Although it’s not the first film to feature growing horror icon Art the Clown, Terrifier was inarguably his breakout film and one that’s already being given the franchise treatment. We already know that Terrifier writer and director Damien Leone started penning the sequel. But now Art actor David Howard Thornton is stating the plans go past that and into Terrifier 3.
Here’s what he told The Barnshow Podcast:
“Terrifier, the first one, establishes Art,” Thornton begins. “Now that we’ve established what Art is about, basically, we can start fleshing out the world around him and how he affects the world around him, and how that affects him as well. So that’s what we’re going to explore more in the second one.”
Thornton has confirmed that the script is already finished and prepared for shooting.
“The script is already finished, [we’re] just looking for backers,” Thornton said. “Still waiting for people like Blumhouse to come calling.”
Regardless of financial issues, the plan is that principal photography will be starting in September. And as for the plot, Thornton insists the film will focus more on fleshing out Art’s character.
“We’ll delve in a little bit into who he is, like his background, but not too much yet,” Thornton stated. “We want that to be a slow build-up.”
Interestingly, it also seems like Art will have a heroic counterpart to go against him this time around.
“We definitely want to bring in a true protagonist to go against him into this one,”
And Thornton teases that this protagonist could even carry over into a third movie.
“We definitely wrote this with a third film in mind,” Thornton offered. Apparently Damien Leone is already busy penning Terrifier 3.
The franchise could even go past Terrifier 3, stopping short of an Art in Space movie, Thornton joked. Of course, a trilogy could be a decent enough series for this character which has already appeared outside Terrifier. But who knows? If the Terrifier world really can be further expanded, then I say go for it. At least it’s an original character and that’s something I’m sure other fans of the horror genre can get behind.