. I don’t understand this scene tho, where they are still alive, even tho they look like they’ve been slaughtered to death. It was kind of unrealistic but it still terrified me and almost made me want to puke. There is some settings in this film where it doesn’t make it all bad and terrifying. There’s some supernatural and some badass costume goddesses. Overall The two films is definitely not for kids and also not for sensitive people like me. There’s really bad gore and violence. I don’t know what made me watch the second movie after the first, but it eased me a little since there’s mystic fantasy relating to one of the characters to the second film. My best advice is to watch this with someone that can comfort you and ease your anxiety. Especially if you’re sensitive to slasher films. Other than that if you like movies like this than go for it.

This title has:

Too much violence
4 people found this helpful.
age 16+

Gorehounds will love it. Scary clown movie

If you and your children don't like gory movies with murders and dismemberment skip this. I'd only watch this with older kids...maybe. The performance of the clown is great, he doesn't speak and uses movement and facial expressions. I heard he used to portray the grinch and used it an an influence.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
2 people found this helpful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (21):
Kids say (52):

An attempt to pay homage to slasher movies of the 1980s, this horror pic has a truly unsettling killer and some entertaining elements, but it ultimately goes too far with its cruelty toward women. Written and directed by Damien Leone, Terrifier is well cast, from the freaky-looking Art the Clown -- with his strange, sneering smile -- to the exterminator who initially looks creepy but turns out to be good. Tara is especially likable: She's a traditional horror heroine who seems to have been made up to resemble Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott in Scream. (We also hear a radio ad for "Craven's Halloween Store.")

But, perhaps in an effort to avoid the traditional formulas of all those 1980s movies, Leone sends his storyline flying all over the place. There's no real hero (or "final girl") to root for. The viciousness of the attacks and torture of the female characters seems a little outsized and excessive for what seems intended as an homage. Perhaps worse, a cruel prologue sequence offers heavy-handed foreshadowing to the movie's rather hopeless ending. If only Terrifier had found a better balance of characters -- and perhaps a measure of hope, which would have added more suspense -- it might have stood near the movies that inspired it.

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