YMMV / Terrifier 2

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• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Art's congratulatory look to Sienna before she cuts his head off one that was born out of legitimate respect? Or was he only smiling because he knew The Little Pale Girl was going to resurrect him again? Or is it both?
  • Victoria is shown to be possessed by the Little Pale Girl when she gives birth to Art’s head, and her nurse mentions that she’s been humming the Clown Cafe tune all day. Was her mauling of Monica Brown earlier that day her own decision or the Little Pale Girl’s?
• And You Thought It Would Fail: A sequel to an indie slasher, which was seen as mediocre at best, with a theatrical release was seen as a strange move, especially with an over 2-hour runtime (which is nearly unheard of in the slasher genre). However, the film was released to rave reviews (it boasts an ''87%'' critics score; for a gory slasher, that's damn impressive) and ended up grossing over $2 million at the box office on a budget of $250,000. By October 2022's end, just a few weeks after its initial release, the film made over 5 million at the box office and expanded its run into 1,000 theaters. It even had the honour, at one point, of dethroning Top Gun: Maverick from the box office Top Ten, itself a 2022 box office juggernaut.
• Award Snub: The film was submitted to the Academy Awards for consideration in the Best Makeup category; however despite its box-office success and widespread media attention, it did not make it to the final round of nominations.
• Awesome Music: The enormously catchy Clown Cafe song, performed by Leah Voysey on a banjo.
• Catharsis Factor: After two movies of Art's nigh-invincibility and getting away with everything, it is immensely satisfying to see Sienna Take a Level in Badass and fight back. She manages to beat Art down, take his whip from him and lay into him with it with Art in clear pain and panic until his immortality saves him. Even then, Sienna ends up victorious and when Art realizes he's done for, at least for the moment, he can only initially glare at her in sullen, impotent anger and hate.
• 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.
• Crosses the Line Twice: This film not only crosses the line twice but also throws up on it. Such line crossing antics mostly involve Art ranging from him using decapitated heads as Halloween props and trick or treat buckets to fool potential witnesses, his gruesome murder of Allie, and the entire dream sequence.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Allie has become pretty popular for being a genuine Nice Girl, and a friend who has Sienna's well being in mind. Helping or not helping is her rather theatrical mutilation at Art's hands, earning her quite a hint of sympathy from the audience. Some viewers even express interest in Allie coming back despite her state when we last see her.
• Even Better Sequel: The general consensus thanks to its bigger budget, better acting (relatively anyway), Bloodier and Gorier kills, and a far more intriguing story and characters.
• Harsher in Hindsight: At dinner, Sienna tells Jonathan to not dress as Art for Halloween, saying "you don't see people dressing up as Jeffrey Dahmer." Cue a couple months after Terrifier 2's FrightFest premier, and in the wake of Netflix's Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, people were indeed dressing as Jeffrey Dahmer.
• Heartwarming Moments: Yes, there’s a few, just as much as there are fucked up scenes in this movie:
  • Sienna’s relationship with her family: they’re mean and snarky with each other, but they still love each other. Seen by Sienna trying to convince her mom that Jonathan didn’t vandalized the school, in spite of her previously thinking that he was going crazy and her final talk with her mom, where she says that she loves her.
  • In a twisted sense, Art’s relationship with the entity that brought him back; the two are shown playing with each other, whether it be paddy-cake or playing with opossum guts, and laughing silently with each other as they do other fucked up things.
  • One of the most prevailing features of the film is people refusing to let Art victimize people unopposed if they can help it. Whether he's just fucking around with them or actively trying to kill people, there is no Bystander Syndrome to be found. It's to the point where Art has to be a lot more picky about who he attacks throughout the film.
• Just Here for Godzilla: If there's one thing that's enticing audiences to see the film, it's the gore and practical effects. This actually got the film a heavy amount of public attention, as its gory kills made headlines. While the characters, acting and overall story are definitely seen as a step-up from the first film, the general consensus is that they're still nothing to write home about.
• Narm: The scene where Jonathan and his mom have a falling out should be incredibly sad and devastating but comes across as unintentionally hilarious due to Elliott Fullam and Sarah Voight's over-the-top, mediocre acting.
• No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: All those reports about people vomiting and passing out in the theater whenever Art went to work on some poor soul? Yeah, you can bet that didn't scare people away from the cinemas.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The film is notoriously known for its gore and extreme violence to the point where both of these were the most talked about things in the film due to how it caused multiple incidents of vomiting and fainting in theaters with some incidents getting ambulances involved. This led to some countries including Argentina, Australia,and Sweden giving out several warnings about the film with Australia’s government delivering the warning themselves in their country.
• The Scrappy: Through a combination of Hair-Trigger Temper, irresponsible and self-pitying behavior, casual Abusive Parents tendencies, and Sarah Voight giving a very shrill and unconvincing performance in the role, Sienna and Johnathan's mother is easily the least favorite character in the film for many viewers.
• She Really Can Act: Lauren La Vera was praised for her performance as Sienna Shaw, thanks to her character development and her adversity against Art the Clown.
• Squick: When she first appears to Art, the Little Pale Girl emits a disgusting black discharge - either blood or diarrhea - from under her skirt. Even Art looks a little grossed out.
• Tear Jerker: Seeing Allie's mother react to her daughter's nearly-dead body makes the scene tragic. It makes you realize that this is a normal family, not a generic slasher victim. The shots of the Halloween costumes and the photos of Allie with her mom also remind you of this.