In 2013’s “All Hallows’ Eve,” Mike Giannelli once again portrayed Art the Clown, who this time carried out a series of hideous acts, all of which were captured on VHS tape. The footage itself is actually taken from “The 9th Circle” and “Terrifier,” and is discovered by two kids and their babysitter, who ultimately suffer a similarly gruesome fate. While “All Hallows’ Eve” was technically Damien Leone’s feature directorial debut, much of it was just re-purposed footage from his previous short films. Therefore, his actual feature directorial debut became 2016’s “Terrifier,” in which Art the Clown finally got the full-length treatment he deserved — unfortunately this proved to be, as /Film’s Chris Evangelista put it, “little more than a plotless, storyless, valueless” exercise.

But when Art ventured out for this first feature-length massacre, it wasn’t Giannelli behind the make-up, but David Howard Thornton. The actor got the gig after a nasty bit of improv during his audition, in which he mimed salting a severed head to taste — a glimpse of the sadistic humor Howard Thornton would bring to the role (you can actually watch the audition here.) But what happened to the man who had first animated Damien Leone’s homicidal harlequin?

Well, it seems there was no controversy here. As Giannelli told the Square Round Table hosts, “I was offered the role to do ‘Terrifer’ and I turned it down. I just wasn’t a big fan of filming. It’s long hours, the makeup really takes a long time to go on, it just wasn’t my thing.”