It’s not often that a micro-budget film is able compete against franchises and major studios in the box office. Terrifier 2 is the rare exception. The ultra-violent, underground slasher film has really struck a chord with movie-goers this Halloween season.
The film picks up where the original left off. A psychopathic clown named Art terrorizes the small community of Miles County, butchering his way through suburbia for nearly two-and-a-half hours. The film has gotten a lot of notoriety, and some criticism, for its graphic portrayals of murder and mutilation.
Even after the huge commercial successes of other underdog horror movies like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, Terrifier 2’s box office performance was a shock to pretty much everybody.
The studios producing the film, Bloody Disgusting and Cinedigm, and its distributor, Iconic Releasing, originally intended to release the film for just one weekend at the beginning of October. But then, over those three nights, it grossed $825,000, finishing top 10. The following weekend, it managed to make even more money despite opening in fewer theaters, defying conventional wisdom. So far the film has made $7.7 million in four weeks against a $250,000 budget.
One of Terrifier 2′s main appeals is how it shamelessly plays into audience’s obsession with gore and violence. The simultaneous record-breaking success of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story confirms that there is a healthy appetite for the macabre.
The audience itself has become part of the story. The movie has prompted walkouts even before the title credits and it made people so nauseous, some viewers even fainted. The shocking audience responses has earned the film comparisons to The Exorcist.
Terrifier 2 has no stars, n0 big-name directors, and seemingly no marketing budget. It was funded, in-part, through an Indiegogo campaign, that raised $125K in one week. Most viewers hadn’t even heard of the original. Audiences learned about the movie mostly through word-of-mouth. Yet the small budget, big heart movie is full of homemade qualities that make it feel authentic and relatable. Director Damien Leone did much of the makeup himself and most of the practical effects are non-digital. It quickly developed a cult following.
If anything, Terrifier 2 shows that independent films made with shoestring-budgets still have a place in our hearts and in the market.
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