Actress Catherine Corcoran Sues Terrifier Producers

Catherine Corcoran has officially filed a lawsuit against the producers of Terrifier as well as series creator and director Damien Leone.

As reported by Variety-

In a suit filed in California federal court on Sunday, Corcoran’s attorneys presented a case, defined by the “all-too-common story of low budget film producers taking advantage of a young actress through fraud, sexual harassment and, ultimately, betrayal.” The lawsuit names production banners Dark Age Cinema and Fuzz on the Lens Productions as defendants, in addition to producer Phil Falcone and Leone and the filmmaker’s banner Art the Clown. The filing includes seven claims for relief, including distribution of sexually explicit materials, breach of contract and promissory fraud.

Corcoran played Dawn, who appeared in the first Terrifier film back in 2016. She is remembered for being one of the more gruesome parts of the film, as she was hung upside down and sawn in half by Art groin first. The law suit alleges that filming for the sequence required Corcoran to be hung upside down by her ankles for “over 10 hours in below freezing temperatures.”

The actress is said to have agreed to act in the low-budget “Terrifier” on an “extremely low up front per diem rate,” with the agreement that she would receive 1% of the profits from the film, as well as potential future franchise entries and related merchandise, including other licenses of the intellectual property. Two “Terrifier” sequels have been produced, collectively grossing more than $105 million at the global box office, plus home video profits and “Terrifier”-themed fan events and other modes. The suit claims that director and producer Leone, “agreed in writing to provide Corcoran with a share in 1% of all net sales generated from ‘Terrifier’ related merchandise.”

However, Corcoran alleges that, in the years following the original film’s release and its subsequent rise in popularity, her royalty payments “became more and more sporadic and dwindled to amounts nowhere near commensurate.” The actress claims she has not received back pay since July 2024, and had only received $1816.35 up to that point, “with no explanation as to why the royalty payments ceased or where the remainder of the payments are.” Merchandise royalties are said to only total “approximately $6,408.26.”\

Actress Catherine Corcoran Sues Terrifier Producers

She has alleged to have confronted Leone & Falcone about her royalty payments, or lack of shall we say. In response she says that she was “brushed off, with Leone stating that Falcone handles all of the accounting matters and then with an aggressive and defensive response from Falcone saying he purportedly ‘doesn’t keep records.'”

As also stated in the complaint-

“The low-budget nature of the production carried over into the working conditions on set, including long hours in below freezing temperatures in condemned buildings, all without heat and some without bathrooms. “The so-called ‘practical effects’ that made ‘Terrifier’ so compelling on screen involved the director placing prosthetics with actual rat feces on Corcoran’s skin and real duct tape over her mouth.”

“Further, when creating the silicone mold for Corcoran’s body cast, the producers of the film required Corcoran to lie nude on a piece of plywood while she was covered with a quick-drying liquid silicone agent. However, the process was done incorrectly and the silicone dried and essentially glued Corcoran to the plywood, requiring a long, painful process to remove the dried silicone from her body. To make matters worse, Falcone took numerous still photographs of Corcoran’s nude body while she was glued to the plywood sheet without her consent.”

As continued by Variety-

Additionally, while Corcoran’s death scene required her to be nude, the suit claims that the producers “never obtained Corcoran’s informed written consent” to film unclothed, as was required by the Screen Actors Guild. The suit alleges that Corcoran insisted she be allowed to wear underwear on the day of shooting, but that she still ended up performing the scene topless without written consent. It also claims that Corcoran was only provided a horizontal platform to break on between takes upon her request and that she “was wrapped in a blanket in between takes, but overtime the blanket became so saturated with fake blood that it ceased providing any warmth.”

After filming overnight, Corcoran alleges she felt ill in the following days and that a doctor diagnosed her with cranial swelling and eardrum damage. In an allegation that ties together the suit’s claims of unpaid royalties and unregulated shooting conditions, the suit claims that the defendants have profited from merchandise depicting Corcoran’s nude body.

“Were it not for Corcoran’s willingness to take a risk on this production and receive her compensation on the back-end, the series would not exist as it could not have been made on a shoe-string budget otherwise. However, when it came time to pay what was owed, the producers chose to cheat her. This injustice must be rectified” - Devin McRae, Corcoran's lawyer.

An attorney for Leone, Larry Zerner, stated: “Damien and Phil deny the claims in the complaint and will vigorously defend this lawsuit.”