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Art the Clown is coming back to the big screen with theatrical rerelease of the first “TERRIFIER”; new poster

Thursday, April 20, 2023 | News

By MICHAEL GINGOLD

A fan-art contest tied to the movie is opening up as well.

Epic Pictures has announced that its DREAD label will bring filmmaker Damien Leone’s original TERRIFIER back to theaters July 19, opening at over 700 venues across the U.S., in conjunction with Iconic Events. This follows the remarkably successful release last year of TERRIFIER 2, which grossed over $10 million. The first TERRIFIER, which introduced David Howard Thornton as the murderous Art the Clown (following short films and anthology segments in which others played the role), also stars Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi and Catherine Corcoran; all four reprised their roles in the sequel.

TERRIFIER played numerous festivals around the world beginning in 2016, and was issued on digital platforms and disc in 2018 by Epic on the Dread Central label. “When Damien Leone and his team brought TERRIFIER to Dread Central years ago,” says Epic/DREAD owner/CEO Patrick Ewald, “we knew that the film was something incredibly special and astoundingly terrifying in the best way possible. Now, six years later, with millions of TERRIFIER fans worldwide, we are excited to once again unleash on the big screen this blood-soaked homage to old-school horror and the insanity of Art the Clown.”

Says writer/director Leone, “I am thrilled to announce that TERRIFIER is officially getting its long-overdue release in nationwide theaters this July! Let’s see if you can stomach Art the Clown’s notorious ‘hacksaw scene’ on the big screen! Be sure to bring your barf bags.”

“Every once in a while, a film genre spawns a generational talent who breaks the mold,” says Iconic Events president and co-founder Steve Menkin. “Damien Leone is such a visionary director. Iconic Events is excited and proud to present the original TERRIFIER in theaters for fans who have been waiting to see it the way it was meant to be seen in all its ‘gory’–on the big screen!”

To celebrate the rerelease, Dread Central is hosting an art–or Art–contest seeking submissions of photos and videos of fans’ artwork, tattoos and cosplays of the killer clown; more details can be found here.

Michael Gingold
Michael Gingold (RUE MORGUE's Head Writer) has been covering the world of horror cinema for over three decades, and in addition to his work for RUE MORGUE, he has been a longtime writer and editor for FANGORIA magazine and its website. He has also written for BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH, SCREAM, IndieWire.com, TIME OUT, DELIRIUM, MOVIEMAKER and others. He is the author of the AD NAUSEAM books (1984 Publishing) and THE FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO MONSTER MOVIES (FAB Press), and he has contributed documentaries, featurettes and liner notes to numerous Blu-rays, including the award-winning feature-length doc TWISTED TALE: THE UNMAKING OF "SPOOKIES" (Vinegar Syndrome).