On Monday 29th August (a bank holiday in England), the Cineworld at Leicester Square, London was completely packed for this film. They'd turned the air-conditioning on a bit too high, which gave the film an extra edge.
This film is very gorey. The screening today was Fright Fest (a festival for horror films), so we all loved it. I would definitely not take anyone squeamish to see this. Art the Clown has a particular thing for harming eyes, probably because he knows that we're particularly squeamish about them. He also plays around with the brains and hearts of his victims. He often kills people just because they're there, even if they've not done anything to offend him.
A common criticism of the first film was that the plot was typical of the slasher genre, with teenage girls in trouble and the goody-two-shoes being the Final Girl. The plot is much better this time. I can tell you what each of the characters was doing with their time, before Art turned up, and there was a good thread on the father of Serena and Jonathan. Knowing that they've lost their father makes you feel sorry for them and want them to succeed. In the first film, part of me thought that it'd be funny for Art the Clown to win, but I really wanted to see him get vanquished in this one.
I have some reservations. It is too long, being about an hour longer than the first film. The supernatural element is also a bit muddled. In "All Hallows' Eve", Art was clearly supernatural. In "Terrifier", you could just about believe that he was human, except for right at the end. In this one, there are supernatural things throughout, but there's never any rules established. I know that film-makers like to keep audiences guessing, but the guessing game is more fun if we have clues to go on. The magic in "Terrifier 2" feels a bit too random to make you wonder what's supposed to be happening.
Still 8/10 for the pure horror, despite those reservations.
