A few months ago, there was a huge hype around “Smile – Do you see it too?”, especially on the social media video platform TikTok, which, in addition to the terrifying smile, was mainly related to the rumor that horror film fainted from fright. In the end, more than 1.3 million visitors* gathered for the film in Germany alone, which under normal circumstances would probably have attracted at least a million fewer people to the cinemas.
However, many viewers who were motivated by TikTok videos to go to the cinema were disappointed afterwards: “Smile – do you see it too?” is a psychologically thoughtful, technically strong horror shocker – but certainly not the psychological terror phenomenon that is probably what many were hoping for after the social media hype.
“Terrifier 2” delivers – and for some more than they can handle
However, with “Terrifier 2” it looks very different. When serial killer Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) unwraps his toys, then the victims’ bodies have been hacked, sawn, or simply ripped apart in gruesome detail, as if there’s no tomorrow — and director Damien Leone wouldn’t even consider cutting. The 138 (!) minutes long slasher carnage is the nightmare of all youth protection activists, who only released the film for its later home cinema exploitation with many cuts (about 3 minutes in total are missing) from the age of 18.
In theaters, however, “Terrifier 2” is shown completely uncut – and at the latest when Art the Clown breaks a teenager’s arm at the elbow joint back and forth so many times that he can easily tear it off, viewers in local movie theaters are actually watching slow come back to the exit. However, the horror fans and dare graduates can’t say they weren’t warned…
… because in most cinemas, where “Terrifier 2” could even go to number 1 in the German cinema charts on the first day, the following warning from the distributor Tiberius Film is displayed before the movie begins:
The violence section is certainly tongue-in-cheek – and yet there’s more than a grain of truth in it when the advice is given to abandon the cinematic trial of courage if you’re too uncomfortable. Because it really doesn’t get “better” – instead, especially in the finale, another night fair is used with a nine-tailed whip…
A background to take seriously
The request to be quiet during the film, on the other hand, has a more serious background: when TikTok hypes lead to such an influx of visitors, this can also become a problem for the cinemas (or other viewers in the room). issue. Because it doesn’t matter if it’s “Minions 2: In Search of the Mini Boss”, “Smile – Can You See It?” whether the US screenings of “Terrifier 2” is – the TikTok community also likes to declare the cinema halls closed own party zone.
However, it was particularly bad on many “Smile” screenings – because, as I said, the problem was that many TikTok users* went into the movie with completely wrong expectations and therefore quickly preferred their mobile phones instead of using them with what is happening on the screen. And that certainly won’t happen with “Terrifier 2” – because here you don’t have to wait long at all, instead Art the Clown already fulfills all the hype “hope” that was placed in him in the very first scene in terms of the limit – breaking level of violence.
That’s what the rental company says about the warning
This also fits the official statement that the distributor Tiberius Film gave us about the warning sign:
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