George Steuber has been the cinematographer on all of the Terrifier films. In fact, his time with Art the Clown goes all the way back to horror anthology All Hallow’s Eve. Given his history with the series and Art, it is no surprise that George Steuber is again behind the camera for the third Terrifier movie, Terrifier 3.
Following the shocking events of Terrifier 2, survivor Sienna (Lauren LaVera) is plagued by disturbing visions and begins to realise there’s no escaping her past, or out-running Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). Sadistic, sinister Art the Clown is back, and he’s more twisted than ever, determined to shatter the peace Sienna and her family have fought so hard to regain – dragging them back into a depraved and insidious living nightmare With a thirst for chaos and a mind twisted by pure evil, Art unleashes his biggest and bloodiest wave of horror yet, forcing Sienna to face her fears once more, in an epic fight for survival.
Last week Terrifier 3 held its Gala Screening in the UK, and in the lead up to the event, THN were able to speak with George Steuber to find out more about his journey with Art. Read on to find out how to make blood pop on screen and how George Steuber went from Army medic to Terrifier cinematographer.
Terrifier seems to be the little horror film that could. When you were working on the first film, did you ever conceive that the audience would embrace it as much as they have?
I believe that everyone on the project didn’t know it was going to get this big, to where we are now. The first one was very small. We have a tiny crew. I had like three crew members or less, and they would swap each other out.
After the 70s, 80s and 90s gave us icons of horror such as Ghostface, Pinhead, Freddy, Leatherface and co, there has been something of a lull in popular genre villains, with the exception of perhaps Jigsaw. What is it about Art the Clown that has succeeded where so many other attempts have failed?
I think Art manages to be a horror and mix that with comedy very well. I feel like it’s a good combination. I think that really works. Like Freddy Krueger, he was funny, but he was killing people. So you lighten it up a little bit, which I think Dave (David Howard Thornton) does very well.
What’s it like seeing David Howard Thornton become Art the Clown?
For us it’s a little different. I know Dave very well. He’s a lovable guy, not really like Art the Clown, kind of the opposite. It’s nice to see him really get into it, and do his thing. His acting is very good. He steps right into that character and turns it on, and it’s very believable.
The previous Terrifier films have been set around Halloween, but this one is Christmas, how did that change the way you approached the look of the film?
I’d say the challenge is more in the lighting than anything. I know props and production design really came into play on this one. There’s a lot more going on. There’s a lot more lighting – Christmas lights and decorations. I think that was more the challenge than anything else.
The Terrifier films are known for their blood. What’s the trick to making the red stuff pop on screen?
Shooting blood… don’t get the blood on the lens, I can tell you that. Especially if they’re million-dollar lenses. But lighting the blood is tricky too. You backlight it, you want to make it pop, and kind of separate it and make it a highlight piece. So it’s tricky, but that’s been going on since the first one. When you paint with the lights, you don’t want to paint certain things. You want to highlight an accent, other pieces that would make it more believable, I guess. Because, obviously, none of this is real. That’s pretty much it…Pools of blood, light a certain way trying to make it look not too fake. Besides the lighting, using good blood, there’s a big difference I learned from Damien. Using good blood makes a big difference. It’s a lot more money, but it looks great on camera.
The Terrifier series is known for its gruesome sequences, has Damien ever dreamed anything up that’s made you squeamish?
I mean sometimes, but in this world that we’re in, we see the other side. I’m looking at it from a production level, so I don’t really get too squeamish with it. I was an Army medic a long time ago, so blood doesn’t bother me.
How does someone go from Army medic to horror films?
I always had a passion for films growing up . As a kid we used to make them with a bunch of kids in the neighbourhood. We’d get together and try to make movies or, you know, films on VHS – I’m old. So I always have had that passion. I went into the military, I thought I wanted to be in medicine, I worked in the ER for a little bit, and I decided that that wasn’t the move I wanted to make. I wound up going to school and I changed over to law. Then I started making films while I was in school, just little things with some college friends and people were saying that they were really good. So I started to look at that more, and then I wound up opening a company and doing that. I shifted over to film, that’s pretty much the end of it.
This is the first Terrifier film to get a full theatrical release in the UK, why should people go and watch it?
I feel like this film will not let the horror fans down. We put everything we had into it. On my end, as far as lighting lenses and everything I possibly could to help the look of it, I really truly put everything into it. I feel like we won’t let them down if they go there. I hope they’ll be happy with it because we gave it our all.
Terrifier 3 is only in UK and Irish cinemas nationwide 11th October. Distributed by Signature Entertainment.
