Terrifier director really wants you to know that his movies aren't political

Art The Clown had audiences crying, shaking, and throwing up over his murderous antics in theaters, but Terrifier director Damien Leone seems to be having a similar reaction to people accusing his films of not being sufficiently bipartisan. "I want to make a very important statement regarding the Terrifier franchise in this ugly political climate we’re living in," he began a lengthy Facebook post, which he also shared on Twitter (X) yesterday. "As most of you know, some of my cast and crew members have a very passionate political presence on social media with extreme and sometimes harsh opinions which is their right. I’m all for freedom of speech and expression. That being said, Terrifier is NOT in any way shape or form a political franchise."

While he didn't name them outright, the post seems to have been inspired by stars David Howard Thornton (Art) and Lauren LaVera (Sienna), both of whom have shared anti-Trump sentiments on their personal platforms. Thornton specifically posted that he "grew up around Germans that stayed silent" and now "refuse(s) to stay silent" on Threads, adding that anyone who "insult(s) the LGBTQ community… can f@ck all the way off."

In contrast, Leone "did not get into filmmaking to become a politician or promote any political agendas or ideologies, especially through a killer clown movie." The Terrifier crew has always consisted of both Democrats and Republicans, he specified, and "anyone is welcome to be a part of it regardless of their political affiliations as long as they’re a decent human being."

That's a nice sentiment in theory, but it willfully ignores the fact that horror has always been political. (Moreso in book than in movie form, but It, the archetypal killer clown fable, very much deals with issues of class, race, gender, sexuality—you name it.) The fact that Leone chose to respond this way after his stars specifically stood up for immigrants and LGBTQ+ people is also, uh, interesting.

His fans think so, at least. The statement has blown up on social media, with people sounding off in support of all sides in the comments. The general sentiment, however, seems to be that he shouldn't have posted it at all.

"I feel this is in response to some of the LGBTQ advocacy that DHT has been standing up for lately on his platform, which would not make this response a great look. Playing both sides atm just isnt (sic) a good take when one side is advocating for the rights and lives of minorities and the other side is celebrating seig heils and the splitting up of migrant families across the country. I love you and DHT and the whole crew but rn this response will only do more damage than good and cause a rift between the Terrifier community," one fan wrote, to which Leone responded: "It’s definitely not since I agree with his stance on that. Who do you think hires all of our LGBTQ cast n crew members? They are loved, respected and encouraged to work with us."

That may be true, but the scariest thing about the Terrifier franchise right now is still how much Leone is hacking away at the outpouring of good will his sleeper hits have earned over the years. You can read his full statement below:

Hopefully I never have to bring up politics publicly ever again but this desperately needed to be said on behalf of the Terrifier franchise