Revenge Of The Slashers: Art The Clown

“He thinks what he is doing is funny….”

Despite a fairly brief career that covers three feature films and two short films, Art the Clown has quickly risen to the top of the slasher heap in the last decade. The sadistic clown debuted in the 2009 short The 9th Circle, written, directed, and produced by Damien Leone. Leone would release another short in 2011, entitled Terrifier, that also featured Art. This would be followed by Leone’s first full-length feature, All Hallow’s Eve, in 2013, which repackaged Leone’s two shorts as part of a horror anthology.

Art was given his first full-length solo project in 2016. Terrifier, not to be confused with the short of the same name, became a cult hit and made Art a pop culture icon. Six years later, Terrifier 2 would be released and would make Art even more popular. A third Terrifier film is already in the works.

Art is known for his grisly, black-toothed smile, black and white clown costume, and for carrying his tools and weapons in a black trash bag. He’s also mute, and continuously taunts and tortures his victims with silent laughter. His murders are brutal. He kills some of his victims quickly, but primarily likes to torture his victims for extended periods of time, often forcing others to watch as he maims and murders his victims. He was portrayed by Mike Gianelli in the two shorts and All Hallow’s Eve. David Howard Thornton took over the role beginning with the feature length Terrifier.

Art is seemingly unstoppable and immortal. He has been resurrected after multiple seemingly fatal wounds including gunshots to the head and being stabbed in the brain with rebar. He also seems to have the ability to appear within dreams. He took on a supernatural sidekick in Terrifier 2, a young girl who wears garish makeup and has a smile similar to Art’s own toothy grin. Amelie McLain portrayed the character in the film. She is credited as The Little Pale Girl.

While Art The Clown still has a ways to go before he can be considered an A-list slasher like Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger, he’s definitely doing all that he can to join them at the top of the list.

Thanks for checking out today’s post. Art is easily one of the most sadistic and brutal slashers on this list. I hope that you’re ready for a legendary slasher tomorrow!