The plot centers on partygoer Tara Heyes (Kanell) and her sister Victoria (Scaffidi), who become targets of the enigmatic serial killer known only as Art the Clown (Thornton) on Halloween night.

Leone tried to raise funds for the Terrifier feature film with an Indiegogo campaign, which fell short of its goal.

On Halloween night of 2017, two friends, Tara and Dawn, drunkenly leave a party and encounter Art the Clown, who follows them to a pizzeria.

The Cat Lady discovers Art with her doll, and in a plea for the return of her "child", attempts to show motherly compassion by cradling him.

Writer and director Damien Leone made his directorial debut with the short film The 9th Circle (2008), which introduced the character Art the Clown.

[10] On his approach to making Terrifier, Leone stated, "I wanted to take familiar elements that we all embraced from American horror movies, combined with the graphic violence and atmosphere of Giallo films.

[10] Despite being a feature film, Leone wrote a simple, straightforward narrative, initially focusing on two women, Tara Heyes and Dawn Emerson, whom Art stalks and kills on Halloween night.

In 2015, Leone launched a campaign on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo to finance Terrifier, a feature-length spin-off of All Hallows' Eve.

[11] After being notified of the Indiegogo campaign, filmmaker Phil Falcone provided the necessary funds for the project in exchange for a producer credit.

[19] Thornton was already familiar with All Hallows' Eve when he auditioned for the role of Art in Terrifier, and got cast after improvising a kill scene in mime.

Anton Bitel of the British Film Institute described the film as a "subtext-free thrill-and-kill ride which openly advertises the sheer senselessness and gratuity of all its on-screen cat-and-mouse deaths by numbers" and "an unapologetically ‘pure’ genre entry, confronting – and amusing – us with all the sinister masked vicariousness of the Halloween spirit.

It's a thrilling, brutal, gory '80s throwback that I recommend checking out, especially if you have a fondness for the same decade of films that this movie obviously holds in high regard.

"[31] Jeremy Aspinall of Radio Times praised the film, writing "But despite the unsparing gore, there's also plenty of atmosphere and a gnawing tension that's maintained all the way to the sequel-hinting climax.

[33] Amyana Bartley of FilmInquiry.com felt that the film's script lacked both clear protagonists and depth, writing, "Art the Clown has the potential to be a formidable, gruesome, franchise horror character, he just needs more seasoning and cultivation.

"[34] Felix Vasquez Jr. of Cinema Crazed called it "fairly mediocre slasher fare", stating that the film lacked any creativity and tension while also criticizing its story line.

Vasquez concluded his review by stating "As a film Terrifier aims high, but feels like a very disposable party favor you'll have forgotten once the credits roll.

"[35] The film received three Fangoria Chainsaw Award nominations: Best Limited Release, Best Supporting Actor (Thornton), and Best Makeup FX (Leone).

[36][37] Between 2021 and 2022, a self-published two-issue limited comic book series adaptation of Terrifier was released by Damien Leone with illustrations by Steve McGinnis.