Horror Movie Review: Terrifier 3 (2024)

Well, hasn’t Art the Clown done well for himself? From humble beginnings as a story within the anthology horror, All Hallows’ Eve. To having his maniacal behaviour on display in theatres around the world. Love it or hate it, but the rise of the Terrifier franchise has been impressive and creator Damien Leone can be very proud of what he has accomplished, all without compromising his vision.

A vision splattered with blood and gore.

You can read our reviews of the franchise to date below:

All Hallows’ Eve (2013)
Terrifier (2018)
Terrifier 2 (2022)

Synonymous for its bad taste, the Terrifier franchise reaches a new level of sickening gore, unrepenting violence, and offensive content with this third entry. Yes, Terrifier is not for the faint of heart… but when has it ever been?

The first film gave us Art sawing a woman in half from the crotch to her head and peeling another to wear her skin. The second gave us a face being melted off with acid, castrations, eyes plucked out, and a bevy of brutal stabbings. So, it’s no surprise that Terrifier 3 ups the ante, after all, it kind of had to. There’s some really nasty stuff here, and without spoiling much, fans of the red stuff can enjoy a variety of bodies being abused for Art (and others) amusement. All filmed in graphic style with effects that are mostly strong (there’s a limb or two that looks a bit fake) to the point of numbness.

There is no talking about Terrifier without talking about the blood and gore, but that doesn’t mean it’s not got a story, because it does.

Written and directed by Damien Leone again, Terrifier 3 picks up almost immediately after the events of Terrifier 2. Well, once a violent cold opening reintroduces Art (David Howard Thornton), his twisted ways, and reveals that this film is a Christmas-themed film. Leone does what he did with Terrifier 2, and uses the cold open to show that there is nothing tame about this film. It takes a brave creator to not just kill a kid early on, but show that mutilated body too.

Feel free to walk out now.

After that lovely yuletide intro, the film properly gets started as we see Art resurrected and set events in motion that see him team up with Vicky (Samantha Scaffidi), the mutilated and insane survivor of the first film, before going into a hibernation of sorts.

A hibernation that sends his name into legend, where true-crime podcasters pick over the detail of what happened to Sienna (Lauren LaVera), her brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam), and their loved ones in the second film.

The pair, having survived their encounter with Art, have tried to move on. Sienna has struggled, and Terrifier 3 picks up with her leaving the hospital after a long period of recovery. Whereas Jonathan has gone off to college and is desperate to fit in. Christmas is coming and the pair plan to reunite at their aunt and uncles where Sienna is staying.

Try as she might though, Sienna can’t shake the feeling that Art isn’t done and that he is still out there, somewhere. Which, of course, is the case and when his hibernation is disturbed by some hapless workers, he sets out on a bloody path to finish what he started. That’s not sleigh bells you’re hearing… it’s slay bells.

That’s a bad joke, but it’s one in keeping with the tone of Terrifier 3 which takes a gleeful look at the festive period and decorates the tree with entrails. No really, this actually happens in Terrifier 3.

A tone that means its not always the easiest task to stay engaged with a story that works to deepen the characters of Sienna and Jonathan, expand on the supernatural lore around Art, and systemically answer questions raised in the last film and set up the next entry in the franchise. If you think that sounds messy, you’re right, and it’s one of the film’s biggest problems. Jumping from scene to scene erratically, and abruptly reaching its finale when it looks to be running out of steam.

No amount of likeable characters, excessive gore, and Art doing what Art does best, can hide the fact that the story is messy. However, credit must be given for the attempt to even tell one. This could have been a stitched together Halloween clone with intense violence as its only calling card. Damien Leone has sought to make it more than that, even if it doesn’t always feel like it.

Unfortunately, the haphazard approach to story-telling does inevitably make the film feel like we’re jumping from one gore spot to another. Even if these jumps are often highly entertaining, from a Terrifier point of view.

Entertainment that oozes out of David Howard Thornton who once again, exceeds expectations in the role of Art the Clown and how he delivers his psychotic style. Here, there’s more comedy to it, but that just means the sinister and sickening turns are even more harrowing. The sight of Art pointing and laughing silently as his victim crawls away in pain, having had their leg chainsawed off, will never fail to entertain.

However, once again, the show is stolen by Lauren LaVera as Sienna, as she gets to widen the character now that she’s been so traumatised by her previous experiences with Art. She continues to be a fantastic ‘good’ character in a fight against evil, and there is genuine excitement within Terrifier 3 for her eventual faceoff with the clown again.

It is stuff like this that makes Terrifier 3 special and the kind of enjoyment that comes from following the franchise along from the start. This is more than just a gorefest, even if it really tries hard to convince you otherwise. Which is, for many, still going to be the ultimate takeaway and it’s hard to argue with that perspective. Especially when the story here has so many issues.

Not that most will really care. Not when they have the sight of Art ripping faces off to enjoy. If you loved the previous entries, you’re going to love this, it’s as simple as that.