With “Terrifier”, Damien Leone has succeeded in creating a new horror icon with wide impact, although Art the Clown had made its debut years earlier in the short film “The 9th Circle”. “Terrifier 2” should finally take the hype and the cruel harlequin to an all-time high and help the ultra-brutal shocker to become one of THE horror hypes of the year 2022. It paid off accordingly at the box office: With a budget of $250,000, “Terrifer 2” was able to gross a sensational $14.8 million worldwide.
No wonder “Terrifier 3” was quickly decided. Damien Leone is currently working on a script for part 3 and has already confirmed in an interview that he can very well envision directing “Terrifer 4”: “I’m currently writing ‘Terrifier 3’. I definitely want to do another part. There could be two more parts that tell this story and go into all the ideas I have in my head. Because with Art the Clown, the Little Pale Girl, Victoria and Sienna there is much more to discover. We will follow their journey through the end of this franchise.”
Damien Leone teams up with Sam Raimi!
The interesting thing about that interview but it’s not as if Damien Leone can imagine more “Terrifier” films where the battle between heaven and hell is further treated in religio-mythical imagery. Instead, Leone revealed in the conversation that he is currently involved in another project: “There is a project I have in development with Ghost House Pictures, Sam Raimi’s production company. So if that happens, that would be great. I really hope that happens before or shortly after ‘Terrifier 3’. We shall see.”
So this could be exactly what many horror fans expected after seeing “Terrifier” and “Terrifier 2”: Damien Leone will gradually be introduced to a wider audience. Leone also explained that he has a 45 minute conversation with Sam Raimi has been allowed to lead and has expressed his love for “Tanz der Teufel II”. Leone also called Sam Raimi the “cutest, coolest guy” to talk to.
So it will be interesting to see what paths Damien Leone’s career takes in the future. With Sam Raimi, who became a horror legend through the “Dance of the Devil” series, he already has the right driving force at his side to achieve greater goals. Who knows, maybe one day the guy will not only gain a foothold in mainstream cinema and higher budget horror films, but also try other genres. In any case, the filmmaker seems to have both the potential and the passion for cinema.