Damien Leone brought his black-and-white killer clown, Art the Clown, to a feature-length stage in Terrifier (2016). Made on a shoestring budget of roughly $35,000–$55,000, the film follows partygoer Tara Heyes (Jenna Kanell) and her sister Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) on Halloween night in Miles County, New York. After their friend Dawn Emerson (Catherine Corcoran) has her car tire slashed, they hole up in a pizzeria where Art the Clown—played by David Howard Thornton, who replaced retiring Mike Giannelli—turns literal bathroom graffiti into a deadly smear campaign. He slits employees’ throats, sawing one victim in half, then abducts Tara to watch her sister’s mutilation before gunning both women down. A deluded Cat Lady, a pest exterminator named Mike and Victoria’s narrow escape add layers of gore until Art kills himself in front of arriving police—only to reanimate in a morgue and attack a coroner. A post-credits tease reveals Victoria alive and disfigured, tying back to an opening scene of a TV talk show interview. Leone first introduced Art in two shorts—The 9th Circle (2008) and Terrifier (2011)—and an anthology, All Hallows’ Eve (2013). He crowdfunded Terrifier in 2015 via Indiegogo but fell short, prompting producer Phil Falcone to chip in for a credit. Leone wrote the feature to spotlight practical effects over character depth, a choice he now regrets, especially underdeveloping Scaffidi’s Victoria. Cinematographer George Steuber and composer Paul Wiley round out the core team. Epic Pictures Releasing gave Terrifier a limited U.S. run on March 15, 2018, after a Telluride Horror Show premiere in October 2016. Critics praised the special effects and performances but flagged the thin writing. Despite mixed reviews, Terrifier grossed $421,798, spawned a cult following and led to sequels: Terrifier 2 in October 2022 and Terrifier 3 in October 2024.