10 Most Iconic Horror Movie Villains Of The 21st Century
2. Art the Clown - Terrifier
In terms of recent horror icons, there's none more undeniable than Terrifier's Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton).
Back when the character first appeared in Damien Leone's 2008 short The 9th Circle, as well as 2013's anthology film All Hallows' Eve and 2016's Terrifier, who could've ever anticipated that the deranged clown would become a genuine global phenomenon?
Though the first Terrifier was a modest box office success per its low budget, the film picked up serious steam with horror fans on streaming, with many pointing to the colourful presence of Art as brought to darkly comedic life by the brilliant David Howard Thornton.
By the time Terrifier 2 came out, Art was already a hugely popular character, and the recent Terrifier 3 confirmed him to indeed be the closest thing modern horror has ever had to its own Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, or Freddy Krueger.
Despite being a fundamentally mute character, Thornton's physically expressive performance has endeared this blood-thirsty psychopath to millions of genre fans.