In case you haven’t heard, Ice Nine Kills has a new music video coming out for Terrifier 3!
The video features music by the band, as well as several cast members of the film, including Art the Clown himself! It also features the acting premiere of the “Metal Ambassador,” Jose Mangin from Liquid Metal, and High Octane, on Sirius XM.
We’ve seen the video, and both INK and Terrifier fans are going to love it! It’s basically a mini-movie, and yes, it’s gloriously brutal. We had the chance to chat with Spencer, singer and leader of Ice Nine Kills, about this seemingly perfect marriage, and how it came about!
iHorror: Hey, Spencer! How are you doing?
Spencer Charnas: I’m doing great, man! Super excited. I’m always excited when we have new music or a new video coming out, but the fact that it’s tied to something I love so much, the Terrifier franchise, adds like a whole new level of excitement.
You guys (INK) just wrapped up the Silver Scream Con 3, out in Worcester, MA. That seemed like a huge success.
It was awesome, dude! It was our third year doing it, and we sold 2,500 more tickets than we did last year. We did it at a bigger venue. It was amazing to see the growth of the con in a few short years. It’s really exciting to now look forward to that weekend every year.
So, let’s talk about this new INK song and video. “A Work of Art.” What can you tell us about it, without spoiling too much?
I’ve been a fan of the Terrifier franchise ever since it came out. I became even more obsessed with it when part two came out. I became very friendly with Damien (Leone) and David (Howard Thornton) and other stars from the movie like Catherine (Corcoran) and Leah (Voysey), and getting to meet Eliot (Fullam) and Lauren (LaVera), and all these great people. It just seemed natural, because I noticed that there was such an overlap between INK fans, and Terrifier fans. I started to do a lot of horror conventions and I see so many INK shirts, and so many Terrifier shirts that it just seemed like such a natural thing to go out there and try to do a “Dream Warriors”, or a “Man Behind the Mask” (type of song) for Terrifier.
I pitched the idea to Damien, he loved it and the whole team was so cool about opening up their sandbox to us. This is a big film franchise, and to be given the reins to play with such an iconic character and lore is such an honor. I can’t wait for people to see it!
Now, when you say “given the reins,” is that because there’s some actual characters from the Terrifier franchise in the video?
Yeah, I don’t want to spoil too much, but I think it’s public knowledge. Obviously David plays Art the Clown. Catherine Corcoran, and Leah Voysey, and also a couple friends of mine. From Sirius radio, Jose Mangin, who has been an unbelievable supporter of the band and he’s such a great radio personality. He’s such a huge horror fan, and a huge metal fan, and we bonded over that on many occasions, and I wanted to involve him. I was blown away by how good he was on camera. I think everyone was. I think he has a real future in acting. We brought in Richard Christy from Sirius Radio, the drummer of the band Death. He’s a huge Art the Clown fan. Vinny the program director from Sirius, just so many little cameos. We’re incredibly excited.
There’s also a 14-minute supercut, a seven-minute extension to the original video, with some unbelievable cameos that I can’t talk about yet, but all will be unveiled soon. That won’t be in the theatre with the film, it will be released online. It kind of plays up more of the comedic edge of the band.
Now, the video releases to the public the day after the premier of the film?
Correct, but if you want to see it on the big screen the only opportunity will be the preview night of October 10th, exclusively with the Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3 double feature. If you’re looking to see where it’s playing you can go to Iceninekills.com and we break it down by state. It’s in 350 Marcus and AMC theatres, so you should be able to find one that’s relatively close to you.
The video was written by you, as well as Andrew Justin Smith and Paul Soter?
Correct. I have a very impressive team working with me making me look good. I’ve been friends with Andrew since I was a little kid, we’ve written together since elementary school. Paul Soter (Broken Lizard) is someone that I’ve looked up to for a long time. I became aware of his work with Super Troopers, and just kind of fell in love with Broken Lizard. Especially Club Dread, which is so underrated. I became friendly with him through The Silver Scream Con, and we kind of hit it off and then started to work together professionally.
Okay, so who came up with the awesome kills and the storyline in the video? Was it a team effort?
Yeah, it was a super collaborative effort. Andrew and I tackled the opening scene together, and we worked with an amazing team. Jensen Noen, who is an incredible director, has been working with us since The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood. He’s done all of our videos since “Hip to Be Scared.” We had great producers and DP’s. Then Paul (Soter) really helped us tackle the seven-minute extension.
Also, Chris Nelson, who is one of the best special effects guys in the game, has become a friend of mine over the last couple years and he very generously lent us his talents, and that’s why the special effects look so incredible. He brought with him that level of expertise with him, which ended up guiding the storyline of the video, which I thought was interesting. To have the special effects and kills dictate where the story goes, and I’m really glad we listened to him in terms of showing some restraint. You know, sometimes less is more, in terms of suspense and putting the audience on the edge of their seats, and I hope we accomplished that.
INK has been so busy! You guys were on tour with Metallica, then The Silver Scream Con, the video, plus numerous other things. Are you guys taking some downtime after this, or? What’s next for INK?
I don’t have any downtime, man. Even when I’m off, I’m never off. It’s definitely a good problem to have. I’m looking forward to not playing shows for a little bit. We’re going to Australia with The Amity Affliction and We Came as Romans in November, but then from around Thanksgiving to April, we are off from touring. Then we hit the road again with Metallica and Limp Bizkit. It’s going to be insane.
Well, I hope you get to rest a little bit, man. Thank you so much for your time, Spencer!
Thank you!
You can see “A Work of Art” after the double feature premiere of Terrifier 3 on October 10th, or the next day online! If you’re a Terrifier or an INK fan, you’re not going to want to miss this one! It’s bloody awesome!
Follow our new YouTube channel “Mysteries and Movies” here.