Terrifier 2 director reveals the scrapped idea that was "too distasteful" even for him

Terrifier 2
(Image credit: Bloody Disgusting)

Terrifier 2 director Damien Leone has revealed a scrapped idea that went too far – even for him. The ultra-gory movie focuses on a killer clown named Art, who's on the hunt for a teenage girl and her younger brother. 

But, even in a movie of this bloody caliber, one idea was simply too much. "Art the Clown likes to play with people's entrails," Leone explained to Variety. "There's the scene where he cuts off a man's penis. He could have taken it further. We had conversations of things he could do once he took the guy's penis off. We explored those and joked about it, but then we said, 'No, that's way too far. That's too distasteful.'"

Curious about those ideas? Leone has you covered. "Possibly making a balloon animal out of it, or something like that," he revealed. "But we absolutely can't do that. It was actually [Art the Clown actor] Dave [Howard Thornton]'s suggestion. We're always trying to one-up each other and come up with sick things, but that was too far for me."

Considering the movie is so gory that people have reportedly been throwing up and passing out while watching, it's probably for the best that this particular avenue was left unexplored. 

"Absolutely. It seemed like our duty to at least try and come close to that," Leone told SFX magazine of feeling the pressure to top the first movie's infamous hacksaw scene. "When we were making the first film, I knew that it might get lost in a sea of thousands of other films. I thought, 'We have to show things that Hollywood may not necessarily have the balls to do!' And now people have tattoos of that scene! For Terrifier 2, it was a little nerve-wracking. There are only so many ways you can dissect a human being! But we really did swing for the fences. There's maybe triple the amount of kills and, like, four really hardcore set-pieces."

Terrifier 2 is currently playing on over 700 screens in the US and is available on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK. If you're all caught up, check out our roundup of the best horror movies ever for a terrifying movie marathon. 

Molly Edwards
Entertainment Writer

I'm an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.