You have to hand it to Damien Leone. The writer/director of the now three Terrifier films and previous incarnations of Art the Clown seems to consistently understand the assignment and deliver exactly what audiences are anticipating. Whether it escalates the gore or offers a little bit of mythology with each new film, the franchise now stands firmly on three feature-length legs. Terrifier 3 continues to uphold what makes the franchise great, and not bother with anything else.
Just as Terrifer 2 picked up moments after the events in Terrifier, the third entry resumes right after the second. When we last saw Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton, returning to the role) he was merely a disembodied head born from the bloody womb of the only woman to ever survive his attacks, while she went to a mental hospital after violently attacking a TV interviewer. This horribly disfigured woman, Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) is now an Art devotee and seems elated to be the chosen one to bring him back into the world. Well, his head, at first.
This might seem like a lot to have within the first moments of the beginning of a film, but that’s what Terrifier films do best. Logic, morality, and separation between films are for the birds. These films are both metaphorically and literally messy, and they do both quite well.
Also picking up where they were left off are our surviving kids, Sienna and Jonathan (Lauren LaVera and Elliott Fullam). The brother and sister survived the incidents of the previous film, but not without a slate of emotional and physical scars. Five years later, we catch up with them as Jonathan is in college and Sienna is leaving her treatment facility to spend Christmas with her aunt and uncle.
Oh, did I fail to mention that Terrifier 3 is also a Christmas movie? Because it is that too.
Some lengthy horror franchises struggle with maintaining the magic of the previous film, upping the gore and body count, but still giving us a reason to keep watching. Much like the wildly successful Purge franchise, Terrifier builds on the previous film, adds new elements, and continues to push the bloody effects.
Terrifier 3 takes the introduction of mythology and emotional gravity of Terrifier 2 and builds upon that foundation to keep the franchise chugging along. Were all three films soulless bloodbaths they would grow tedious, but that does not happen here. We learn a little bit more about Art in each issue, and we care a little bit more about the mortal characters, too.
Speaking of bloodbaths, the additional narrative complexity and relatable familial relationships do not detract from the all-out assault on human bodies throughout Terrifier 3. Art and Victoria, now a travelling murderous duo, let their creative juices flow for every kill in each exciting tableau of mayhem. Whether it be in an abandoned house, a busy mental institution, or a shopping mall’s Christmas display, these two spare no victim and try everything they can to make their deadly rampages a lesson in inventive destruction.
The balance between earnestness and frivolity is tough, but Terrifier 3 mostly accomplishes this by largely separating those worlds. Art and Victoria can paint the world red with the blood of the innocent as much as they want, where in parallel, we see Sienna and Jonathan appreciate the dignity of human life. The film gets quite interesting when those worlds collide, but the existence of one never negates the role of the other.
Terrifier 3’s success comes from never trying to be anything it is not. It is gross and it is engaging, and it refuses to apologize for being both.
