Warning: This article contains spoilers for Terrifier 3.

From Terrifier to Terrifier 3, Art the Clown’s overly expressive face and clown makeup raise curiosity about the character’s actual appearance. Damien Leone’s Terrifier franchise is known for the overblown gore committed by the iconic villain. The horror genre takes different approaches to creating antagonists to haunt viewers’ nightmares. Since Art the Clown is a human to start, he has a human body throughout the movie series, with his physical features leaning further into the uncanny valley with each addition to the franchise.

In addition to the odd structure of his face, the character’s facial expressions contribute profoundly to the fear induced by the Terrifier villain, making up for the character’s lack of dialogue. This is a divergence from most slasher horror villains who are scary because their expressions either aren’t visible due to a mask or aren’t readable due to a flat affect. Yet, the serial killer’s face is still guarded due to the makeup. The unique approach to the villain increases curiosity about what Art the Villain looks like under the makeup.

Terrifier Teased What Art The Clown Looks Like With No Makeup

Terrifier Offers Extreme Close-Up Shots Of Art The Clown

Though Art the Clown is never entirely shown without makeup, the first Terrifier includes one scene of him putting on his gloves, makeup, and clown hood that provides minor hints about his appearance underneath his Art costume. His skin is Caucasian and pale. The closeup of him putting on makeup shows that he has deeply sunken eyes with black irises, though his eye color changes in later Art the Clown movies. His eyebrows are shaven off, and his eye sockets create a visible oval. They look more protruding than All Hallows Eve and The 9th Circle versions of the character.

The serial killer’s fingernails are dirty, with black along the cuticles, making him look slightly undead. Art has a hawk nose and sharp cheekbones with hollowed-out temples and cheeks. His mouth is bloody with receding gums and crooked, rotting teeth – a look achieved with prosthetics so that David Howard Thorton’s Art the Clown would look more similar to the version played by Mike Gianelli. Though the character already looks disturbing in Terrifier, he appears even more non-human when Art the Clown becomes a demon in the sequel.

What The Actor Who Plays Art The Clown Looks Like In Real Life

David Howard Thornton Looks Different From Art The Clown Because Of Prosthetics

While actor Mike Gianelli originally played Art the Clown in the short films, David Howard Thornton took over the role in the first feature-length film, Terrifier, and he has continued the role in the two sequels. Because David Howard Thornton’s TV shows and movies almost exclusively include prosthetics and facepaint, even people familiar with the actor’s work won’t necessarily know what he looks like. Many of Thornton’s facial features match those of Art the Clown, except softer; they don’t protrude as much.

Thornton has strong cheekbones and eyebrows, but his face isn’t hollowed out. His nose isn’t hawk-shaped, either, not coming down as low as the villain. In real life, the actor has graying, short brown hair, unlike his bald character. He has ordinary-looking teeth and a nice smile, rather than the unhealthy and rotting look of the prosthetic teeth he wears for Art the Clown. Thornton has green eyes like those of Art the Clown in Terrifier 2, and he had to wear contacts to get the black iris look in the first movie.

How David Howard Thornton Transforms To Look Like Art The Clown

Thornton Getting Into The Prosthetics And Makeup Takes Many Hours

The transformation of David Howard Thornton into Art the Clown is a time-intensive and labor-intensive process. During the first movie, the actor sat for four or more hours to put on all the prosthetics and makeup. Thornton told Smash or Thrash that Damien Leone had to mold the prosthetic to his face and then glue it on, painting the black parts of the clown’s face onto the prosthetic at the end. The actor explained the benefits of the approach, saying, “Since it was molded to my face and glued on, I was able to show a very wide range of expression.”

During the second movie, they managed to cut down the time it took to do Thornton’s makeup, taking around three hours. Leone explained why it took so long when speaking to MLive. He said this:

“We have to take a mold, then I have to sculpt the prosthetic…we have to make a new one every time because, when you take it off, it gets destroyed. I think we’ve got it down to maybe two and a half hours if I really push it.”

With the success of Terrifier 2, Leone was able to hire a makeup crew to take over the job in the threequel, spreading him less thin. Though David Howard Thornton had experience working with prosthetics before Terrifier, he told Smash or Thrash that the whole process of playing Art the Clown gave him much more respect for the actors Doug Jones, who acts in multiple movies requiring prosthetics; Ron Perlman, who plays the titular character in Hellboy; and Robert Englund, who plays Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, Smash or Thrash, Galaxy Con’s Twitter, and MLive

Director

Damien Leone

Release Date

October 11, 2024

Studio(s)

Dark Age Cinema , Fuzz on the Lens Productions

Distributor(s)

Cineverse

Writers

Damien Leone

Cast

Lauren LaVera , David Howard Thornton , Antonella Rose , Elliott Fullam , Samantha Scaffidi , Margaret Anne Florence , Bryce Johnson , Alexa Blair Robertson , Mason Mecartea , Krsy Fox , Luciana VanDette , Clint Howard , Bradley Stryker , Daniel Roebuck , Chris Jericho , Tom Savini , Jason Patric , Alex Ross , Kailey Hyman , Kellen Raffaelo , Lisa Marie Falcone , Stephen Cofield Jr. , Corrine Kelly , Joe Falcone , Peter Mitchell , Marie Maser , Jon Abrahams

Character(s)

Sienna , Art the Clown , Gabbie , Jonathan , Victoria Heyes , Jessica , Greg , Mia , Cole , Jennifer , Juliet , Smokey , Eddie , Santa / Charlie , Burke , Bystander , Michael , Mark , Brooke , Timmy , Dispatch , Officer Evans , Bag Lady , Dean , Cosplayer , Receptionist , Dennis

Runtime

125 Minutes

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