{"id":268697,"date":"2025-11-07T11:39:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T11:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268697\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T11:39:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T11:39:13","slug":"more-terrifier-allegations-artists-say-theyre-afraid-to-speak-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268697\/","title":{"rendered":"More ‘Terrifier’ Allegations \u2014\u00a0Artists Say They’re Afraid to Speak Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been 11 days since \u201cTerrifier<\/a>\u201d actress Catherine Corcoran filed suit against filmmaker Damien Leone and producer Phil Falcone<\/a> for breach of contract. Citing a document already in evidence with a Los Angeles federal court, the plaintiff\u2019s team claims Corcoran is entitled to 1 percent of total franchise profits. That includes not just the ticket sales for the first three \u201cTerrifier\u201d movies \u2014\u00a0grossing more than $102 million worldwide<\/a> \u2014 but also the intense surge of merchandising and licensing deals that have since emerged out of the ultra-violent slasher series and its iconic killer, Art the Clown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The civil case isn\u2019t likely to start in earnest until early next year, but news of Corcoran\u2019s filing has already inspired other sources to come forward with their own complaints<\/a> about Leone and Falcone\u2019s business practices. IndieWire has spoken to multiple artists and businesses who say they were misled by the filmmaker, his producer, or both. They say they provided significant uncredited or uncompensated design work before being abruptly excluded from the \u201cTerrifier family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WEAPONS,<\/a> \"Lynne<\/a> <\/p>\n

Leone and Falcone fiercely denied Corcoran\u2019s accusations through The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, but neither individual nor their shared defense counsel responded to IndieWire\u2019s repeated requests for comment on the actress\u2019 lawsuit\u00a0or the subsequent claims IndieWire has already reported. They similarly did not respond to our inquiries about this article. Matt Bolea leads the charge among visual artists and graphic designers who take issue with \u201cTerrifier\u201d and the treatment of its fans.<\/p>\n

Many would not agree to be formally interviewed, citing fears of legal and social retaliation. Bolea says he already experienced that on social media thanks to \u201cTerrifier\u201d and has \u201cnothing to lose\u201d now. \u201cI know that the \u2018Terrifier\u2019 guys can see this, and I know that they know that I\u2019m still out here,\u201d Bolea told IndieWire. \u201cI want them to know they did not silence me.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey completely ruined my outlook on that franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Barton, better known as \u201cUncle Creepy\u201d online, spoke out shortly after Corcoran filed her claim and encouraged IndieWire to connect with Bolea. Dread Central co-founder and former editor-in-chief Barton was an established industry professional in the genre community long before his site\u2019s distribution label, Dread Presents, acquired the original \u201cTerrifier\u201d movie in late 2017. Barton has argued \u201cTerrifier\u201d wouldn\u2019t be what it is today without him, and he\u2019s found a sympathetic audience online where many fans still associate Uncle Creepy with the smash-hit indie film\u2019s grassroots success.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Left to right): Matt Bolea and Steve \u2018Uncle Creepy\u2019 BartonCourtesy Matt Bolea<\/p>\n

By many accounts, Barton was the professional foothold Leone and Falcone needed when they were still industry \u201coutsiders\u201d pedaling a controversial product. Then, he says he got forced out. <\/p>\n

Bolea and others contend Leone used that same script once \u201cTerrifier\u201d was successful and say they suffered from that same power dynamic. Several claim the franchise approached them \u2014\u00a0artists who had only drawn Art the Clown for fun before \u2014\u00a0encouraging and benefiting from their work before shutting them down without compensation or partnership. <\/p>\n

Bolea\u2019s story is similar and centers around what he perceived to be the wider influence of the broader \u201cTerrifier\u201d team and community.<\/p>\n

Many artists said they did not feel like they knew enough about the film business to question Leone and, much like distributor Barton, they believed the director would take care of them professionally as \u201cTerrifier\u201d grew. Barton and Corcoran\u2019s claims each reflect the same sense of confusion these talented film fans say they now feel over Leone and Falcone\u2019s behavior. Bolea views things more clearly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey completely ruined my outlook on that franchise,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t 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\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple sources described themselves as feeling \u201cstupid,\u201d \u201cna\u00efve,\u201d or \u201cembarrassed\u201d for not insisting on contracts before beginning their respective \u201cTerrifier\u201d projects. However, a representative for a well-established merchandising company (who asked to remain anonymous) told IndieWire they were \u201cnot surprised\u201d by allegations of uncredited and uncompensated artwork surrounding the \u201cTerrifier\u201d fandom.<\/p>\n

