Coming into this sequel I had extremely low hopes. I had so far been disappointed by the short films that had led to the first movie and Terrifier left me absolutely bored and confused as to why anybody would give a shit about this franchise. But, when I set a goal for myself I see it through and I said I was going to do the whole series, so here we go. Looking at the information for it, however, I immediately began to regret my decisions as I out loud to nobody exclaimed “How the hell do you take this nothing concept and make it have a run time over two hours?!”

Holy shit, there is an actual plot this time. Picking up where the first movie technically started, it is one year after the murders from the original Terrifier. Our main character is Sienna, a troubled teen with an even more troubled little brother. Their father died a several months ago and Sienna has spent the past few months making her Halloween costume based on the sketches of a winged warrior character her father had made for her. Meanwhile, Art the Clown is back and there is also some kind of demonic ghost child clown that most people can’t see as well but that can interact with the world? Is Sienna some kind of prophesied warrior that can stop the menace of Art? Or is she going to get stabbed a lot by a supernatural clown that has no weaknesses?

While still not a movie that I would put into my list of go to favorites, this one is worlds better than the first one. As I said in the other review, that movie felt more like a proof of concept for doing special effects where this one felt like there was an actual screenplay involved. We have human characters with emotions and desires that we follow throughout the film that aren’t immediately killed within the first 20-30 minutes. When some of the characters get killed, there is some real connection built up with them such that we feel something for them when it happens rather than just disgust and/or delight at the gore (depending on how you fall in that regard). Thornton as Art again brings great physicality to the role that expresses so much without making a sound that even without liking the movie it would be hard to not like his performance.

The movie takes a weird turn toward the more surreal and supernatural in this entry, which is probably for the better overall. Since Art is basically a demonic force of some kind that can’t really be killed, I feel it’s better to lean into the strange and magical aspects of that. So this movie has dreams influencing reality, magical swords, prophesies, ghost girls, and all sorts of shit. By the time you get to the climax of the film, you’re pretty much ready to accept whatever nonsense it decides to throw at you. Which isn’t to say that any of that mystical stuff is good or well executed but it is definitely a lot better than watching a guy in a clown suit silently kill people I don’t give a shit about for another hour and a half.

Given the way this movie played out, I truly have no idea what to expect for the third film. You know, outside of more gratuitous bloody violence.

Score: 2.5 out of 5