[EXCLUSIVE]: Horror in Dark Times: Damien Leone Talks 'TERRIFIER 4', Art the Clown’s Fate, and Why Fans Still Flock to Fear

By Klep Napier | WeAreCritiX.com

At this year’s Silver Scream convention in Worcester, Massachusetts, Terrifier creator Damien Leone took a break from signing autographs to talk about where horror stands in an era when real-world violence dominates the headlines. Despite the chaos outside the convention walls, Leone’s tone was hopeful, grounded in his love of the genre and the fans who built his franchise. “I always get excited to meet celebrities because I’m still such a fan,” he admitted. “I was just hanging out with Greg Nicotero and Tom Savini — they were my heroes as a kid. I’m still like a little seven-year-old obsessed with makeup effects.”

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For Leone, horror conventions are more than fan service they’re a lifeline for independent creators. He explained that the Terrifier franchise owes much of its success to relationships forged at these events. “Over the years, getting to meet a lot of these actors, we’ve established relationships and I’ve gotten to put them into some movies,” he said. “Even reconnected with Savini at these and got to put him in Terrifier 3. Opportunities come out of being at these conventions.” That grassroots energy has made Terrifier one of the few indie slashers to break into mainstream pop culture on sheer fan passion alone.

With that momentum behind him, Leone is now deep into writing Terrifier 4 in fact, he laughed that he was “just writing it in my hotel room” during the convention weekend. Though he kept spoilers under wraps, he did hint at something bold: “The most exciting thing and probably the biggest departure from anything I’ve ever done… is what’s gonna be the last 25-30 minutes of Terrifier 4. It’s very experimental… dipping into a lot of avenues and mediums that I haven’t explored yet.” He acknowledged it’s a gamble, but one he’s eager to take. “If you’re not willing to take chances, then the reward’s not going to be as big if it pays off.”

As for the question fans keep asking will this be the end of Art the Clown? Leone carefully chose his words. “All I’ll say is this is being written as a finale,” he revealed. “It’s going to have nice closure to the whole story that’s been building. But is this the last time you’re ever going to see that character? It’s hard to say.” For a villain who has become a modern horror icon, even the possibility of a swan song feels seismic. Leone made clear that, like any good slasher, Art may not go quietly.

And while his films are infamous for their graphic brutality, Leone is deeply mindful of how that lands in today’s climate. When asked if America’s current wave of violence could hurt horror at the box office, he offered a surprisingly empathetic perspective. “It really is dark times right now,” he said. “But ironically enough, the darker reality is, the more people have a yearning to go see more graphic movies… because it helps them cope even more with the horrors of reality.” To Leone, horror is about facing death as a community and finding the light. “We do have our final girl,” he reminded with a smile. “We are dealing with the light as opposed to the dark in this franchise.”

Fans can catch Damien Leone and the cast of Terrifier all weekend long at Silver Scream in Worcester, Massachusetts at the DCU Center, and can expect his much-anticipated Terrifier 4 to slash its way into theaters in 2026 — promising both closure and chaos when Art the Clown makes his possible final bow.