By Mike Lera
Who would have ever thought the $50,000 ultra indie Terrifier would one day slash its way into
the iconic ranks of Scream and A Nightmare On Elm Street, its sequel Terrifier 3 (released
Oct. 2024) becoming the highest grossing (no pun intended) un-rated film in cinema history.
Amongst the Jasons, Michaels, Pinheads and Leatherfaces roaming the halls of Monsterpalooza
2025, Terrifier 3 and its mime-like mascot “Art the Clown” served as a centerpiece at the popular horror con May 30-June 1 (held at the Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, CA), seen in just about every art form, including T-shirts, posters, paintings, stickers, patches, mannequins, action figures, blow up dolls, buttons, hats, cosplay and, oh yes, tattoos. More thrilling was the attendance of T3’s writer/director Damien Leone and his accomplice, David Howard Thornton (aka “Art the Clown”) mixing it up with MP’s guests the entire weekend and happily accommodating the hour-long lines of Terrifier groupies with a signature, photo and/or conversation.
Leone and Thornton also lent their presence at a Terrifier 3 Q & A panel during the show’s
opening night, discussing the 12-year journey of the fan-driven franchise and Leone’s rejection
of mainstream Hollywood.
“Terrifier 2 opened up doors,” stated Leone. “I got to go to Hollywood and have meetings with studio execs and company presidents, because a lot of them felt we had ‘cracked some code’ to success and wanted to be a part of Terrifier. There were times I was very close to signing a deal for Terrifier 3 with a major studio. But then I would hear them say ‘We don’t want to call it Terrifier 3 because not enough people know about it, so let’s rebrand it as just Terrifier. And it has to be rated R and not un-rated and you’ll have to pull back from these big kill scenes’. Since the first two films were collectively under $400,000, I figured at this point there’s no reason to turn this into a ten or twenty million dollar Hollywood movie; I might as well keep doing it the way fans appreciate it.”
Thornton, formerly a kindergarten teacher, was asked how the fan appreciation has changed him throughout the franchise. “I’ve become a lot more talkative, ironically. I’ve always been a shy, quiet guy around people I don’t know, so just being around the fans has helped me open up more. I’m more comfortable in my own skin – and other people’s skin, if you’ve seen Terrifier 1. It’s been ‘Art therapy’!”
Other panels included a Hellboy reunion with Ron Perlman and Doug Jones, reflecting over the
great success of the films and what their roles meant to them.
“Guillermo del Toro fought for seven years so that I could play Hellboy,” recollected Perlman.
“and he went through three different studios, who all said ‘Perlman is not going to star in a
hundred million dollar comic book franchise’. Guillermo could have made the movie fifty times
over, yet he could only make it the way he wanted it, and so that’s why I’m Hellboy.”
Reminiscing over being cast as Abe Sapien, Jones said, “During pre-production of Hellboy,
Guillermo del Toro fell to his knees once seeing the prototype sculpture of Abe Sapien and said [in his gruff accent] ‘You are so beautiful, and I am so fat!’ He was then told that I would be good for this character, and Guillermo immediately stands up and says [in his gruff accent] ‘I know Doug Jones from Mimic!’ and pulls out my card that he had kept for five years.”
Additional celebs at the event included Tobin Bell (Saw Franchise), Matthew
Lillard (Scream/Five Nights At Freddy’s), David Arquette (Scream/Eight Legged Freaks), Rose
McGowan (Scream/Planet Terror), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Jason Patric (The Lost Boys) and Cole Sprouse (Lisa Frankenstein).
Feel like burying yourself six feet under for missing Monsterpalooza? No need. The Art of
Monsters’ offspring “Son of Monsterpalooza” will be held Oct. 10-12 at the Burbank Marriott in
Burbank, CA. Miss it not!
