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Damien Leone rose to global stardom when his independent slasher franchise, Terrifier, became one of the most profitable and talked-about horror movies of the 21st century. The first in the series, Terrifier (2016), grossed $422,000 against a $35,000 budget. Its sequel, Terrifier 2 (2022), launched the franchise to international fame, grossing a whopping 10.6 million against a $250,000 budget. The third film, Terrifier 3 (2024), became the highest-grossing unrated film in history, earning 90.3 million dollars worldwide. The franchise has been heavily merchandised and even received its own haunted house at Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights in 2025.
The trilogy was already incredibly controversial, with many writing it off as "torture porn" and labeling it "misogynistic" due to its depiction of violence against women. Even so, Damien Leone had avoided having any controversy aimed directly at himself until October 26, 2025.
Catherine Corcoran, an actress from the first movie, filed a civil complaint against Damien Leone, producer Phil Falcone, and their associated production companies with the intent to take the lawsuit to jury trial. "This case presents an all-too-common story of low-budget film producers taking advantage of a young actress through fraud, sexual harassment, and, ultimately, betrayal," claim Corcoran's attorneys.
Corcoran was involved in one of the franchise's most iconic scenes in which her character was bisected by the film's antagonist, Art the Clown. This scene required Corcoran to be suspended by her ankles in below-freezing temperatures in a condemned building.
This was just the tip of the iceberg regarding her mistreatment on set, according to her civil complaint. During the development of the iconic practical effects that made the film successful, Leone allegedly placed prosthetics with actual rat feces on her skin and real duct tape over her mouth. When developing the silicone mold for the bisection scene, Corcoran had to lie nude on plywood while she was covered in quick-drying liquid silicone agent. This was done incorrectly, leading to a long, painful process to remove the silicone from her nude body. During this process, Phil Falcone took several nude pictures of her.
When the scene was being filmed, Corcoran was the only woman on set. SAG CBA requires that production companies obtain informed written consent for nude scenes, including a description of the extent of nudity and physical contact occurring. Not only did Dark Horse Studios never acquire written consent, but Corcoran also wasn't informed of the nudity. It was only at Corcoran's insistence that she was allowed to wear underwear, but she was still required to perform topless.
If that wasn't enough, the filming required her to be suspended upside down for over 10 hours, Corcoran had to insist that they do it in 40-second intervals so blood wouldn't pool in her head. This was achieved by the men on set lifting her nude body to a horizontal position. This safety precaution was only taken at Corcoran's request and wouldn't have happened had she not stood up for herself. Despite this, she found out days later that she had suffered cranial swelling and eardrum damage as a result.
Corcoran, the only established talent involved in the movie, agreed to act for an "extremely low up front per diem rate – barely more than minimum wage". In exchange, she would receive 1% of all profits from Terrifier, any future films in the franchise, merchandising, and "any exploitation of the intellectual property underlying Terrifier, such as books, video games, Terrifier-themed events, and any other manner of licensing or use of the Terrifier intellectual property".
This deal was made, of course, when Terrifier was expected to perform no better than any other low-budget horror movie. So, for the first few years following the release of the movie, producers paid her in small, periodic increments. However, once the franchise exceeded all expectations and became a global phenomenon, the payments became further and further apart and "dwindled to amounts nowhere near commensurate with the revenues generated." At the time of the civil complaint, Corcoran had reportedly only received $8,341.61 in royalties from the multi-million dollar franchise despite the image of her nude body continually being used in the sequel and on several items of merchandise. When she confronted Damien Leone and Phil Falcone about this, Leone claimed that Falcone handled all the finances, and Falcone purportedly said he "doesn't keep records".
Leone and Falcone fully deny these claims and plan to "vigorously defend this lawsuit,” according to their attorney.
They've made good on this promise, filing a motion to dismiss the case on February 27th, 2026. As of March 13, Judge Andre Birotte Jr. has reviewed the evidence and papers submitted by both parties as well as heard oral arguments from the attorneys for the dismissal of the first claim– the mishandling of the nude scene and its subsequent distribution. We await a ruling from the court.
