PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Director Damien Leone (Terrifier 2 2022, our review) has handed horror fans the best gift they could have ever asked for: another Terrifier film. It’s been 5 years since Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton: Terrifier 2 2022) terrorized the state of New York and singlehandedly plummeted the population density of Miles County. Trying their best to move past the horrors they survived, Sienna (Lauren LaVera: Terrifier 2 2022, our interview) and Johnathan Shaw (Elliott Fullam: Terrifier 2 2022) are forced to face their worst fears as Art returns to terrify them once again during the holiday season. But this time, Art’s not working alone. He’s joined by his crazed victim Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi: Terrifier 2018). Will the Shaw siblings make it to Christmas or will they fall victim to what’s inside Art’s sack of goodies?
When the credits roll, the viewer is left with only one reaction: HOLY CHRIST-mas.
Plot-wise, Terrifier 3 moves the franchise story needle forward. The needle doesn’t move very far, but nonetheless, it still moves. Its plot has the same weight in the Terrifier lore as a TV holiday special set between two seasons of a show. It continues the franchise’s promise of building to a larger story, but it still has left too many unanswered questions that can lead to a feeling of hollowness.
While the original Terrifier felt like a glorified clip show of Art’s depravity, Terrifier 2 felt bloated to the point where the new talking point amongst horror fans would be which parts could’ve been cut out to shorten the runtime. Terrifier 3 feels like a strong marriage between the two that reaches a nice medium between plot and eye candy.
Terrifier 3 is easily the best of the trilogy in terms of filmmaking. The pacing feels tighter and doesn’t feel as long as what came before. Despite having a 2+ hour runtime similar to Terrifier 2, the film has nowhere near as many moments where it dragged. There’s a level of polish that touches every aspect of the movie and it gives off a shine that makes it apparent it was made for the silver screen. It’s exciting to see how Leone’s skills have grown through the years. This shows that Terrifier 3 feels like the film he wanted to make from the beginning.
With the expectations that Leone has set up for gore, it’s fair for viewers to go into Terrifier 3 expecting to be blown away by the unity of practical effects and rubber body parts. Depending on your taste for visceral perversity, Terrifier 3 is either a gift from Santa or a curb stomp from Krampus. There is enough butchery and violence to appease the most deadened of gorehounds. Shockingly, a few of the kills are done off-screen. Despite how that sounds, this is a blessing in disguise as it provides a nice change of pace between the numerous other scenes of onscreen bloodshed.
Excluding a few instances, the kills start to become a visual blur as they blend into one another. This feeling is more pertinent if one chooses to have a marathon of the previous two films. Not necessarily a fault of Leone’s direction, but there are only so many ways one can watch people be disemboweled and limbs get hacked off. Luckily, there are moments of creativity that shine through and continue to prove that Art is only as violent as he is creative, and he’s the Picasso of death. Leone has done what has been promised for 50+ years and finally delivered a chainsaw massacre that dares to put Art at the top of the list for gas-powered mayhem.
David Howard Thornton’s performance as Art the Clown continues to elevate Art’s status as being worthy of the “horror icon” moniker. Art’s characteristics are raised to such a degree that he elicits such a raw reaction from the viewer. His humor and physical comedy are superlative and work at lulling the viewer into a false sense of hope that his actions won’t be that bad. The comedy is just a front to when the pendulum of Art’s actions swings wildly in the opposite direction. Make no mistake, Art is scarier than ever. Previous films gave a glance into the evil of Art’s true nature, but Thornton has proven how scary Art is. The viewer can feel the rage and hatred behind every action as Thornton conveys depth to the character that transcends past the visual gore as he exhibits an emotional attack as well.
With each iteration of Terrifier, the only thing that grows higher than the body count is the budget. The leap between the first two films was significant enough going from $35,000 to $250,000, but Terrifier 3 trumps that with a budget of $2 million. Yes, this is still considered a small budget, but even in Terrifier 2, the increased budget was felt within the first few minutes. This same principle applies to the jump between 2 & 3. Terrifier 3 is a higher quality film and feels higher budget, not in terms of scope, but in overall quality. The world is more realized, the sets feel real, and the effects are top-notch.
Long gone are the days of films being barred from a wide theatrical release due to their unrated nature. Terrifier 3 proudly wears its unrated badge as it gleefully takes pleasure in not shying away from any and all forms of violence or bodily dismemberment.
A previous attempt at bringing unrated horror to theaters was in 2010 with the release of Hatchet 2. Its release was campaigned on the promise that it would be released in theaters fully unrated and without the approval of the MPA. Viewers would not have to suffer at the hands of censored gore because of an R-rating. This was unheard of for a horror movie on the big screen. Unfortunately, it was pulled from theaters mere days later. For horror fans, Terrifier 3 is a symbol of hope that the days of films being cut to pieces by censors are getting closer to the end. A filmmaker’s true intentions can be on full display, regardless of how depraved they are.
If there was any interest in the Terrifier franchise, Terrifier 3 is absolutely worthy of a watch. Damien Leone has made a film that has made it clear that Art is a force to be reckoned with. Don’t wait until Christmas, go see Terrifier 3 now.
