The true reason behind any long-running slasher franchise’s success isn’t the quality of the kills, although that does play a big factor. It’s ironically how likable their recurring villains are. We keep coming back to the Friday the 13ths and Nightmare on Elm Streets because we want to see Jason and Freddy massacre more teens. They entertain us so we can’t wait for them to be resurrected for the umpteenth time and honestly probably wouldn’t be all that bothered if they won in the end. Terrifier in its second outing on the other hand seems to be attempting to do the exact opposite. Essentially trying to go about getting people invested in returning for future installments by making them utterly HATE the central antagonist.  Art’s sadistic cruelty and pantomime routine were darkly amusing in the pair of films and shorts the preceded this chapter. That isn’t quite the case anymore. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve somehow gone soft, the result of the lackluster practical gore effects no longer carrying the same cheap exploitation flick charm they once did, or the consequence of how excessively freaking long the movie is at nearly two-and-a-half hours (although I do appreciate the freedom that gave Damien Leone to portray whatever sick bit of vileness popped into his twisted mind), but with every act of savagery and brutality I witnessed my loathing of the demonic fiend only grew deeper. My favorite moments were the brief instances where the unusually charming victims of his torment got some of their own licks in.  All in all, it was an effective strategy. Combined with the intriguing hints of deeper lore that promise to make the enigmatic devil less of a mystery at some point, I’ll definitely be checking out 3 and likely the already announced 4 as well. I can’t wait to finally see this clown die for real already.