Terrifier (2011)

Terrifier

Credits
Title:	Terrifier
Director:	Damien Leone
Writers:	Damien Leone
Producers:	Jennifer Castellano; Danny Pontecorvo; Gary Losavio
Composer:	Chris Stark; Zach Bourne
Cinematography:	Chris Cafaro
Editors:	Damien Leone
Production
Production company:	Ruthless Studios D&D Films, LLC
Released:	2011
Rating:	Unrated
Running time:	20 min.
Country:	USA
Language:	English
Navigation
Previous:	The 9th Circle
Next:	All Hallows' Eve

Terrifier is an American independent film short that was written and directed by Damien Leone. It was produced by Ruthless Studios and D&D Films, LLC and premiered in the United States in 2011. It is considered a non-canonical precursor to the Terrifier film series. This film short is unrated, but due to its graphic content it would be categorized as either NC-17 or TV-MA. Viewer discretion is advised. A young woman gets lost on a dark highway and finds herself the target of a mysterious killer clown on Halloween night.

Synopsis[]

Woman driving — A woman drives alone at night.

A woman is driving down a dark, rural road at night. She is a movie costume designer on her way to New York from Albrightsville, but has gotten off on a back road and is now lost. She passes a sign that reads "Last Chance Gas - 3 Miles". She reaches the gas station and pulls up to the pump. She honks her horn, but nobody comes out. She gets out of her car and knocks on the door of the station. From around the corner of the building she hears the clattering of a skirmish. The gas station attendant has just kicked a man dressed up as a clown out of the restroom. The clown, whose name is Art, does not speak, but the man yells at him for apparently urinating and defecating all over the bathroom walls. They both stop and look over at the woman who stands motionless by the door. The man turns back towards Art and tells him that he has ten seconds to leave before he calls the police. Art waves goodbye and wanders off.

The woman asks the attendant to fill her gas tank and asks if the strange man really did all those things. The attendant tells her that is true. She asks if he thinks he will return, but the man is so agitated that he doesn't really care. The woman tells the attendant that she is lost and he gives her directions on how to get back onto I94.

They both suddenly hear a large clamoring coming from inside the gas station. The man goes inside, leaving the woman by herself. The woman stands and looks about nervously for a bit, but when the attendant takes too long to return, she ventures inside the building. She is horrified to see Art the Clown in the middle of cutting off the attendant's head with a hacksaw. He has already cut off a few of his limbs. Art looks up and smiles menacingly at her. Art holds up the attendant's severed head with glee as the woman runs outside to vomit. She scrambles to get to her car and quickly drives off.

As she drives, the woman keeps trying to call 911, but the signal keeps getting broken up. She notices that the battery on her phone is low. As she drives, she inexplicably sees Art hitchhiking on the side of the road holding up a sign that reads "Circus". Exclaiming how this is "impossible", she speeds up and nearly collides with a van. She then stops the vehicle so she can collect herself.

Art at the window — "Can I get a ride, lady?"

Art suddenly appears and tries to get into her car, but both doors are locked. The woman screams and hits the accelerator. A ways down the road, she spots a parked car with its emergency lights on. She stops and observes the driver leaning against the car horn. She opens the driver side door and pulls the person back only to reveal that they are barely alive. Their face has been completely severed and their hands have been cut off. She gets back into her own vehicle and drives off again screaming.

Picking up her cell phone, she tries to telephone her boyfriend Nick. She tells him that she is on I94 and that the battery on her phone is almost dead. The call is suddenly cut off. She shouts her lover's name into the phone, but gets no reply. Suddenly, Art the Clown appears in the back seat of her car. He pulls a piece of plastic wrap around the woman's head and begins suffocating her. She struggles to rip the plastic off her face and upon doing so, slams on the breaks, sending Art flying forward into the dashboard.

The woman gets out of the car and runs into the woods. She eventually comes upon a decrepit brick building and runs inside. She closes the large double doors and barricades them shut with a metal pole. Art tries to force his way through the door, but eventually gives up.

The woman slumps down to rest for a while, but Art burrows up from the earthen floor of the structure. He takes up a length of chain laced with barb wire, syringes and other assorted blades and begins repeatedly whipping the woman across the back and face. The woman picks up a scalpel that had fallen off the chain and stabs Art in his right eye. As he turns around in pain, the woman picks up a knife that she spotted on the floor and plunges it into her back. She then lifts the pole barricading the door and races outside. Running down the road, she spots a motorist coming towards her and flags him down. The man stops and offers to help, but the woman tells him to "just drive". The man offers to take her to the police station.

Woman on table — Things are about to get a whole lot worse.

Suddenly, they spot a pair of headlights bearing down on them. The car sweeps up beside them and they can see that it is Art. Art looks over, smiles and produces a handgun, which he uses to shoot the driver in the head. The vehicle veers off the road and smashes into a tree. The woman is knocked unconscious.

She awakens sometime later and discovers that she is lying on a metal table in some sort of abattoir. A quick scan of the room shows a display of various human body parts and viscera as well as numerous bladed objects. Art appears and points two fingers at her and begins silently laughing. The woman looks down to discover that she is naked. Moreover, and to her horror, her arms and legs have been amputated, her body has been slashed up and the words "Pig", "Slut", and "C*nt" have been carved into her flesh. The woman screams in abject agony as the clown continues to go through a fit of maniacal laughter; never making a sound.

Cast[]

Actor	Role
Marie Maser	The woman
Mike Giannelli	Art the Clown
Michael Chmiel	Attendant
Daniel Rodas	Man in car
Jennifer Castellano	Mutilated woman
Gary Losavio	Talk radio host/Nick

Notes[]

The entire film short was edited into the 2013 anthology film All Hallows' Eve as the third vignette.
The name of the D.J. on the radio broadcast is Rusty Miller.
The events of this short take place during the Witching Hour on October 31st, 2011.
This film short was reworked and re-shot as a full length feature film, also called Terrifier, which was released in 2016.
Art the Clown is portrayed by Mike Giannelli in this film short. In subsequent appearances in Terrifier, Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3, he is played by actor David Howard Thornton.
Associate producer Gary LoSavio's name is spelled as Gary Losavio in this short.
Director of photography Christopher Cafaro is credited as Chris Cafaro in this short.
Actor Daniel Rodas will go on to play the Roomate's boyfriend in Terrifier.

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