Is Art The Clown Truly A Horror Icon?

By : Dominic La-Viola

This has been the subject of many discussions as of late, which has also sparked some outrange online. Fans of the franchise are very adamant about pushing the idea that Art The Clown has already earned his spot among the legendary characters of horror. 

Making videos, practically saying that anyone who doesn’t believe that Art The Clown is an icon, doesn’t know horror, or isn’t a real fan of horror movies. 

   Trying to push back on the idea that Terrifer 3’s overnight success wasn’t just a fad. That Art The Clown is a horror staple and has been since 2013. The year the character made his first appearance in All Hallows Eve and made a huge impact on horror since. 

So let’s address problem one, the character was first created and brought to life in 2008 in the short film. The 9th Circle. Then made his second appearance in Terrifer short 2011. All before making his way to the feature film scene in 2013 with All Hallows Eve. 

So with that being said, Art The Clown has been around for 17 years. Almost two decades. 2 short films and 4 feature films until he made a splash  with Terrifer 3 and the TikTok trend, making the character known. Due to a marketing strategy similar to Blair Witch,  taking out missing person ads. Only with this film.  They claimed it was so horrific, people were throwing up all over the place in the test screenings, and running out in fear. 

Terrifer 2 was the first to get a theater release. Which  was a minor one, after being picked up by Screambox following its appearance in the Fantastic Fest film festival.  

Which, debunks the argument that the film didn’t have a studio or company backing it. That it got into theaters by word of mouth and the fans. Which honestly makes no sense, because that’s not how that works. 

Yes, you can pay out of pocket to put your film in theaters, you can rent out the time slots and get your movie in cinema’s. Just as Tommy Wiseau did, with The Room. Yet he was rich and spent an unknown fortune on doing so. 

With that being said, this makes me question , if he was such a popular character and staple in horror. Why did it take 4 years for the first Terrifer to become available on physical media, and readily accessible? 

If you know film. There’s plenty of indie, and no budget films that get physical media releases. Even in a post video store era. Amazon print on demand makes it even easier and cheaper to produce this product copies. 

Then of course here is the budget argument . Since everyone wants to claim it did it without one. Terrifer 3, which is the movie that put Art The Clown in the lime light and really gave him his audience, merch deals and current status. Let’s compare the budget to other similar films. 

Terrifer 3 budget 2 million dollars. 

Shelby Oaks – 1.39 Million dollar budget. 

The Purge. (2013) 3 million dollar budget.

Insidious- 1.5 Million dollar budget. 

Saw – 1 million (with inflation would be 1.5 million according to google.)

1974 Texas’s Chainsaw Massacre – 140 k budget (indie film, and with inflation would be about 700/840k today) 

Friday The 13th – 550k (2 million with inflation) 

Paranormal Activity – 15k  

That’s just to name a few, and as you can see there are plenty of horror films that done it with less. Most of which were indie films. The only film on the list that was backed by a studio was The Purge. 

Insidious, was an indie film that went to the festivals and was bought and then released by a distribution company, same as Terrifer 2. For Terrifer 3 already had a distribution deal before being made. 

Texas Chainsaw Massacre,  was an indie film with no studio involvement. Tobe Hopper struggled to find a distributor for the film, due to its violence. Which at the time, was like nothing being made and was even banned in serval countries around the world. 

Saw. Saw is completely indie film. James Wan shot a short film in order to try and raise money to help fund the project. With that he was able to raise 1 million in funding. 

Paranormal Activity was an indie film, made on a mere budget of 15k. Then went to the festivals in 2007 and was picked up by a studio after its festival success.

This goes to show that the budget for the film isn’t that low, considering what other people were able to do with the same or less. 

Now there is no numbers to say how many people used the hashtag or the movie to boost their views and followers to try and be trendy. Inflating the characters popularity. However there are a few stats in which we can look at. 

