FearTASTIC Vault O’FUN #139
Terrifier 3 (2024)
Director(s): Damien Leone
Writer(s): Damien Leone
Starring: David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Antonella Rose
Bringing some Christmas spirit in March?! Sure, why not? That was my wonderful way of letting you folks know that yes, the third part of my review of the Terrifier series has landed us in yuletide territory as Terrifier 3 takes place during the holidays and to me, that’s Chef’s Kiss marketing right there since the first have already gotten the reputation for their stylistic take on ultra-violence, why not throw in some tinsel in the background? At this point, the movies have already gained enough momentum purely from fan interest to the point where we were able to get a sequel within two years unlike the six-year gap between the first two flicks. What’s exciting about this movie is how it feels like a bookend for the first phase of the infamous adventures of Art the Clown. It’s apparent by now that this is a supernatural slasher that has made its way into the pantheon of the great horror icons and three movies is just not going to cut it, so this third movie feels like a conclusion to a story line that started back in 2016 but also gets you excited to see what the next storyline will take the audience which is brilliant from a long term strategy standpoint.
Of course, just like the first two flicks, this flick was purely funded by the fans and writer/creator Damien Leone at this point is now expected to deliver the goods with all his creative freedom. While the second flick decided to dedicate a good amount of time to the world-building aspect of this Art the Clown universe, this movie makes a sound decision to pull it back to its foundation of fun kills without as much explanation on why. Not saying it’s completely devoid of that aspect as we see Art the Clown partner with evil forces to execute his plan, but let’s just say more stabby-stabby and less dream sequences. This movie takes place right after the previous flick and I appreciate how it gets to the supernatural lore right away so the movie can move on to the nitty gritty of the plot, where entertaining violence is the most essential factor. The movie does a great job looping in a character from the first flick this time around with a pretty significant role to the overall supernatural lore and you understand why the first movie was critical to this trilogy’s story arc.
The main character from the previous flick, Sienna is back and the events with Art the Clown from the previous movie has had a major toll in her life and mental state. She’s visiting family for the holidays with her brother currently attending college. This time around, we’re introduced to her little cousin, Gabbie who looks up to her but is also curious what happened in her life that made her so different now. That’s basically as deep as this movie gets but I’m not complaining about that at all because again, let’s get to some Art the Clown! Our star slasher has a new bag of tricks coming from his workshop, which again is one of the things that sets him apart from other slashers; the idea that he tinkers in a workshop thinking of new ways to kill his victims. Without giving too much away, I’ll say that his featured weapon this time around is very aligned with the movie’s Christmas backdrop. Of course, there are scenes that would not be meant for the squeamish throughout this entry, but I would say that the dark humor in this movie is amped up significantly with Art being a total HAM (in an entertaining way) in some scenes where he’s gained some recent infamy since the news had been covering his exploits from the first two flicks. I like how the entire story arc from these 3 movies are not too far apart so the world has now been exposed to Art the Clown from cosplay to podcasts and it’s interesting how it mirrors the real world in a sense and our fascination with true crime stories.
Just like the first two flicks, there is a scene that stands out to me that stands above the rest. While the first two flicks were due to the level of gore and violence, the scene in question from this movie is rough due to the victims Art the Clown targeted for his latest exploit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still entertaining as all hell but WOW, it’s a rarity even in the world of the macabre to go after certain victims (REALLY trying hard to keep this thing spoiler free folks). This movie was clever enough to recognize that you can only shock audiences with gore for so long until it becomes expected and then perhaps stale in the future so the direction of making people gasp through other means was a great decision.
Not going to give the ending away, but I LOVED how it felt like closing a chapter in a long, bloody story ahead. The way these first three movies were going, it felt very linear in the sense that Art the Clown had a purpose and needed to follow it through but once that happens, what’s next? This movie did a great job satisfying that need for closure but clearly showing that we are now moving on to a new adventure with the new king of slashers and I for one look forward to seeing where this demon’s journey takes the audience!
Life is FAR more interesting when we take interest in things that scare us.