IndieWire has also learned of at least one dispute between Leone, Falcone, and an unnamed freelance artist that was settled out of court earlier this year. The terms of the agreement are not public, and the extent of the work covered by that deal is unknown. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was just doing stupid Art the Clown designs to not feel miserable in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bolea, who first gained attention from the \u201cTerrifier\u201d fandom through the official \u201cArt the Clown Appreciation Society\u201d Facebook page<\/a>, says he was \u201cslandered\u201d by the people who moderated the private Facebook group for the \u201cTerrifier\u201d team. Founded in 2018 just as the film series was kicking off, ATCAS has close to 45,000 members and remains one of the liveliest \u201cTerrifier\u201d platforms on the internet today. At the start, Bolea says he saw ATCAS primarily as a place to connect with other horror lovers and share his favorite Art the Clown drawings. Since then, it\u2019s turned into an epicenter of turmoil and heartbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just doing stupid Art the Clown designs to not feel miserable in my life,\u201d Bolea said. He described having a depression brought on by a recent divorce and his father\u2019s cancer diagnosis that was alleviated by his enjoyment of Leone\u2019s extreme horror films and continued, \u201cPosting them on Facebook, that was just my thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Bolea\u2019s designs gained traction in the group, he began receiving requests for t-shirts, which he didn\u2019t know how to make at the time. One design featuring Art the Clown mixed with Batman\u2019s Joker was particularly well-liked. When Bolea finally did learn to print his own apparel, he sent one of the group\u2019s official moderators (who had an acting role in \u201cTerrifier 2\u201d) a free shirt to give to star David Howard Thornton \u2014 aka Art the Clown himself \u2014\u00a0at a convention. In return, Bolea said he got two videos. One of Thornton receiving the shirt from the ATCAS admin, and another, the actor sent Bolea on his own, complimenting the design. IndieWire has seen that video, which includes Thornton remarking that he might even \u201cput [Bolea] in business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Matt Bolea and a \u2018Terrifier\u2019 fan with a poster featuring one of his designsCourtesy Matt Bolea<\/p>\n

Bolea said Thornton liked the shirt, which you can see the actor wearing in photos from meet-and-greet events spanning several months, and established Bolea as one of the most popular unofficial merch creators for the franchise. Thornton did not respond to our request for comment on this story, but IndieWire found proof of public interactions Bolea had with the actor, positioning them as enthusiastic supporters of each other\u2019s work at a time when love for Art the Clown was spreading quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey started telling me all of this stuff and I was like, \u2018Dog, I don\u2019t need to know this.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Per Bolea, admins of the official fan group had to approve all posts, including links to Bolea\u2019s merchandise store, he said, and they actively helped to promote his work, requested specific apparel designs, and bought a lot of it as well. Bolea places his story amid the exploding success of the two \u201cTerrifier\u201d sequels, released in 2022 and 2024. That\u2019s a period of increasing interest to early franchise contributors like Corcoran and Barton, who say they were cut out of the \u201cTerrifier\u201d mania right as the low-budget project they championed became a phenomenon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was seeing all these people buying and wearing my stuff, more than Terror Threads, more than Hell on Shirts, more than all these big, licensed companies at the time,\u201d Bolea said. \u201cI knew [the \u2018Terrifier\u2019 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, that could affect the finances of other companies who had purchased the right to work with them. Here I am, just some guy coming in and taking their business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bolea says the moderators \u2014 some of whom, based on screenshots reviewed by IndieWire, had access to \u201cTerrifier\u201d financial information \u2014 eventually approached him about an official \u201cTerrifier\u201d merchandising deal. The prospective agreement involved a hoodie Bolea created featuring Corcoran\u2019s image specifically. The design had a zipper down the front that \u201ccut\u201d the actress in half,\u00a0nodding to the way her character Dawn dies in the first film.<\/p>\n

Bolea told IndieWire the ATCAS team liked it, but when he approached Barton about official licensing \u2014\u00a0read our last \u201cTerrifier\u201d report in which Barton claims he was \u201cfired\u201d from his role with<\/a> <\/a>the franchise and later mischaracterized by the filmmakers as \u201cjust a fan\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Barton told Bolea he should instead approach Falcone. The producer ultimately shut the deal down and told him he wasn\u2019t licensed to sell any more merchandise, a move the graphic artist found \u201cconfusing\u201d and \u201cfrustrating.\u201d But in a series of emails shared with IndieWire, Bolea clearly accepts Falcone and Leone\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n

\u201cArt the Clown literally walks around with my designs on,\u201d Bolea said. \u201cThey had to know what I was doing, but he totally shut it down.\u201d The rejection came after the juggernaut theatrical success of \u201cTerrifier 2,\u201d which might explain the shift in tolerance for unofficial merch. But Bolea said admins on the ATCAS group had already promoted his hoodie (Bolea provided IndieWire with a screenshot of one such post), and fans repeatedly followed up with him asking about the status of the project.<\/p>\n

