The Terrifier franchise has been hit with several allegations of mistreatment as well as a lawsuit from one of its lead stars.
Directed by Damien Leone, Terrifier was released in 2018 as monochromatic serial killer Art the Clown stalked the streets of Miles County on Halloween night.
It was followed by Terrifier 2 in 2022 and a third film in 2024, which became the highest-grossing unrated film of all time.
To date, the Terrifier franchise has grossed over $100million (£75million), with the three films being made on a combined budget of less than $2.5million (£1.8million).
With a fourth film on the way, the Terrifier franchise has faced controversy with original film star Catherine Corcoran suing Leone as well as producer Phil Falcone.
Following her allegations, several creatives have come forward with their own claims about the horror creators.
Leone and Falcone have strongly denied the allegations against them.
Why is Catherine Corcoran suing the Terrifier creators?
Catherine Corcoran alleged there was a breach of contract and the distribution of sexually explicit materials without consent.
In a suit filed in California federal court, her lawyers said the case was defined by the ‘all-too-common story of low-budget film producers taking advantage of a young actress through fraud, sexual harassment, and, ultimately, betrayal’.
The lawsuit includes seven claims for relief, including distribution of sexually explicit materials, breach of contract, and promissory fraud, as reported by Variety.
It also names production companies Dark Age Cinema and Fuzz on the Lens Productions as defendants, as well as Leone and his company Art the Clown, plus producer Falcone.
The suit alleges that Corcoran agreed to appear in the film on an ‘extremely low up front per diem rate’, earning $100 (£75).
She additionally claims that it was agreed she would later receive 1% of the profits from the film, as well as potential future franchise entries and related merchandise, including other licenses of the intellectual property.
In the years following the original film’s release, she says her royalty payments ended up becoming ‘more and more sporadic and dwindled to amounts nowhere near commensurate.’
She says she has only received $8,300 (£6,228), with payments also ceasing in July last year.
Although she’s claimed to have spoken to Falcone and Leone, she was ‘brushed off’ and told that the producer ‘doesn’t keep records.’
The actress has claimed that filming an infamous scene that saw her being slaughtered while hanging upside down and naked required her to be hung by her ankles for ‘over 10 hours in below freezing temperatures.’
She also says she was told the scene ‘required’ her to be nude; however, she wasn’t told this ahead of filming.
Though she claims that she asked to wear underwear during shooting, she still ended up doing the scene topless without written consent, which was required by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
The lawsuit also claims the defendants have profited from merchandise depicting Corcoran’s nude body.
She also alleged that Falcone did not obtain her consent to take ‘numerous still photographs’ of her nude body while she was glued to a piece of plywood while filming.
The lawsuit also details how Corcoran faced ‘long hours in below freezing temperatures in condemned buildings, all without heat and some without bathrooms’, having ‘prosthetics with actual rat faeces put on her skin and duct tape over her mouth’, as well as facing a ‘long, painful process’ to be removed a piece of plywood she’d had to lie on to create a silicone body cast.
After filming, she then fell ill in the subsequent days and was diagnosed with cranial swelling and eardrum damage.
What other allegations has the horror franchise faced?
Graphic designer Matt Bolea and horror industry professional Stephen Barton made allegations against Leone and the Terrifier crew days after details of Corcoran’s lawsuit were reported.
Barton, who founded horror publication Dread Central, acquired Terrifier in 2017 under Dread Presents and was a producer on Terrifier 2.
Speaking to IndieWire, the horror creative, known as Uncle Creepy online, claimed he was ‘forced out’ of the franchise after it began to gain traction.
‘When it comes to my relationship with the fans, it’s always been fans first. People like me don’t exist without them,’ he told the publication.
‘I’ll tell you this: A person or group can write or use all the right words regarding something, but if they don’t have the heart to back it up sooner or later, it will eventually ring false.’
He continued: ‘I launched a f*****g juggernaut, but I was stupid enough to not get anything in writing. So, that’s my fault.’
He says that an email from Falcone ‘firing’ him from the franchise in 2023 was a ‘shock’ and that it ‘breaks his heart.’
‘I am still living paycheck to paycheck, and it hurts to look at. Even [on Halloween], I have little kids dressed like Art knocking on my door,’ he added.
‘I get very sad and upset each time I see it. Because it harkens back to the whole, “What did I do wrong? I’m a failure. I should be taking better care of my wife and kids…” thing.’
Sharing the article on Instagram, Barton additionally wrote: ‘For the first time since everything went down I let someone interview Steve Barton instead of Uncle Creepy re: what happened with #Terrifier and my involvement in the franchise. To do it I reopened up a wound I’ve been struggling to keep shut.
‘Some of it is included in this article, but honestly speaking, they only scratched the surface of what we spoke about. That’s kind of disappointing.
‘I would like to take a moment to address whomever said I was let go for “overstepping my boundaries.” Allow me to remind you of something.
‘Damien called me to get the deal with Cinedigm done. Not Phil. Not the sales agent. ME. Why? Because of my relationships and the fact that he knew I could get them what they wanted. That’s exactly what I did. Without that and without me there’s no theatrical. Without every bit of noise I made to rally the fans there is no success, and there’s certainly no great fanfare for this indie darling.’
He continued: ‘Let me be clear – you are more than entitled to your opinion, but if you are “close to the production” you are also lucky to have boundaries to be overstepped. If I didn’t do everything I did – exactly the way that I did it – you wouldn’t have anywhere near the success you’re all enjoying. That’s not sour grapes, that’s just the truth.’
Bolea, meanwhile, told IndieWire that he was sharing designs on the Facebook page Art the Clown Appreciation Society, which caught the attention of the team behind the film.
He began making merchandise featuring his designs, one of which was given to Art actor David Howard Thornton, with Bolea claiming the Terrifier team was aware of his work.
‘I knew [the Terrifier team] was aware of that. It was obvious. But it was also making me feel slightly problematic because I knew that without me having a license, it could affect the finances of other companies that had purchased the right to work with them. Here I am, just some guy coming in and taking their business,’ he said.
Bolea claimed he was eventually approached by moderators of the group about an official Terrifier merchandising deal featuring Corcoran being cut in half.
He approached Barton with the design, who then allegedly told him to speak to Falcone. Bolea says the producer shut the deal down.
Bolea claims he and other members of the group raised questions about future sales of merchandise, to no avail.
He said to IndieWire: ‘They completely ruined my outlook on that franchise.
‘You don’t want to ruin these movies for all the other fans that really bought into it, but at the end of the day, a lot of that just isn’t right.’
The publication additionally claimed to have spoken to ‘multiple artists and businesses’ who say they were ‘misled by the filmmaker, his producer, or both.’
They claim that several freelance creatives, who chose to remain anonymous, had been left uncredited and uncompensated for their work, like Bolea.
What have Damien Leone and the film’s producers said about the allegations?
An attorney for Leone, Larry Zerner, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Damien and Phil deny the claims in the complaint and will vigorously defend this lawsuit.’
They have not addressed the additional allegations levied by Barton and Bolea.
Speaking in the lawsuit, Corcoran’s lawyer Devin McRae wrote: ‘Were it not for Corcoran’s willingness to take a risk on this production and receive her compensation on the back-end, the series would not exist as it could not have been made on a shoestring budget otherwise.
‘However, when it came time to pay what was owed, the producers chose to cheat her.’
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