Box office. To say that Art The Clown is an icon and is on the same level as Michael Myers, Jason, Chucky, Freddy, ghostface and so on. Then the box office should reflect that. 

Terrifer 3 worldwide box office – 90.3 million

Scream (1996)- 103 million (Thats in 1996 not including inflation) (257.6 million with inflation) 

Halloween (2018) – $259,939,869 (almost 260 million) 

Texas Chainsaw (2003) 107 million. 

Freddy VS Jason 116.6 Million

Saw- 103 million 

Friday The 13th (1980)- 59.8 million. (225 million with adjusted inflation) 

Paranormal Activity- 194 million 

Now the box office and budgets show that the movie can’t compete. There is obviously not as many paying to see Art The Clown as they are the horror icons listed above. The budget? Some of the most popular and influential films had lower budgets even with inflation and still out preformed Art The Clown. 

Even horror films that don’t have icons, and or horror legends, that have smaller budgets and no studio backing, still out performed Art The Clown in every aspect. 

Debunking the argument, other films had more money and studio backing. Paranormal Activity, had neither and grossed double the money with a 1/10 of the budget. Not to mention that’s just once example.

But wait there’s more. We can take a look at IMdB not for ratings, but the overall audience/viewers who rated the film. 

This shows that they have seen the film . Now I know this isn’t a concrete number covering everyone who has seen the film, however it is data that can be used in this simply because it’s captures an actual number of people who rated the movie, compared to other horror films. 

Which as we all know, movie lovers, cinephiles and nerds, love to track, rate and review films they watch. 

As of now there is no reason for anyone to alter the amount of rating. Yes trolls have altered scores, to try and make a movie look like a failure. But not the amount of people who rated it. Honestly no one has ever used this data in such a way, so trolls would have never have a reason to alter it. 

Terrifer 3 – 56,437

Scream (1996)- 427,180

Halloween -329,205

Halloween (2018)- 181,586 

A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)- 113,011

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) – 283,274 

Childs Play -127,774 

Friday The 13th- 170,364 

As you can see the numbers again speak for themselves. Showing in data, cold hard facts, not options and feelings towards the film. That its not on the same level as the horror icons or even some of the more popular horror films in the past 20 years. 

Now of course people are going to try and argue that these films have been around longer, to which some have. Art The Clown again has been around since 2008, so keep that in mind.

Although that’s the whole point. If you are trying to make the argument that he is an icon and is on the same level as these other characters, he should be able to stand his own ground and even out preform basic horror films in anyone of these categories, but fails to do so. In any of them. 

What does this mean? The data shows that Terrifer and Art The Clown, are not on the same level as the horror icons that have come before him,  and they’re not even on the same level as run of the mile horror films. 

Yet both the films and the character do have a strong and loyal fanbase. Which by definition, is a cult classic and or cult film. 

With that being said, I feel as if it necessary to point out that, its cult status is actually a lot more fitting to what the film itself is and is not an insult. It’s actually a compliment to the film and the filmmakers,  Terrifer is B movie horror at its core.

To put this into perspective, look at films like House Of 1000 Corpses, Devil Reject and 3 From Hell. A trilogy from Rob Zombie, that has a huge cult following, yet it’s not considered an iconic horror film nor are the main characters considered horror icons. 

The third and final film 3 From Hell didn’t even get a wide theatrical release. Yet those movies and characters are among the most loved within the horror community.

Simply put, they’re not main stream characters nor films. Again not an insult. But very much a compliment within it self.

I want to end it with this. It doesn’t diminish the films or character, by calling them what they are.  A modern cult classic. Just as it doesn’t make anyone less of a true horror fans, for these films or Art The Clown to be their favorite. 

Your favorite horror character doesn’t have to be a horror icon, for you to be a true, die hard horror fan. In fact if you talk to horror fans, not online. I mean at horror conventions and film festivals. You’ll find some of their favorite films are hidden gems and niche films. That are great horror films that aren’t marketable to mainstream audiences.