\"TERRIFIER,Catherine Corcoran<\/a> in \u2018Terrifier\u2019Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

According to Bolea, the disappointment that followed inspired a few people within the innermost ATCAS circle to break ranks, sharing information about Leone and Falcone that changed how Bolea sees the films. \u201cThey started telling me all of this stuff and I was like, \u2018Dog, I don\u2019t need to know this,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bolea told IndieWire he was disturbed by the extent of the in-fighting between ATCAS and the core \u201cTerrifier\u201d team, sharing screenshots of moderators viciously disparaging a number of people \u2014\u00a0including Falcone. Bolea said he later learned from a licensee that Falcone was insisting on a 35-percent royalty fee across Art the Clown and \u201cTerrifier\u201d merchandise. Manufacturers familiar with this type of competitive product space typically place IP royalties closer to 12 or 15 percent and stress that such a model would likely be \u201cunsustainable.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the emails between Falcone and Bolea (provided to IndieWire by Bolea), the artist offers a 20 percent cut of all proceeds to the \u201cTerrifier\u201d filmmakers unprompted.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I\u2019m aware of, it did hurt a lot of smaller business partners they had because they couldn\u2019t continue to make merchandise off of 35 percent retail,\u201d Bolea said. \u201cYou\u2019re just making no money.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been fans first. People like me don\u2019t exist without them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explaining how the behind-the-scenes drama soured his experience as a fan, Bolea said he ended up feeling cheated,\u00a0not out of a deal but out of the community that had drawn him to \u201cTerrifier\u201d in the first place. As he began responding to questions about future sales, which were finished at that point, Bolea says the ATCAS moderators turned the verbal fire hose on him. <\/p>\n

He shared many screenshots with IndieWire that paint the picture of an intense campaign intended to portray him and others who took issue with Falcone and Leone as obsessive, even delusional \u201cTerrifier\u201d fans who were seeking credit and compensation they were never owed. The screenshots provided by Bolea include members likening him to a serial killer and \u201ca child throwing a tantrum,\u201d further characterizing him as \u201cpathetic\u201d and indirectly threatening him with violence. On the contrary, Bolea said he acted in overwhelming good faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI even helped them gather \u2018Terrifier 3\u2019 movie posters from multiple theaters after the \u2018Terrifer 2\u2032 re-release, so they wouldn\u2019t be thrown away,\u201d he said. \u201cI sent them out to well over a hundred people who could not make the screenings, for free. Do you know how much money I could have made on eBay during that time if I was watching out for myself more than them? And that was the ATCAS admins\u2019 idea.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"An autographed photo Matt Bolea says he was given by David Howard ThorntonCourtesy Matt Bolea<\/p>\n

The perception that Bolea was just an out-of-touch fan was further inflamed by his decision to share and \u201csatirize\u201d his experience with Leone and Falcone on Instagram and TikTok. He posted several videos that indirectly explained what happened to the potential sweatshirt release through light-hearted humor, before being banned from the group altogether. It was at that point that he began speaking out directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like if what happened to me hadn\u2019t happened then, there wouldn\u2019t be a basis to see what was really going on with \u2018Terrifier\u2019 fans and marketing in this gray area,\u201d said Bolea.<\/p>\n

Barton shared a similar experience with IndieWire last week. Of course, the former Dread Central editor-in-chief boasts a professional resume that directly contradicts the suggestion that he was just another \u201cTerrifier\u201d fan. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to my relationship with the fans, it\u2019s always been fans first. People like me don\u2019t exist without them,\u201d Barton said. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you this:\u00a0A person or group can write or use all the right words regarding something, but if they don\u2019t have the heart to back it up sooner or later, it will eventually ring false.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe franchise has done so much for the fanbase and for the industry,\u201d said Bolea, who despite his history with \u201cTerrifier\u201d still hopes to see a fourth installment reach theaters. \u201cThere are so many people who have rightfully gotten success because of \u2018Terrifier,\u2019 like David [Howard Thornton] and Lauren [LaVera], but I feel like there should still be accountability when others are hurt or done wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been 11 days since \u201cTerrifier\u201d actress Catherine Corcoran filed suit against filmmaker Damien Leone and producer Phil…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,156570,98586,134,5296,344,156571,43175],"class_list":{"0":"post-268697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-catherine-corcoran","11":"tag-damien-leone","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-interviews","14":"tag-movies","15":"tag-phil-falcone","16":"tag-terrifier"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}