YMMV / Terrifier

• Accidental Aesop: Drive home drunk, or you'll be killed by a clown while you wait to sober up.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • David Howard Thornton says that Art hates everyone equally, instead of just women, as has often been the most common interpretation of his character. While he clearly has a misogynistic streak in his treatment of women, he is still ultimately a complete misanthrope and sadist above all else.
  • Is Art's misogynistic streak a result of having an abusive mother? His visible reaction when the pleading homeless woman asks "Haven't you ever felt a mother's touch?" certainly indicates that this might be the case.^note Although Damien Leone has gone on record saying that he was just pretending to break down in that scene.
  • Was Art ever human? Word of God states that he didn't expect to come back from his suicide, which strongly suggests that before the end of the movie, he was but many fans have theorized that he's fully supernatural, as he was in All Hallows' Eve.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: While chasing after Victoria, Art just out of nowhere gets the idea to start riding around in circles on a trike.
• Broken Base: The scene where Art whips out a gun and shoots Tara has polarized many. Some love it because he refuses to conform to any long-tired slasher movie rules, whereas others see that as a rule that just isn't meant to be broken.
• Complete Monster: Art the Clown is a twisted killer with a habit of butchering nearly everyone who crosses him, usually for morbid amusement. Art often gets creative with torture and mutilation: bisecting a woman in front of her friend, crotch downwards; scalping and partially flaying a woman who tried to appeal to his conscience; disfiguring Vicky, and driving her to madness; and mutilating and disfiguring a teenage girl, keeping her barely alive for her mother to find. After his initial spree, Art kills himself to avoid arrest, only to be resurrected by a demonic entity for further mayhem. A year later, Art starts a new killing spree while stalking the Shaw siblings, Sienna and Jonathan, kidnapping Jonathan after killing their mother. Art would torture Jonathan and try to eat him alive, before fighting Sienna to the death; Art is reborn through Vicky following his second death.
• Creepy Awesome: Art, once again. Even played by a different actor, he's still amazingly frightening.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Graphically displaying a woman being sawn in half from her genitals down to her head? Horrific. Having her killer take a selfie after he's done with her? Hilarious.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Tara is often considered the best character in the movie, with her fitting the Final Girl archetype in many ways. Her death was a low point to many, even fans of the film.
• Epileptic Trees: Primarily concerning Art's origin story. Many have chalked it up to being a Deal with the Devil, such as this one, to explain his resurrection at the end of the movie. Some of the even wilder theories suggest that he used blanks, which completely ignores the fact that blanks can still kill a person if they hit the brain, and also the flickering lights and children's voices that can be heard just before he comes back to life.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: Referring to Art as a mime. Word of Saint Paul refers to him as a "silent clown", with the difference being that mimes don't use props.
• Funny Moments: Thornton cited Jim Carrey as an inspiration for his performance, so it's inevitable that there will be some humorous scenes. Has its own page.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The drunken Dawn tries to persuade Tara to let her drive. Tara's response? "I don't feel like dying tonight." She doesn't make it.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • In the credits, Leone commemorates Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and George A. Romero.
  • The phone call between Tara and Victoria has some sweet moments of sisterly affection. They are both smiling as they talk about how abnormal it is for Victoria to not use social media. Tara feels bad about imposing on her sister for a ride right when Victoria has been up all night studying for a midterm, but Victoria coaxes her into making the request that is clearly weighing on her and ends up leaving to pick up Tara and Dawn.
  • The final scene has Victoria’s parents earnestly thanking the doctor who’s been treating her and the doctor saying that Victoria makes everyone in the ward laugh and they will miss her.
• Moment of Awesome: Tara giving Art a long-deserved No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. Sadly, it doesn't last, as he pulls out a gun and shoots her.
• Nausea Fuel: Slow bisection by way of Groin Attack, anyone? No? How about some intestines falling out as she's sliced downwards? There's also the literally crappy mess Art left in the bathroom.
• Nightmare Fuel: Wouldn't be called Terrifier if it didn't have any of this! Has its own page now.
• Older Than They Think: There have been plenty other slashers wherein the killer uses a gun, though it's not played as much of a shock.
• Squick: The disgusting mess that Art left behind in the bathroom.
• Too Cool to Live: Tara, who nearly beats Art to death, only to be shot and killed by him.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Gory, realistic practical effects courtesy of Damien Leone.
• The Woobie: Victoria. She ended up half-eaten, horribly disfigured, and nearly killed. All because she had to pick her sister up. To top it off, she becomes a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, murdering the talk show host who was laughing at her behind her back.

---