From ‘The 9th Circle’ to ‘Terrifier 3’ – A Bite-Size History of Art the Clown
By any metric – film output, fanbase size, media attention, merchandising, recognizability – Art the Clown is quickly rising through the ranks as a horror icon for the modern generation the same way that Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers became household names in the 1980s. Terrifier‘s humble beginnings originated in the mind of […]
By any metric – film output, fanbase size, media attention, merchandising, recognizability – Art the Clown is quickly rising through the ranks as a horror icon for the modern generation the same way that Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers became household names in the 1980s.
Terrifier‘s humble beginnings originated in the mind of Damien Leone. Prior to making his directorial debut, the New York-based aspiring filmmaker and special effects artist envisioned a clown terrorizing a woman on a city bus.
Leone realized his vision in The 9th Circle, a 2008 short film in which Art The Clown made his first appearance as one of several evil entities. The homicidal clown returned as the antagonist in Terrifier, a 2011 short film that helped establish many of the character’s trademarks.
Terrifier caught the attention of producer Jesse Baget, who reached out to Leone about including it in an anthology alongside other filmmakers’ shorts. Leone convinced him to let him helm the entire anthology in order to create a more cohesive story. The result, All Hallows’ Eve, was released straight to DVD in 2013 by Image Entertainment (and is now coming to VHS).
