“ONCE REPORTS CAME out about people fainting and vomiting, it was off to the races.” Damien Leone has had one hell of a year. His sequel to his 2016 slasher Terrifier has been a surprise box-office hit, received a government warning from Australia on account of its gory murders at the hands of an evil clown and, wildly, has been submitted to the Oscars. And it’s just one of a handful of trailblazing indie horrors earning big bucks and high praise from fans of the genre. Leone in part attributes his “pull no punches” approach to filmmaking — ascalping and castration feature in Terrifier 2 — for the film’s success. “I think we’re becoming tired of sterile, psychological horror films or ghost stories,” he says. “Horror is cyclical and it may be time for the slasher genre to resurface for a while. Let’s have some fun!”