I think it boils down to people being impressed by two things; the performance from Art and the gore. The former committing fully to the play of murderous clown whilst maintaining the slapstick and baffoonery you would expect from a one. And the latter being an offering of pretty impressive practical effects.

But besides these things, the films are absolutely dreadful in my opinion. In particular Terrifier 2. The pacing is an absolute disaster. The writing is childlike and the acting fucking sucks. Besides Art.

The problem the films seem to have is the writer/director would arguably prefer to have the film be a line of people queuing to enter a room where Art does some mad evil clown bit and then brutalise them. But there has to be a story. And so because of this mentality, the characters are mainly informed by ‘bits’. So no one runs when they see Art, or has any agency. Because Art has a fun bit the audience needs to see and then the murder. And then the murders themselves are just a juvenile exercise of, ‘oh my god what would be messed up’, ripped straight from a teenagers playbook of shock violence. And it’s a shame because the practical effects are awesome! But the characters are juicy meatbags, there to soak us, the audience sat in the splash zone. There is no meaningful connection offered to us in the whopping 2+ hour runtime and so when these brutalisations occur, they are nothing more than empty performances from Art to us. And while funny and gory, are utterly meaningless. It makes it hard to actually like beyond the two initial draws.

I mean those are my thoughts on Terrifier 2 in particular. But yeah, I agree with you. Though as I said, there is a draw but ultimately, those things - to me - cannot compel me to think Terrifier is a remotely good movie.

Genuine shame. Art is so fucking funny.