BY ALEX DAVIS
USA, 20 mins
Ah, the creepy clown. An old staple of horror cinema, and I would generally tend to say not one of my favourites – not in the sense that it creeps me out (like the very idea of the little girl/little boy ghost does) but in that it's not something that gets me excited or interested in a movie. I don't even mean that to pick on the trope, but I think a lot of these kind of archetypes get rather used to death and lose their freshness as time goes on. And so it was I came to Terrifier with relatively low expectations, although I had to admit that the screen shots I had seen of this particular clown were pretty good and pretty unnerving. I was also aware that this was the start of a cinematic journey for said clown, so this felt like the place to begin. So, for the sake of clarity, before I go on, this is the 2011 short film of Terrifier – there is an extended, full-length version from 2017 which I will come to in very short order, as well as the All Hallows' Eve movies. Terrifier begins with our unnamed female lead character driving at night on a deserted road before being forced to stop at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Again, it's pretty typical horror fare, although nothing offputting as a viewer. In fact the scene at the gas station works really well, with our first glimpse of the clown as a sort of weird, mischievous elf spreading his own faeces on the wall to the chagrin of the attendant. However it's not long before he takes an interest in our intrepid traveller, but not before calmly killing and decapitating the gas station attendant. What follows from there is an old-school chase as our female protagonist tries to escape her freakish pursuer. While at first I thought this was just going to be a psychotic human in a clown outfit, it's obvious there's at least something of a supernatural element as the clown continues to pursue her through all sort of impossible odds and obstacles. There are a few cliches as you go along, but I feel like it has enough energy and verve to get away with them and still be perfectly watchable. There's certainly a sense of pace throughout, as well as some good old jumps to go along with it. The visuals are effective, and the clown – Art, who would reappear in more than one feature film in due course – is a little different to plenty that have come before. Mike Giannelli does a great job in that role in particular, treading a fine line between the comedic elements as well being proper scary on a number of occasions. The black and white colour scheme also gives a sort of harlequin effect which is a little bit away from the typical circus clown. RATING: 7.5/10. Overall I can see why this was an effective launching point for what came afterwards – it's neat enough as a complete project at twenty minutes, but serves as a solid introduction to an interesting horror villain and does leave you wondering more on the backstory and what else there might be to it. There's certainly nothing too revelatory or genre-redefining – in fact there are a number of scenes that you will have seen a resemblance to elsewhere – but it's delivered with enough of a sense of fun and with enough genuinely creepy moment to make it worth seeking out. They're not clowning around with this one, so it's 7.5 out of 10 from me. 
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