"Terrifier 3" - A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing.

Josh
Nov 11, 2024
6 min read

Updated: May 17, 2025

Damien Leone (2024)

Pair this with A Christmas Story for a holiday double-feature

My introduction to Damien Leone’s Terrifier franchise was simply by casual exposure. A white-faced clown kept appearing in thumbnails on my favourite streaming service, Brollie hosted by Umbrella Entertainment, however, I was never intrigued to watch them. It was a spooky clown movie, they’re a dime a dozen in the realm of low-budget horror. But this was around about the time when word of mouth was spreading about Terrifier 2 and it wasn’t until someone recommended it that I bothered to check it out. Logically, I started with Terrifier and my reaction was meh. I was very impressed with the practical effects (particularly that splitting scene) and physical performance of David Howard Thornton as the mime murderer Art the Clown. Everything else surrounding it I wasn’t overly impressed with, characters are non-existent (which people normally give a pass on for horror but it’s been 40 years since the 80’s so it’s okay to expect more now) and it is one of the ugliest movies I’ve seen in a while. I understand the grindhouse look but the colour grading felt so off and the blacks are so crunched in some scenes you cannot see the facial features of our characters. But Terrifier 2 on the other hand, I thought was much better. Visually, Leone’s evolution as a filmmaker is on full display with grand sets, vibrant contrasting colours and generally more interesting shots and lighting compositions. There is a focus on characters with a stronger lead, played by Lauren LaVera (I say stronger but stronger in comparison to the first movie). Yet, it’s let down by the screenplay as it fails to justify a runtime of 140 minutes. The positives of the first movie are still reflected with more impressive and elaborate practical effects and over-the-top kills. With the Terrifier only having a budget of $35,000 and grossing over $400,000. And Terrifier 2 pulling in a massive $15 million from a $250,000 budget, Leone had shown a desire from audiences. A craving for the shocking. A horror movie that shows the horrific. A departure from the slow high-art contemporary A24 horror. And with numerous records broken and a worldwide gross of $50 million for Terrifier 3, this gore-filled franchise doesn’t show signs of slowing down. But as a wise man once said, “A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing” (Director of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones). Note, I will be spoiling some of the more shocking parts of this film…

“‘The Thing’ is basically, then, just a geek show, a gross-out movie in which teenagers can dare one another to watch the screen.” This is a quote from Roger Ebert’s review of John Carpenter’s The Thing, one of the greatest horror movies ever made. This quote was floating around my mind throughout the entire viewing of this movie. From the first scene when you think, “Oh, are they going there already?” and then they go there. But in between there was barely anything to keep me going. Even with a solid performance from the rising horror star, Lauren LaVera returning as Sienna, trying to deal with PTSD and the public stigma of surviving Art the Clown, it all just felt underdeveloped. And it felt like there were some attempts at commentary about how the public views the most horrific events through true crime podcasts and social media. However, all of that took a back seat to the reason why this movie was made, to see how Art was going to kill his next victim.

Unlike Terrifier 2, each kill comes quickly as we thankfully have a shorter runtime but I still felt pacing issues and overall clunky flow, especially with the first act. As indicated above, Terrifier 3 opens with a pretty over-the-top stinger, setting up the Christmas theme and the expectations for the rest of the film. But for me, this sequence went on for way too long and had little to no impact on the overall story or even a simple callback. And rather than continuing to thrust the story forward, we jump back to 5 years ago following up on the events of Terrifer 2 so we can see how Art got his new costume but then just jump back to the present day but still in the past before the opening stinger. That’s still to come. With a clunky opening, nothing is set up to propel the story forward. Even when Sienna and her brother Jonathan (Elliot Fullam) are introduced in their separate lives after Art, they seem to have little goals in their personal lives outside of the event 5 years ago. Returning to extended family for Christmas, Sienna deals with the survivor's guilt and trauma from the previous film. Even, Jonathan, now at University has to deal with crazy white women who are obsessed with true crime desperately trying to get him to relive painful events for their gain. Almost as a self-reflection of the murder-obsessed teen, he was in Terrifier 2. Leone attempts to continue to expand the lore of Art but my eyes just glazed over as soon as I heard the word “demon”. We’ve seen it before, as more details of an extremely simple character come to light, it kills the intrigue behind the character. We don’t get that far into this but it makes me feel like they’re turning Art into a playful Freddy-like character. Or worse, a Micheal Myers… but the thorn trilogy Mike Myers. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, I don’t need it explained how Art returns. I don’t need an explanation on why his head was birthed from a woman in an asylum. Everything is already over the top, I’ll just take it as it comes.

Going into the third act, there is little to no ramp-up to the expected showdown between our heroine and villain because the third act just starts and then we are at the end of the film. No act 2 low point, no build-up of tension or conflict. Art and Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi) are just at the same location as Sienna and then the credits start to roll. As mentioned spoilers, but the abrupt death of Jonathan felt so unearned. And I don’t know what’s worse, that fact he didn’t get any real justified death or that it was off screen and he could return. But like the rest of the movie, the ending is very over the top with visual similarities between Evil Dead (Sam Rami) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (Tobe Hooper), the floor opens up to hell and I have to admit I’m interested to see where this goes. But I’m not sure how long this story can continue. All the problems I have with Terrifier 2 are still present, but I don’t think it had the same level of creativity behind it, either in the sets or visuals.

The positives of interesting kills and practical effects do not disappoint. As much as I love horror, just watching people get split in two with no substance doesn’t interest me but what I find entertaining is the execution of the effects. Does it make me squirm, can I figure out how they did it to make it effective, does the editing, acting and lighting elevate the gag? And each movie has kept me engaged enough during those moments but this one fell flat on editing for me. Numerous times we would cut away during the action of the kill and just see the aftermath. Almost like the impact of a blow didn’t work as well as they hoped, so we see a reaction shot of another character to then cut back to a new prosthetic. This is acceptable when it comes to child murder but when the camera shies away from a gunshot after seeing a head explosion for the ages in Terrifier 2, it all feels cheap. And as sadistic as it sounds, there is a macabre enjoyment in watching Thornton’s performance as Art carrying out each sequence. There is playfulness as he’s just so happy to be doing what he’s doing with little to no regard for the victims. Relishing in what he does in complete silence like a Mr.Bean-like caricature.

These are the types of movies where you can see and feel some type of passion behind them. Leone has an eye for horror, reminding me of an early Eli Roth. He throws in references to classics like The Shining (Stanley Kubrick), Evil Dead (Sam Rami), Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski), The Amityville Horror (Stuart Rosenburg), and Black Christmas (Bob Clark). Even callback the title of the original short “The 9th Circle” featuring Art. Keeping the work independent, Leone can continue to push boundaries and the money is talking. Even though these movies aren’t for me, seeing them do as well as they have is great to see and I will support them as much as I can. Based on the ending for this one, I think I have one more Terrifier movie left in me but I hope Leone can improve on his weaknesses around writing before the formula gets stale. For fans of Art, what’s the point of recommending it because you’ve already seen it. For everyone else, if you think you’ve got the stomach for it then go check out this out-of-season new Christmas horror film.